Jerry Francois Is Building A Legacy: Activism, Athleticism, and Social Impact

Jerry Francois, known as Coach J, is known in the New York running scene for creating diverse, empowering spaces for communities of color and runners of all abilities as the founder of Gold Finger Track Club.

• Started running in high school at age 17 after his mother passed away, finding it provided mental clarity and an emotional outlet
• Created Goldfinger Track Club from a clothing brand, establishing a team where everyone belongs regardless of pace
• Embraced the team's mottos "Gold Vibes" and "Diverse but not divided" to foster inclusion and community
• Founded Black Miles Matter after Ahmaud Arbery's murder, organizing solidarity runs including the Juneteenth 5K
• Transitioned from being a 400-800 meter runner to achieving a 2:42 marathon at Boston 2023 despite injury
• Worked with PYNRS, the only Black-owned running apparel company in the US, as creative director
• Credits his son Jaxx for inspiring his running success and giving him "superpowers" to chase his dreams
• Focuses on building family and expanding his brand while planning to complete his sixth marathon major in Tokyo
• Plans to run New York City Marathon aiming for a comfortable 2:50 finish while enjoying the experience
• Emphasizes faith as the foundation of his journey: "Faith makes things possible, not easy"

Follow Jerry on social media @kingparkergold2001 or @hirecoachj, and follow the team @gftc_brooklyn.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Today's guest is Jerry Francois, also known as
Coach J.
Jerry is a runner and thefounder of the Goldfinger Track
Club here in New York City.
His work in the New Yorkrunning scene embraces all
abilities and empowerscommunities of color.
We are going to get intoJerry's athleticism activism and
social impact on today's show.
Welcome.

(00:27):
This is the Lucy Beatrixpodcast.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Thank you, Lucy.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
It seems like everyone in the New York City
running scene has crossed pathswith you at some point.
I know I have.
But before we get into all thatfor people who don't know you,
where are you from and how didyou get into running originally?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, so my name is Jerry Francois.
I'm born and raised in Brooklyn, new York, 34 years old, father
, first Leader, communityactivist, coach, and all
afterwards Started running inhigh school.
I would say my senior year inhigh school, a year before my
mom had had passed away.
I was 17 years old, trying toprocess my first big loss.

(01:07):
I never had a loss in my familybefore and I needed an outlet.
I've always been an active kid.
I played every sport you couldthink of, especially in high
school, and track was never asport I actually looked into and
when I was just trying to findan outlet and find something
positive to keep me going, Istumbled upon kids running in

(01:28):
the hallway after school and Iwas, you know, hanging out after
school in the school doing whatI was not supposed to be doing.
But it intrigued me to seethese kids running in the
hallway and I asked like hey,what is this?
And they were like this is thetrack team.
I'm like track, you shouldn'tyou be outside?
And it was like no, we, we runwhen it's cold, we run inside.
And I was like this is ahallway.

(01:49):
But it intrigued me and you know, every day in high school
everyone was always asking mehey, man, how does it feel to
lose your mom?
Man, if I lost my mom I wouldnever go to school and I was
very popular in high school andI couldn't get away from that
noise.
But when I went to the trackteam, no one ever asked me about
, like how, my process and mygrieving.
They just saw me as Jerry, theindividual who's funny, who

(02:10):
makes dance videos, who's youknow, the class clown who
connects with everybody.
But no one ever asked me aboutmy mom's passing.
and then from there I kind ofjust I was intrigued to be a
part of it and then when I ranit felt refreshing you know, my
mind felt clear, it gave mesomething to look forward to,

(02:30):
despite of, you know, my worldjust being all shattered, and it
kind of kept me going so howold were you exactly when your
mom passed away?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I was 17 years old oh , that's such a hard age to lose
your mom, yeah, um.
So so when, when did you so?
You realized that running couldbe a way to process the grief,
it was something that you coulddo to, like, get away from those
hard feelings.
At what point did you realizeit could be something even
bigger, or something that youcould use to start like a
community or raise awareness andthings like that?

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Honestly, I had no idea.
I think I always, once I gotinvolved involved with track,
I've always tried to push theneedle and make it so much more.
You know, I was part of a trackteam that was not the most
favorite sport in high schooland then I made it more popular
in high school and then evencollege too.
I did the same thing and then Ialways just flipped the script

(03:20):
like, yes, my team was calledthis but, and then I gave it a
different name.
We went from just Newtown HighSchool track and field, then I
changed it to track stars andthen when I went to junior
college it was QueensboroughTigers.
I changed it to Team Mamba,inspired by Kobe, and I always
kept flipping the script and Ididn't understand why I would
always flip the script.
But then I just noticed thatevery time I would do something,

(03:42):
people would follow it.
And then that's when I knewthat I had this sense of purpose
, because no matter what I keptdoing, people would want to
follow.
And then I wanted to be apositive life in everyone else's
eyes, because I knew that thereare people processing so much
different emotion and I knoweveryone talks about running
being therapeutic and it has andhonestly I'll say the same

(04:03):
thing like everybody else likeit saved my life because it gave
me an outlet.
So I wanted to do the same andI knew that running was going to
forever be in vain with me,because my coach used to tell me
that you should have ran yearsago and now.
You're running now, so I alwaystell people that I'm playing
catch up.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
I see that.
So you ran in high school, yougot into it in high school, you
ran in college or junior collegeand then, um, I think we're the
same age.
You're in your 30s, yes, sofrom your, from the end of
college, till your 30s, what didrunning look like?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
running look way different.
You know, I'm used to runningon the track and doing nothing,
but uh, the longest distance wasan 800 meter, and then,
obviously, doing cross country,it was very different.
Everyone spoke a differentlanguage.
I didn't understand roadrunning.
I'd never ran on the roadbefore in my life because you
were a 400 meter runner.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, it's 400 800 so I've never like fast track,
fast yeah short intervals?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I never did.
I didn't know what a halfmarathon was, or a full, or 10k,
that none of that language wasever spoken to me and in this
running community.
It was everyone that was wheretheir foundation started.
Everyone's like, hey, I'mrunning a half, I'm running a
full.
Oh, I never ran in high school,I never ran in college or I
just started running.
But everyone was so excited tostart now and to me I thought

(05:18):
that was phenomenal because Iwas like everyone's at that time
.
Everyone was older than me.
I was the youngest one in thatrunning space, you know, I was
24, 25, with a whole bunch ofpeople that was mid-30s
celebrating that the success ofrunning a marathon, and I never
knew what a marathon was yeah,it's kind of funny to think.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
so the way that I met you I was I for the first time
I decided to to run with a group, with the team.
I guess it was like I don'tknow if you would call it like a
training camp, but I did Nikeproject moonshot and, uh, I had
never run with people before inmy life, like I was always
running alone.
And, um, I went into thisprogram and you were one of the
pacers for the vault group,which was like the crew trying

(05:56):
to go for a two, 45 marathon,which is a very ambitious first
marathon.
But you were the guy and Iremember going to these track
workouts and tempo workouts incentral park and I was like I
just want to impress him becauseI didn't know how it works.
we're like the coaches are notthinking like, yeah, she's gonna
win this workout and like goodfor her.
But I'm like I'm gonna showthat I can keep up, and there I

(06:17):
just can think of these memorieswhere I'm like running beside
you and there are photos of this, where I'm just like see like I
can do, like I'm doing this,and then the best part is that
at the end of the workout youled like a core, like push-up
thing or something.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes, you used to do a push-up challenge.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
And I had never done a push-up in my life and it's
like everything was likedepending on this, and you
posted an Instagram story fromthat where I'm like using my
knees and I'm like shaking sohard belong in the volt group.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
But, yeah, so funny.
But I do remember that feelingof like, wanting to show you
that I could do it, which Ithink you probably bring out of
your athletes where it's like,okay, like he believes in me,
and so I'm going to show that Ican do this workout, but, um, so
the time that you were, how didyou get into all that like
pacing and that kind of stuff?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
yeah.
So you know, 2014, when I gotinto the running community, you
know I was follow.
I saw it one time on Twitter,now newly x and they were like,
hey, come run with us Nike runclub.
And I was like, what is that?
What does that mean?
And I I went after work I wasworking two jobs, I worked
overnight and I also worked atan after-school program.

(07:20):
And then I went after work at 8am and there was this whole,
this whole foundation of justrunners running on a sunday at,
uh, flat iron and I was like,wow, what is this?
And people were like pacers andall.
And it was like, oh, people getpaid to this.
I was like people get paid torun?
No way.
I was like, oh man, I want thisjob.
How do I get this job?
And at that time they were like, oh, you have to work at retail

(07:41):
.
I was like, oh no, I wouldnever.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
I was like I was like I can't, I can't, uh.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
And they was like no, it's not as bad as people think
it is, trust me.
And I was like I don't foldclothes, I don't even fold my
own clothes you want me to workat retail.
But you know, obviously you know, just even I think about it now
just how ignorant I sound atthat time.
You know, I just wasn't awareof things and you know, fast
forward, keep going, keep going.
And it was like, hey, if youwant to be a pacer, you have to

(08:06):
work for a nike store.
And I was like, okay, cool,I'll.
I got a job interview for thenike running store, got the job
there and then then the processbecame a pacer.
So then I got to be involvedwith being a pacer and leading
groups before they even createdproject moonshot.
It was just a very generic ofmeeting here there uh three
times a week, and then itstarted, you know, then it
created the idea of projectmoonshot which was the pilot to

(08:28):
see how can we like takeeverybody to the elite.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
You know category like yeah, and that's
interesting because, like I,from my point of view, like
doing the program, I didn't knowanything about the pacers and I
just thought of you guys aslike celebrities and like you,
like, when you became like arunning celebrity yeah, in its
own way, but I just thought youguys as like celebrities and
like you, I mean you became likea running celebrity in its own
way, but I just thought you guyswere like the most famous
runners in the world Because Idon't know, I didn't know
anything.
And then I remember telling mymom I'd come home and be like,

(08:53):
yeah, like look at thesepictures, like I got to run with
this person and they're so fast.
So it seemed like a goodopportunity.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
No, it was.
Honestly, it was phenomenalEven when we went, when we
transitioned to just focusing onthe marathon training, because
I never ran a marathon beforeand I never ran past 13 miles in
my life, until that program.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Wow, oh, wow.
So you kind of started marathonrunning and training like at
the same time At the same time.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, that's so funny , wow People running and
training like at the same timeat the same time.
Yeah, that's so funny.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Wow, people pulled me to run the marathon.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's like, you're like yeah, you could do all the
distance you could run sub three, you know, and obviously
everyone thinks what you do intraining can translate right on,
you know, to the marathon.
But in reality there's a lotmore, but everyone's like oh,
you can run sub three, you holdthis pace, hold that pace oh,
wow, that's so interesting.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
We're gonna get into your training specifically in a
little bit, like talking abouthow you trained for the times
that you've run, because theyare impressive, um.
But let's talk about thegoldfinger track club.
Um, how did this team come tobe?

Speaker 2 (09:51):
yes, goldfinger track club, my baby.
So the origin story is 2013.
Uh, I um took a break from thesemester.
I was trying to really thinkabout life.
I was was very into streetwearthe early Tumblr blogs and I
wanted to create a brand thatrepresented me and the friends
around me.
We always felt like misfits.

(10:12):
We didn't want to be in anycategory of any other clothing
brand that was coming out and Ithought about just reflecting of
college and I had a friendnamed Kaden who we ran Division
3.
We ran an I forget if it wasregionals or championships, I
don't know, it was nationals andthere was a photo of us on the

(10:34):
podium I think we placed top sixoverall and he was digging his
nose and I remember how upset mycoach was when he developed the
photos because it was in adigital camera.
It was a Kodak camera, so ourcoach would send us the photos
in the summer to reflect on theseason and I remember his
response in the group chat.
He said the photos in thesummer to reflect on the season

(10:54):
and I remember his response inthe group chat.
He said what that's normal?
And his response and my coachwas furious and I was like that
is that is normal.
That's what we did as kids.
You know whether we did in thesecret, out in public, but that
was normal.
And I thought about us and thepeople around.
I was like some things that wedo may not be as normal as
everybody else, but to us isvery normal so then I thought
about I was like.
You know, everyone says dig yournose for gold finger then I was

(11:17):
like voila, gold finger.
So then I had the brand goldfinger and but I had the idea I
didn't do nothing with it yet.
I just created a hashtag, kepttelling people gold finger
coming soon.
We kept doing the pose on earlyinstagram for two years.
Then, 2015, we finally it intoa clothing brand and then at
that time I started, you know,getting my name into the running

(11:38):
scene and then, at the Armory2016, I was trying to emerge and
bridge the gap between people Iran with in high school college
and the people I met in NikeRun Club and none of them ever
ran track.
So, and a lot of people didn'trun track anymore after high
school college.
But then I just wanted to mergeit and in the armory they were
like, hey, what's the name ofyour team?
It was like I don't have a name.

(12:00):
It was like, well, we can't putunattached for a club.
It was like we're not a club,we're just people who just came
together and they were like, no,we need a name.
And I was like, okay, I've gotthis clothing brand Gold
Goldfinger.
I'm at the track.
I love track.
That was at Goldfinger TrackClub.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Amazing.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
And then from there it stick.
We won out heat and everyone'slike, oh my God, Goldfinger
Track Club, Y'all so fast andelite.
And I'm like, no, we just madeit up.
Yeah, we're not.
That's great.
We're not a club.
Yeah, yeah, just friends whojust came together for this day
isn't the thing.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Do you guys do the thing?

Speaker 2 (12:32):
the pictures where you're opening, yes, exactly,
and that's kind of come thesignature from the clothing
brand that transitioned into thetrack club and then it kind of
just, you know, blew up.
And I remember which is the bigpiece of the story, why I kept
it going because it was not areal club.
One of the members who ran withus, he had this long message
from a crew he was part of andhe they dropped him.
They were like, due to yourdisloyalty running with another

(12:54):
club, but fortunately you are nolonger welcome to run with us,
and I was like this thing.
I was like, but we made it up,we're not even real yeah but and
I saw how devastated he was andI was like man, so I was like I
gotta really make this a clubfor real, but I was like the
rule number one is you can gowherever you want to go.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
I have had no idea that's a thing that they can
kick you off of a team.
Me either, and I was very newright.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
This is year one and a half of learning run club,
crew community.
So I didn't know.
But I was like, all right,let's make it.
And I was like I don't know,I'm going to learn as I go.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
But go, finger track club, like your home, is always
here, no matter where you gothat's an incredible mission for
a team, um to always have ahome wherever you go, especially
in the running community.
What does the motto gold vibesmean?
And uh, how did that become thecore identity of the team?

Speaker 2 (13:45):
gold vibes means, you know, just like good vibes, but
just like gold.
You know, I think when Ithought about the name gold, I
thought about what we chased inlife, you know, and right, the
medals are gold, the trophiesare gold, all the accolades that
we try to achieve and just thefoundation of just thinking back
in history about how gold metso was so precious.
You know, you found gold, youfound treasure, you know.

(14:07):
So I just thought about that,just feeling enriched with
everything you do.
So it's the gold vibes ofeverything that you're just
trying to always search for,something that glows within all
the great things you do.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
And then the other motto that I've heard around the
team is diverse but not divided.
Can you talk about that?

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Yes, diverse but not divided.
I got that from power when Iwas doing a shout out to Will
Power and all the socialinjustice runners, that was
doing amazing things we'rebridge runners and all and it
was just.
It made sense, you know it.
It stuck with me because I waslike this is what we really do

(14:46):
and you know now we're infusingreal life stuff with running.
So it only makes sense to tohave that statement and stick by
it, no matter what we do,whether it's being the fastest,
being a backpack or followingthings that mean more to us than
just the running.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
But you know, always keep us amongst each other, no
matter what is the goal orseparation um, but speaking of
the back of the pack that youjust mentioned, how do you, uh,
how do you help runners that arethat are more of the back of
the pack, or like the kind ofrunner that maybe has never run
with other people before, whofeels like they don't quite
belong?
How do you make them feelincluded and welcome, like

(15:22):
somebody who just doesn't know,like you know, they see a track
full of people running theirworkouts and stuff.
How do you help them feel like,yeah, you can do it too well, I
tell people that, um, the otherside of fear is success.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
And as much as we fear things, that stops us
sometimes to ever try andchallenge things.
And everything looks good onsocial media.
Everything's polished right andI always tell people who told
you that we were fast, we lookfast, but define.
Who defines fast?
And I think the communitydefines that.
But a lot of people would sayI'm not fast and somebody else
would say, no, you are fast, andI think the community defines
that.
But a lot of people would sayI'm not fast and somebody else

(15:53):
would say, no, you are fast.
And I always tell people justcome, experiment it.
And we celebrate because at theend of the day, we're all here
with the same common goals is tobe better and do better, and
there's a lot more people that'sin the same space as you that
you'll be surprised of.
You know looks could bedeceiving and everything looks
good.
I chase people around the trackand make them look good on video

(16:13):
but in reality they might berunning the same exact pace than
you are and everything's fasteron the track.
And I've always tell peoplethat, yeah, what you run on the
road may not feel as fast, buton the track it's oval, you can
see the start line and yourfinish line on a road.
You, you see the starting lineand you don't see the finish
line until a certain period oftime.
So we try to always embrace thebackpack runners to let them

(16:36):
know like, hey, this space isopen for you.
And I was a backpack runner,believe it or not, I didn't.
I wasn't born with the skill orhad the foundation.
I had to work my way up likeeverybody else, and I was like
it starts here.
It might not be the same pace.
You may think, oh, but you, youcame from a track and field
background.
But yeah, I was like theydidn't mean I could keep up, I
was getting.
I was running with the noxrobertsons and uh fiendlies and

(16:59):
the tim rossi's and I was gassed.
I would do one lap and not beable to, but I was hungry enough
to know that consistency winsresults.
And and I always translate thatand tell them like I was like,
I can give you everybody's story.
Who started with GFTC?
And I'll tell you, not everyonelike this.
They're all pandemic runnersand they've looked way on.
Sasha didn't know what a 400meter was.

(17:20):
Now she's a Nike running coachrunning.
She's running sub three likeit's easy.
She just won the 10K onMother's Day, but those are just
as it but everybody has tostart somewhere.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, that's the thing.
It's like you see thetrajectory of all these
different kinds of runners oflike you see their starting
point and then like wherethey've gotten to.
But not everybody sees that.
They just see a bunch ofrunners on the track and they
have no idea that they'veactually like they were just
like them or like a new runnerat some point.
But yeah, I love thatGoldfinger Track Club embraces
that instead of like an elitistmindset, cause there are a lot
of teams that are not that.
So, it's very refreshing to seeand it just makes you feel like

(17:56):
I actually did a job for newbalance a couple of years ago
with everybody else who did itwas from gold finger.
It was Shanna, asher and Kyle.
Yeah.
And I remember I was likethey're kind of like, oh, you
guys are all on the same teamand I don't know why we all come
together.
Fine, it was great.

(18:16):
But it was really fun because Iwas like, oh, this is such a
different mentality, them asteammates, like it wasn't about
like who's the fastest and likewhat are your times, and so it
was just like everyone's justhaving fun and I love that so
much and they all look up to youso much.
Like I love how everybody onGoldfinger Track Club loves you
and that that says a lot about ateam if everyone's just like
loves their coach so much.
Um, but, as someone who runs ahuge team, are there any

(18:37):
challenges that come along withthat?
Like you know, political stuff,like with you know, yeah, like
weird turf wars of course I mean, I think, anybody who's a
leader in this running space.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
We have to deal with a lot of challenges.
You know a lot of differentpersonalities.
You know you wind up becomingmore than just a coach.
You become, you know, a mentor,a friend to lean on.
You know where a lot of thingsstart to, you know, be discussed
.
That's outside of running.
You know people really look upto you and they feel like they
spend the most time with you sothey feel they could be the most

(19:07):
open or vulnerable to you.
And you know, as much as you tryto balance and have the
boundaries set, you know somepeople just can't help it.
You know you could have aconversation, you could have a
conversation with one of yourteammates and then two seconds
later they're breaking downcrying about something that
happened at work or arelationship, and you know you
can't just tell them okay, canyou clean your tears and just
run this next rep.
You know you have to be therefor them.

(19:34):
It gets challenging.
You know, uh, I've dealt withso many different challenges, uh
, being a running coach becausea lot of them look at me as a
friend.
You know they don't I don'tthink they'll all look at me as
a coach first, which is also agood thing too.
You know there's a respectvalue, but a lot of people treat
me as friends and sometimeswhen you're treated or look as a
friend, people do tend tooverstep, take advantage.
And you know I've gone througha lot of those trials and
tribulations but I think at theend of the day I love it.

(19:56):
But we, that's how we grow andlearn, so I know what to do,
moving on and moving forward.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
But uh definitely isn't easy being a running
leader in this space definitelynot, and even just like how
there are so many teams now andI feel like the spaces are.
It's hard to.
I just remember when I wouldrun with teams.
I don't really run with a lotof people these days, but like
it would just be like turf wars,Like who's meeting on the track
what day of the week and thenwho's taking over lane one and

(20:23):
two, and it just seems like alot.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
It's overly crowded.
Now.
I remember when I got into itwe used to just have a respect
for other crews and clubs.
Where we wouldn't do runs onthe days they do it.
We used to have it where it'slike mondays is rerun uptown,
tuesdays boogie down bronx,wednesdays is bridge runners,
thursdays was gftc and theneverybody would do their long
run saturday, but that's how itwas.

(20:45):
And then right, and thenbrooklyn track club did uh pm
track on tuesdays, but everyonehad their day where no one kind
of clash but, now it's we'reover saturated.
So everyone's just.
Everyone does it every day.
Yeah, monday through Sunday,everyone has possible.
Yeah, we used to really have aconversation like hey, we have
something going on, can do youmind moving this over?

(21:05):
It was like all right, cool.
Now it's like no, this is likeI have an idea, I want to do it
yeah, and that's, that's aproblem.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
I I'm actually really excited for the Red Hook track
to open back up, because I'mjust gonna go hide there and
just run on the Red Hook trackalone, because I'm just like
this is too much.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
Mccarran is overwhelming.
I have high anxiety being inMcCarran.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
I never go anymore it used to be my favorite track,
um, but so let's talk aboutactivism.
Um, you, you have, uh, I guessit's like a movement called
Black Miles Matter.
Yes.
And that started in 2020.
Go ahead and tell us about thekinds of events you've hosted
and like what that means.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah.
So I created Black Miles Matterafter the murder of Ahmaud
Arbery, who was someone that Isaw myself, as everyone else in
the community, especially ofcolor, that was doing something
that we all love and sometimes Iguess we could take it for
granted we were.
You know, he was murdered forjogging in a gated community and
it resonated home with mebecause I saw myself as that

(22:00):
could have been me, that couldhave been Kofi, that could have
been J-So, that could have beenJoe Shane, that could have been
Jen.
You know I thought about thatcould have anybody that I know,
that could have been one of us.
So it really hit home with me.
And obviously during the COVIDtimes, you know, a lot of things
were brushed off in the mediabecause that happened in
February but we didn't find outuntil April, you know, when the

(22:20):
world shut down.
When you run so much, you're so, you're not used to walking and
I was walking a lot in theseprotests and I'm like man, my
feet hurt.
I was like I need to dosomething different.

(22:42):
What if I bring this to therunning community but make
people run in solidarity versuswalk?
I was like I love it and wewere walking from Brooklyn
Bridge to Manhattan Bridge, toWilliamsburg Bridge, down to.
You know, I loved it and it wasempowering.
But I was like what if I didthis for running?
You know what if I took what,uh, you know, power From Bridge
and J Show did with because theywere doing a lot of activist

(23:04):
runs before me, but I was likewhat if I do it?
Because I'm?
I'm in a different space and Ithink we just need another
leader to step up.
So when I created black milesmatter, it was simply a movement
that I wanted to never die,because I was like, if the
movement dies, that means westop caring yeah, so I like.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
I like the idea of run in solidarity, don't walk
because it is something to runin, uh, run towards, yeah, um,
so some of the events were I runwith mod yes um the black blk
mile yeah and the juneteenth.
What is the?
Is it okay?

Speaker 2 (23:38):
yeah, so juneteenth, uh, solidarity 5k.
Sometimes we expand it to 10k,um, but just again and then it's
all.
It's always open to walkers andjoggers and bikers.
It's just a whole point for usto remember how it all started
you know, with me creating it inJune of 2020, and who came out?

(23:58):
Who we didn't know because weall had masks in 2020.
I didn't know no one at thattime to see where we are
progressing as a community.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
I should add that Jerry's son is here, jax, and
we're going to take a shortbreak, so your son is here with
us today.
Jax, and how has being a fatherinfluenced you in your running
and your coaching?

Speaker 2 (24:28):
You know, being a father in this running space and
being a coach, he inspired me.
You know, I don't think I wouldhave ever chased my dreams to
be a running coach if he wasn'tborn.
You know, I always sayfatherhood is the best hood.
Honestly, he has given mesuperpowers.
It had me never to fearanything, you know, and it was
my go-getter to continue todrive.

(24:49):
I was never going to do none ofthe things I was gonna do until
he was born.
All my success in runningstarted when he was born.
Everything that I wanted tochase, that I was afraid of,
started when he came to my life,and he's my reminder.
Every time that I I feeloverwhelmed or don't feel that I
can do something, I look at himand he I always want to be his

(25:10):
role model and to say like hey,my dad chased his dreams.
He created outlets and createdspaces and created events and
moments that nobody will everforget.
So he's my reminder to keepdoing all the things that I'm
doing it's so special.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Well thanks, jacks, for joining us for just a second
thank you and you're being sogood while your dad is doing
this interview.
Thank you, love you.
Go over there.
You can sit close by if youwant Go back over there.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
I'll call you back in a second.
Okay, thank you Good job.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
I feel like that's keeping.
I have nephews and they're just.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Don't peel it, leave it.
Leave the band-aid I almost gothurt because I almost got cut
okay you're being a reallyreally good boy.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Um, yeah, thank you.
Yeah, my sisters have nephewsand I'm, I'm, yeah, I can't even
imagine but yeah, it's a greatwork, thank you do you bring
jacks to your track practices?

Speaker 2 (26:10):
yes, you know, when jacks was first born, I was
eager and excited to bring Jaxto every single run.
When I got a running strollerfrom Nicole and Alex, my baby
showers.
Oh, so you run, yeah so yeah,when Jax, as soon as Jax was two
months old, I got on thatrunning stroller and I started
running with him.
I brought him to all mycommunity runs on Thursdays and
then I started doing long runswith him from Best Dad to

(26:33):
Prospect Park and back and I wasthat running dad with the
stroller for many years.
You know I was inspiredwatching, you know, adam and Dre
do it and I couldn't wait formy moment.
So, yeah, I was super sad whenhe finally outgrew the stroller
but I tried to hold on for ituntil he got big and too tall
for it.
I tried to.
And then, with him seeingrunning and being a part of

(26:56):
running, he didn't want to be inthe shoulder, he wanted to run
the streets, you know it wasn'tthat safe.
So I would take him to my trackpractices and you know, you know
I'm blessed that my son is, youknow, well behaved and he'll
relax.
But he also is a kid at thesame time and I don't want him
to stop being a kid so he gets,gets excited.
He's seen people running a track.
He wants to do the track.
He did hill repeats one timewith us at Zoo Hill at Prospect
Park.

(27:16):
He's just a fun kid and heloves to do it, where now he's
done a lot of races himself forNew York Roadrunners all the
races that.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
I created.
So, yeah, that's so.
Yeah, cause I think I sawsomething that you posted that
you said didn't want to make itever feel like forced, or it was
just like you're excited thathe's excited to just do it on
his ownyeah, and that's got to be an
interesting balance, because atthe same time, you're probably
thinking like, oh man, like thiswould be so fun for us to run
together, but it's just awesomethat he's just choosing to do it

(27:43):
too, like you're never gonnaforce, no, never I just want him
to create his own path.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
You know, he doesn't have to do any of the things
that I'm doing you know, but thefact that he's excited, he
wants to do.
He always says, daddy, when'smy next race, when's the next
mile?
You know we ran the family mile, brooklyn mile, and that was
the first time I experienced myson run a full mile with no stop
on the road and from there, he,he, he had the feeling he's.
He's always excited.
He's like when's my next race?
What's?

Speaker 1 (28:05):
my next race.
I think I saw the video of thebrooklyn mile, um and so, uh,
there was the blk mile, whichwas in bedstuy, and that was in
your neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
And then there was a black future yeah, so I know it
gets kind of confusing.
So the black mile I created in2020, it was in my old
neighborhood.
It was in the borderline ofridgewood east new york highland
park, where I was just bringingpeople together because there,
you know, there was no otherraces going on and I wanted
something that was for us, by us.
And then I created Black FutureMonth Run, which was a

(28:36):
solidarity run to celebrate notonly the history and heritage of
black history, but also tofocus more on the present and
the future of where we're going.
And that was also theopportunity to bring all the
black and brown leaders andclubs together, which was
something that was probably thebiggest challenges, because
everybody has their own agenda.
But the fact that black andbrown leaders and clubs together
which was something that wasprobably the biggest challenges
because of you know, everybodyhas their own agenda but the
fact that I was able to mergeeverybody to come together.

(28:59):
For the last couple of years,we made it a tradition, like
every February, whether it's thethird or the last Saturday of
the month, that we put aside ourlong runs, our marathon
training goals and focus on thefoundation that you know that I
had to envision for, buteverybody was involved with it
and it's become super specialand we've just did it this past
february, for our fifth yearanniversary.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
So what kind of people do you notice?
You said it was open to walkerstoo, so not just runners.
But um, what kind of people doyou notice?
Come out for these events I alot, you know.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
I see, you know all walks of life.
Because know, just because it'ssaid black doesn't mean that
we're necessarily saying thatyou, if you're not of color,
that you can't attend or beinvolved.
You know, I think that would bepure ignorance.
It's the same way if you wereto be in a black history class
or a lesson, you wouldn't sayonly people of color to learn.
You know, I think it's anopportunity for all of us to

(29:49):
learn you know all ethnicities.
Think it's an opportunity forall of us to learn you know all
ethnicities.
So we always try to expressthat because I think everybody
feels when we say certain youknow languages, or next very
brands or not even brands, butethnicities itself, it kind of
tells people that no, you can'tbe here, but it's open to all.
And I think what we love to seeabout it because it's not about
just, yes, that's the abilitythat we do.

(30:10):
We could run, run, but we wantto open it up and once we tell
people that, hey, it is open fora walker or a jogger or kids,
you know, a lot of peoplebrought their kids this year and
my brother, troy, had led thekids with their scooters and Ava
from Teamwork led the walkersand Malika took care of the
backpack, and now all of themwere excited because they're

(30:31):
like this is space for all of us.
It's not yes, it says run, butthere is emphasis on the jog,
the walk, the walk, jog, becausethe whole goal for that is to
just bring all of us together.
You don't have to be a runnerto be a part of this, because
we're not focusing on therunning component only when

(30:55):
we're bringing people together,we're speaking the message of
where we are to, where we'reheaded, you know, and all the
history behind us, and why wecelebrate black history and we
fuse it to black future, andwhere we're headed to next.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
That sounds like a very inclusive way to get people
out there, and I've seen thevideos.
There's tons of people thatshow up and it seems like a
really fun thing to be a part ofjust working towards spreading
awareness and just having peoplein the community.
Seeing all these people out outin the streets must, uh, make
such an impact.
Um, so I do want to talk aboutyour running itself, like the,

(31:23):
the training that you do, um,since you have pretty impressive
times.
Um, you ran a 241 marathon lastyear uh, 2023, yeah, and I mean
that's amazing, especiallygoing from it's.
It's even more impressive to meif you're a 400 800 meter runner
to take your head to themarathon and run a competitive
time.
That's a lot because it's justsuch a different mindset of that

(31:44):
kind of run.
It's a, it's a different sportin my mind it is um so um.
Out of all your achievements asa runner and I've looked into
your stats and stuff what do youconsider your proudest moment?

Speaker 2 (31:58):
What I consider my proudest moment.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
If we're talking about speed, because I know
you're not only about speed butI'm saying like, you know what
I'm saying, I know you're veryaccessible to everybody and it's
not about how fast you are.
No pace is too slow.
But, if you were looking atyour times and you're like yeah,
you know, no pace is too slow.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
But if you were looking at your times and you're
like, yeah, that was like I wason it, what would it be?
I would probably say BostonMarathon 2023, when I had told
the goal, my ambitious goal oftime, and everyone's like what
was your goal?

Speaker 1 (32:21):
that you told everyone.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
I told everyone I was going to run a 240 and everyone
laughed.
Everyone said, no, you're notgoing to be able to do that.
How are you going to go from256 a year ago no, two years ago
at that, you know, at an easiercourse.
You know that's what everyonesaid.
I ran philly and they're in 256.
There's like there's no way.
Two years later you're gonnarun 240.
You're out of your mind.

(32:42):
You ran boston a year ago.
You ran 303.
It's like, no, you can't do it.
I was like no, I am.
I I said it out loud and I'mgonna.
I'm gonna show you why I'mgonna be able to do it.
And that was the first timethat, not only to prove to
myself, but I wanted to prove toeveryone.
And that was probably theperfect training cycle until it
wasn't and what nobody knowsthat happened before that

(33:03):
training cycle.
Like anything can happen.
Uh, me being me, you know,energetic running.
I was coaching my club, crownshy, crown high, and I was doing
my best impression of backwardsrunning, recording, doing
content.
Then I realized on the westside, uh, highway, there was
this steel garbage can and I ranright into it, right into the

(33:27):
ribs.
I have the video.
I never posted it.
You hear me, you hear the fall,you hear the agony, you hear
the pain, you hear me screaming?
Or record it, because I wasrecording.
And this happened maybe likefive or six weeks before Boston.
All dreams shattered.
I was in pain.
Thankfully nothing broke, norip, but bruise swollen.

(33:47):
And every time I would try torun pain, I cough pain.
But I didn't tell nobody.
I said I don't want no excuses,we're going to just thug it out
, thug it out.
And I just did the road ofrecovery and I said I still have
that ambitious goal and bestbelieve.
I made no excuses and I said Ihaven't run nothing past five

(34:09):
miles in almost five weeks.
And I was like, guess what?
I trust my God, I trust myfaith, I trust my training and
if I say I'm going to do it, I'mgoing to do it.
And I ran 242 in Boston and Ididn't feel short of my coming.
I felt impressed and you knowthat Boston Elliot ran his first
Boston for the first time.

(34:30):
A lot of elites, it rained thatday, you know not everybody, a
lot of people didn't have a goodrace.
I had my best race because Iran my best time, but I also
beat everybody that I wanted tobe and that was my biggest goal.
I was like I want everybody tosee and feel that I'm coming for
this crown, that I'm, I feellike I can gain.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
I love that.
I relate to that so muchbecause I feel like that.
That's like when I came on thescene, I met you you were pacer
in 2019 I said to everybody I'mgonna run a 245 and everyone was
like you are not gonna do that,you are not even a runner, like
you've never even really racedanything, and so but that chip
on my I didn't run a 245, but Idid run a 244 several years
later, but like I had that chipon my shoulder of, like you all

(35:11):
said, I can't do it, yeah.
So now I'm gonna do it and it'slike it's such a powerful thing
, yeah, yeah, and I, I loved itand I gave it all out.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
If you see the photos of me at boston, that finish
line, I collapsed, I blacked outbecause I knew I gave it my all
.
It was literally everything inmy body to gain the time.
And even brian smooth runnerclowns me now.
He said if you didn't stop bymile 21 to show love to the
cheer zone you would have ran240.
But I said I needed it becauseif you ever ran boston you know

(35:40):
how, honestly, it's not exciting.
It's not exciting course is inthe suburbs, it's actually in
boston into new.
And so mile 21 was my family,my culture, you know, pioneer,
sid, gftc, everyone who came out, trailblazers, and I was like I
need to have this momentbecause Boston is something or
not given and I knew how Imattered to them because I set a

(36:02):
goal and to me at that time mygoal was to be the fastest
non-elite African-Americanrunner in my community.
And that day I proved it and Igained the title.
Because I literally wentagainst all the best the Tommy
runs, the Knox Robinson, everyathlete that I know, lance Woods
from Detroit, everyone and Iwanted to prove that I deserve

(36:25):
to be here.
But I also want the number onetitle and I went for it and I
got it.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
That's great.
I'm sure your team was freakingout.
Yeah, oh my, my god so manymessages.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
I mean granted, I mean I blacked out, so I was
gone for a little bit, so I'd.
Even medical is the one thattold me my time, when they woke
me up and like stripped me downand whoa it was it was crazy.
It was crazy.
I didn't know what happened.
You know, obviously I wasn'tgonna look at my watch of my
time, but I really passed outalready.
So, uh, yeah, I didn't know.
I didn't know my time until Iwoke up and they told me, like,
how does it feel to run thistime?

Speaker 1 (36:55):
it's amazing.
I remember seeing strava likethat day and just going, whoa,
okay, yeah, wow, um.
So I mean, but you've also runother like your, your 5k,
everything the else that you'verun that's fat or longer than
the 400 800 meter that you weredoing in high school are all
competitive fast time.
So it does match.
It's not like you ran a 241 or242 out of yeah, nothing like

(37:18):
you had the other times yeah,but it was, it was.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
You know how it is it's just hard to do it for such
a long distance and yeaheveryone's prediction of me.
You know, when they saw it waslike, oh, you could run these
times, but it was never matchingto the marathon yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
So is it a 608 pace or what is the pace for like a
241 I?

Speaker 2 (37:37):
think it was two six, six minute yeah definitely low.
It was super low and um and I,I was running all my miles after
mile three at the bostonmarathon, I think everything was
under 555.
I was just on a high, just Icould not be stopped.
I, I was so I didn't evennotice it rained, I just was so
locked in.
But it also looked at all thephotos.

(37:59):
You see, I acknowledge thecrowd.
I had my tongue out.
I'm waving, I'm doing this, butI couldn't be stopped.
I had to go and I was becauseyou're having so much I almost
forgot what happened to my ribs,you know, and I was so
concerned even getting on thebus.
I'm like man, I don't know, manjust but shout out to kelly,
who gave me the recipe kellykent and whatever she gave me,
made sure that I was able to runthat time yeah, that's

(38:21):
incredible.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
Another uh time of years that I I know a lot of
people are probably like okay,we get it like fast, whatever.
But there's things that I likecare about and your brockston
miler time from 2023 is out ofthis world 52 or 54, 14.
Yeah, so it was a 526 minutemile.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
That is that.
That doesn't make sense to me.
That's like your 5k pace, yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
So I don't.
I told you 2023 was my Jordanyear.
I couldn't be stopped.
You know, after killing Boston,I took time off, but was my
Jordan year.
I couldn't be stopped.
After killing Boston, I tooktime off, but I just kept going.
You know what it was?
I did all the outside stuff.
I changed my environment interms of the friends that I had,
the people I was spending timewith, but also I changed my diet
.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
And.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
I really locked into my faith.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
What is your diet?
I'm actually really curious.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Well, it's not the same anymore, but uh, when you
were locked in like that, likewhen you ran a 54 14 to the
bronx time I learned what wereyou eating?
I stopped eating.
A lot of junk, a lot of snacks.
I cut down a lot of fried foods.
Uh, I cut down a lot of sugarydrinks.
I would only have sugary drinkson the weekend because my
weakness is pure leaf lemon.
But I I stuck to that and I hada crazy sweet tooth my whole

(39:34):
life.
But once I started training forboston and I went through my
pantry and threw all my snacksaway, I lost my sweet tooth.
I always needed something sweetafter dinner, but I no longer
had the desire for that anymoreand it stuck with me.
I was, I didn't eat cookies andI used to dog down a tray of
chips, ahoy, dipping in milk.
All that was gone.
I had no taste every time.

(39:54):
So I would go to a bakery.
Somebody would give mesomething sweet.
To be polite, I'll take a bite.
But I never finished it and Iwas like respectfully, I don't.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
So what kind of meals are you eating like?
What?
Are you eating what I'm?

Speaker 2 (40:03):
eating just, uh, a lot of salmon.
I fell in love with a lot ofsalmon.
I became a fake pescatarian, soI really just focused more on
fish than just actual meat and,uh, yeah, cut out I never ate
pork or beef.
That was always my thing since2016.
So it was just really a lot offish and a lot of fish, uh,
carving in terms of more rice,cutting down on the bread and

(40:26):
really just the fried food,which was my weakness, based off
of where I lived that I alwayshad access to.
So I cut that down and I lost alot of weight and I was in the
gym a lot.
Surprisingly, people don'tthink that I work out, but I
actually do.
I had.
I had my core was super tight,I had like eight pack, I was rip
, I was thinner but I was lean.
I was strong, I was cut and mespending five times day of the

(40:49):
week in the gym, plus running,and I never ran the mileage that
people run.
I didn't run 80 miles a week,60.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
What kind of mileage do you run?
I know you said somewhere youdid like 40 miles a week, like
pretty much all year round justto stay in shape, yeah.
And that's I like that.
I'm kind of in the samecategory where just it's like
stays in shape, but like not toomuch.
So what does it look like?

Speaker 2 (41:08):
like I just honestly did 45 to close to 60, and that
was it, and only because I wouldalways have to find time
between coaching and being a dadand, you know, being in a
relationship trying to balanceit all.
But nothing was forced andthat's what it was.
I had a my mindset, it was mymental that kept me going, my
mental every time I said I wasgoing to do, I was going to do

(41:30):
so.
Going into the bronx 10 mile, Ihad no idea what I was going to
do, you know, but I I that Ihaven't had a well, I'm lying.
I did have a big race, you know, my goal was to finally break
16 minutes in the 5k and my boy,my brother troy, said I could
do it.
And you know, uh, I wanted myson to witness it and he said,
watch, if your son comes, you'regonna do it.
And I finally did the ProspectPark 5K series and I broke 16

(41:53):
minutes for the first time and,man, that was my all out effect.
You're talking about 80 degreeson a Wednesday evening, right?
But I did it.
And once I did it and I wasbecause that was my next big
race after Boston I didn't runnothing.
Competitive so fast forward,bronx 10 mile.
It was the week before Berlinwhich I sabotaged myself for
that.
Competitive so fast forward,bronx 10 mile.
It was the week before Berlinwhich I sabotaged myself for

(42:15):
that.
Jerry Faulkner, which wassomebody I looked up to and
admired to a lot in the runningspace because I used to work
with him in Nike and he's theone who believed in me in my
early ages and I remember himcoming back from injury and you
know he was always fast.
So me sharing the space withhim in that Bronx 10 mile pushed
me and I remember I couldn'tbelieve I was holding this pace.
It was like 5 35.
Then he told me okay, aftermile four, I'm gonna drop it

(42:35):
down to 5 20.
I said, wait, what?
I said?
Oh no, forget it.
He's I don't got it.
He's like, no, you got, it'slike no, I don't got it.
So I watched him and I keptlooking at him.
I'm like you know what?
I think I could go with himactually, and I went with him.
And then there was this anothergentleman that was on my team,
terry from Austin.
Shout out to Terry.
He had an injury.
Oh, terry, I know Terry.
Yeah, he had an injury, but hewas smoking me the whole entire

(42:58):
race and at the time he was aGFTC member and my pride kicked
in.
I said Terry's injured, yet heis killing me in this Bronx
10-miler.
I'm watching him come aroundand I still haven't made the
loop around and he's killing meright now.
And I was like when I look atNew York road runners, it's
going to show GFTC and it'sgoing to show Terry and

(43:18):
everyone's going to ask in theteam who is Terry?
And then it's going to sayJerry.
And my pride was like I cannotand I literally chased him like
a rabbit.
He always had a huge gap untilthat last mile and I went for it
and I was like I'm gonna beatTerry that day now.

(43:38):
He's way faster than me now.
Shout out to Terry I love whathe's doing in Austin, but he's
the reason him and JerryFaulkner is the reason I ran
that time, which also destroyedme, because then I ran Berlin
five days later and I had nolegs left yeah, yeah, yeah well,
maybe it's worth it no, no yeahthat time is amazing and like
if it sacrificed your Berlinmarathon.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
I don't know yeah um it.
It's so funny that, like everyevery person you reference, like
I knew Terry, cause I met himin Austin at one point, and then
Jerry Faulkner is a legend inthe ring, like he's like a
master's runner but he's so fastand he definitely has that
thing of like.
If he's going at a certain pace, just follow him, like I've.
I've been behind him in aworkout before and it's just
like you feel like you just haveto do it, no matter what

(44:18):
Exactly.
It's so crazy.
This community is quite small,like everyone overlaps with each
other in multiple ways.
So, like you mentioned that,like when you say you're going
to do something, you do it.
You've proven that.
But how do you deal with thedays when you wake up and, like
my producer, jason and I feltlike this today where, wake up,
I was coming in from Dumbo andwe both felt tired and slow and

(44:41):
I was like I just don't feellike doing stuff.
How do you get over that andjust get out the door and run
when you're not feeling like it?

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Your strongest strength is when you don't want
to do something and you do it.
I think I wake up with thatevery day.
I tell myself, man, I don'twant to go coaching, man, I want
to take a day off for myself.
Man, I don't want to train, Idon't want to run in the rain, I
don't want to run in the winter.
But every time, as soon as Ijust get up because I can't go

(45:09):
back to sleep once I'm up I justtell myself you're going to do
it anyways.
And once you do it, you're goingto understand why and those are
the reminders of when I getinto those races is like,
remember every morning when youstarted sacrificing time, going
out late night to now, going tobed at 10, to waking up at 6 for
the gym and to run.

(45:29):
That's the reason why youseparate yourself from everybody
else, because you know what itfeels like to be tired and not
want to do it, but you do itanyway.
So that's your greateststrength and that's that's me.
All the time and half thethings I do.
I don't never want to do it.
I'm just like I look for amillion excuses, but then I
remind myself of I'm a latebloomer, I want to do this, and

(45:50):
there's also people counting onme to do this so I can't let
people down I get that.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Yeah, I feel that way all the time.
I'm always barteringtering withmyself, like this morning I'm
like setting the alarm, I'm likeno, no, no, like 15 more
minutes, like, oh, you couldjust, you could just skip your
run today, but I will hatemyself if I do so, I just have
to do it.
But yeah, it's just like good.
I always say to myself don'tthink, just go.
And that helps a lot.
But so Some of the fun thingsthat come along with being a

(46:17):
public figure in the runningcommunity include different
shoots, and you and I did ashoot together a couple of years
ago for Garmin and thosepictures are still circulating
all over the place.
I see them at races all thetime.
Yours, especially you, were theone who had like the posters in
the expos of you know all oversocial media and stuff.
What kind of fun things haveyou done like that?
That's just kind of been theresult of being a community

(46:39):
leader you fun things have youdone like that?

Speaker 2 (46:40):
that's just kind of been the result of being a
community leader.
You know what it's funny?
I always tell people that noneof the opportunities of modeling
come with me.
Being fast has nothing to doabout my speed or my times.
I was like there's tons ofpeople that's faster than me.
My.
It's literally my look, myattitude and my energy.
That's infectious.
That people you know refer meto a brand or not, because I'm

(47:03):
not part of an agency.
I don't reach out to brands.
They come finding me from arecommendation and it also says
the foundation of who I am as aperson and I'm super blessed.
You know I went from working ata retail at Nike to becoming a
global campaign with Nike forthe VaporMax in 2017, to then

(47:23):
working with Nike again inseveral different projects and
even Garmin, which is myfavorite all-time shoot to this
day.
You know, just because that wasthe first time when I got to
work with you know a lot ofgreat individual talents like
yourself and Vito and Ash, butalso the production agency, and
they really listened to us andthey didn't overwork us.
They listened to us and caredfor us and I never seen that so

(47:44):
much care for talent, as theycall us.
So you know, and it's just beeninspiring to just be involved
in being a part of that Cause.
Every day, when I get thosemessages like yo, this is my
coach right here, like evenrecently at an expo, something,
something that Garmin that samephoto, or when I walk into an
expo and someone's like is thatyou?
I'm like yeah, that was themore fit me with the red hair,

(48:07):
but it's, it's, it's, it'smind-blowing.
Even my son got to see it.
We went to, uh, best Buy atAtlantic Terminal and he saw my
face and he was like daddy,daddy, that's you.
So just how remarkable andexciting.
That is to say, I was just anordinary runner who ran for
grievance and then I foundpurpose and I turned my purpose
into passion and I spread itacross my community and this is

(48:29):
just my rewards of all the hardwork that I've done.
And then I get to pass thebaton to the amazing people like
Yvonne to be the face of theNew York City Marathon, or
Malika for the Got Milk, andjust seeing how all of us were
just ordinary people doingordinary things and now we are
the faces to all these amazingbrands and company.
It has nothing to do about ourspeed.

(48:51):
It's all about who we are andhow we spread the energy, and I
love it and I'm grateful and Ihope I continue to keep showing
my lovely faces on thesecampaigns.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
So malika was also the one in the times square
board yes yvonne, that's christy, so they're both gold finger
truck.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
So or they were everyone's go finger truck yeah
there's no rules, you know yes,we are a membership base, but
everybody who has touchedsurface with us, whether you're
a member or not, or you know wehad community runs, which was
always a free run thursday.
They would just bring peopletogether.
You know, every to me,everyone's family, you know I
don't see anybody differentbecause you don't wear my jersey
or you don't rep because I waslike then in a day we're, we're

(49:29):
still tied for so many differentreasons.
You know, like malika's, my, mybig sis, and ivan's, my little
sister, and just everybody thatI've been a part of and we, as
long as we cross paths and we've, I think, everyone's Goldfinger
Track Club to be honest, that'scool.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
I kind of feel like Goldfinger Track Club at this
point.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Yeah, you are Exactly .
Yeah, everyone is Everyone'sGoldfinger Track Club.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
Yeah, I love it.
And so, speaking of all thebrands and stuff that you've
been part of, I'm really curiousabout your involvement with
Pione pioneers, which I guess isa black owned brand, the only
black owned running apparelcompany in boston, based in
boston in us, in the us, in theus and so what is your role
there?
What or what was your role?
I don't know if you're still.

(50:08):
Are you still working?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (50:09):
so shout out to sid baptiste.
He is a boston native.
You know he had the idea.
You know he had pioneers runclub out there in boston and
then, you know, he similar pastright because I had a clothing
brand and I went into running.
He did the opposite.
He had a running club and thenhe went into, you know more.
So, uh, the street aestheticand it was trying to, you know,

(50:31):
fuse the worlds together.
You know streetwear culture and, uh, running, which is two of
the great components that we'reseeing today.
You know everyone's wantingperformance to be part of you
know, high fashion, parisFashion Week and so on.
So Sid had a brand.
He has a brand now calledPioneers, and I was in love with
the idea.
You know the message behind it.

(50:51):
We run the culture and you knowI had the idea.
It's like, you know, I met SidWe've met each other through
passing, but officially met eachother in miami in 2022.
We had a conversation.
We talked about life, kids,family, because he's a family
man himself and then fastforward when I was going to
boston 2023.
I love his model.
You know he didn't see people.
You had to buy gear and Iremember I came up to him, you

(51:14):
know a little cocky.
He was like I was like yo sendme some stuff.
He's like, no, you gotta buystuff, homie.
And when he told me that I waslike in my mind at first I was
like you know who I am right.
And then I was like no, he doesknow who I am and he's telling
me exactly what he tellssomebody else.
I am a consumer.
I'm not jerry francois who runsthis or runs out.
I'm a consumer so I bought thepioneer pants for 115 plus tax

(51:35):
and from there I had I hadnothing but respect for him.
So I saw an opportunity wherethe brand could elevate.
And you know New York City thegreatest.
You know the.
It's the mecca of running.
I don't care what anybody say,I think New York City is the
greatest city in the world whenit comes to running.
No one can outdo what we'redoing.
We create everything andeverybody else follows the

(51:57):
umbrella.
I know unbi biased opinion.
I know people are going to beupset I agree with you.
Yeah, right but I saw anopportunity where where they
could have sid was doingeverything by himself, and I've
I've been there before.
When you're doing aboutyourself, it's so hard.
So I told sid I would love tobe the creative director for
pioneers new york.
And he said what does that looklike?
What does does that mean?

(52:17):
And I said, hey, I will createcontent, I'll create
storytelling through New YorkCity, I'll create the ambassador
program and I will startbringing Pioneers to everyone's
front door.
My goal is to have everybody,that's black or brown, in

(52:40):
Pioneers gear in New York Cityby 2024.
And then we hit the world.
So he gave me the opportunity.
You know, I didn, I didn't.
I was like you don't have topay me for none of this I want
to do this.
I want I, I'm passionate aboutthis brand and he let me have
the idea.
He let me do what I needed todo.
You know I worked with drewreynolds for one of our first
shoots, introducing pioneersinto a larger scale, into new
york, and then we were able tocreate a lot of great content
with d hash and I was able tocreate, you know, we did uh,

(53:02):
spin the block, we did thepioneers party in the summer in
brooklyn and we got uh.
Then we chased majors 2024.
We went to every differentmajor, got to experience that
and bring all the collectivestogether and I was able to
curate, you know, paneldiscussions with different
phenomenal runners like nick andtommy runs and just everybody,

(53:24):
and it was, it was beautiful.
You know I I'll forever beindebted to sid for giving me
the opportunity.
But you know, as everything youknow, we all grow.
You know sid is doingphenomenal things working with
brooks and a lot of things havechanged around and he has now
more uh hands on deck.
So I kind of step back a littlebit and, you know, let him
flourish in that.
And obviously, my life.

(53:44):
You know I had moreresponsibilities on my and my
son being older, my club gettingbigger right, but I'm still
involved.
Pioneers is, you know, that'sfamily to core yeah, it's a
really great brand.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
I mean I I literally didn't know that they weren't,
as I didn't.
I always thought of them aslike one of the like.
You know there's like Solomon.
I would see the name and I'mlike, oh, these big brands.
I didn't know, it was like notthat big, not that long ago, but
it's just become so big andthey like sell it.
Nordstrom and REI, it's justamazing.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
It's phenomenal, and I'm happy for Sin and I look
forward to all the excitingthings that we're dropping.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
uh q end of q3, so stay tuned and pioneers for life
it makes sense that you're partof a creative role or that you
were part of like a creativepart of a fashion or apparel
company, because you are a verylike fashionable person and I
think part of the other appealof people brands using you in
their shoots and stuff um, likegarmin and the nike it's because

(54:39):
you present yourself as likesomeone who's a runner but then
also has like a sense forcreative fashion stuff.
So it kind of makes sense thatyou've been involved with a
brand like that.
Um, besides that kind of stuff,like in the creative side of
things, do you have any otherpursuits outside of running,
like creative ambitions thatyou're working on?

Speaker 2 (54:56):
yeah, you know, um, my whole goal is to, you know,
do everything bigger in my life.
You know I'm trying to createmore opportunities and do a lot
more work with, with the youth.
You know, create, curate moreprograms for like track and
field or running with kids withmy brother, troy.
I also work with my I alwayssay Troy because that's my guy,

(55:18):
troy who has Soka, made Me RunSoka Festival, which is infusing
more of the West Indiancommunity to get active and keep
going.
So I try to do that.
I've worked with a lot ofdifferent after school programs
and, you know, help build sportprograms and you know I also
want to become a life coach.
You know I feel I've become myown self therapist throughout

(55:39):
these years of my life and howI've raised myself and I've
always motivated and championeda lot of people around me.
But I would love to kind ofmake that a profession for
myself and help people, becauseI know my purpose.
I found my purpose in life.
My purpose was to help peopleand running allowed that.
How many lives that I'vetouched with running?
So I just know that there's somuch more I can do outside of

(56:00):
the running space.
So those are kind of the thingsthat I'm trying to get after
and even potentially move andtry out another city and kind of
rebrand and reset and do, doother things that can be
impactful.
I just want to be able tochange the world little by
little, and I did it withrunning.
But I want to know what elsecan I do it with, whether it is

(56:21):
with fashion or with clothes ormedia.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
You know, sky's the limit and I'm chasing it until I
can't be stopped yeah, Inoticed when I was doing
research on you, which sounds soofficial considering you're my
friend, but um, um, I think ofyou as my friend.
I'm like doing research and Isaw the word legacy was kind of
used a lot in various articlesor publications about you, like

(56:45):
the word legacy, and I wasthinking like I've read a lot of
things about a lot of differentrunners but there's not often
the word legacy, like JerryFrancois legacy.
So you are building a legacy ofsome kind with like how you've
developed this community andlike all the different things
that you've got your your handsin.
I was kind of curious what roleyour faith plays in all of this
, because when I think about youand purpose, you do bring up

(57:07):
your faith a lot when you'veposted on social media and I'm
just kind of curious what thatlooks like yeah, I'm very
spiritual.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
I wouldn't say I'm religious, you know I am.
I am Christian, but I just tryto tell people that God is what
brought me here and God is whatcontinues to push me.
You know, I went through a lotof trials and tribulations in my
life and it was every momentthat I felt weak or I was
breaking that I would rely onGod and even on my darkest times
he was able to pull me out thedark.

(57:34):
But I needed faith.
You know, it's tatted on me.
It says faith makes thingspossible, not easy, and that's
always been my motto with life.
And I think for me to havesomething to believe in is what
keeps me going and I try tospread that word, but not, you
know, not over, not necessarilyoverdue, but I always tell
people like that's what Ibelieve in, that's my faith.

(57:54):
You know whether you agree ordisagree, but I just know for me
, if I don't believe insomething, then I know that I
won't be able to do it and Ithink everything happens based
off of my belief and hearing theword of God and reading the
Bible every day and every night.
And I'm not perfect, by allmeans, I would never say that I
am like, I have a lot of flaws,I do sin, but I'm working

(58:16):
towards being a better versionof myself every day and I always
ask for forgiveness, and that'sthe key.
I take full accountability inevery action that I do, but I
always just know that God knowsthat, hey, I messed up here.
But how are you going to betteryourself to keep going?
And when you better yourself,you get better to people around
you, like your son and yourfamily and your team and your
community and the relationshipsyou continue to build.

(58:37):
So without faith, I don't thinkI could be able to do what I'm
doing.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
So yeah, I kind of want to take some of that faith
for the next time I decide torun a race and just go do a
Jerry Francois Bronx, 10 miler.
Yeah, yeah, just do it.
So what is next for you?
Race-wise, life-wise, likewhat's on the horizon for you?

Speaker 2 (58:57):
What's next on the horizon for me is, honestly, I
on the horizon for you.
What's next on the horizon forme is, honestly, I lost that
competitive drive.
I don't have the desires torace, no more.
You know, I think this, where Iam in life, I just kind of want
to just build family.
You know, I love my son dearlyand I love being a father and I
would love to have just thatfamily structure and just you.

(59:19):
You know, that's all I everwanted in life is a family.
So I think my priorities haveshifted more towards family and
building brands and businessesand evolving my brand and
expanding it.
I think I don't want to just besuch in just one market.
I want to be in differentmarkets and figuring out how can
I expand that and I think Ineed to just try new things.

(59:40):
So, and then running I justwant to always still be in good
shape and race here and there,but there's no driven time for
me.
I think I have one more majorleft, which is Tokyo.
I don't plan to chase seven, Ijust want to chase six.
But I also want to have that asa family moment.
I want, you know, my son to bethere.
I want you know, gabby to bethere.

(01:00:01):
I want to be able to afford tobring my whole family there and
my friends to see that moment,because I think it will be
something special.
A kid from Brooklyn just got hissixth major and I would like to
make it a documentary and dockit, so maybe we could play this
on Netflix, because I thinkthere's so much in running that
we all have stories to tell, andI think it's only on a small
scale.
We tell it because we only usethe platforms that we have,

(01:00:23):
which is I thank you forallowing us to have a voice,
because our captions can't belong enough for people to read.
No one's going to read yourStrava, and I think all the
great content we put togethercan tell a bigger story, to
inspire more folks.
And that's what I'm trying todo.
Is, how do we expand thesestories?
Like myself, so you know that'skind of what I'm just chasing.

(01:00:45):
And then, yeah, I just don'twant to race forever.
I'll run forever, but I don'twant to race, for I think I'm
happy with the times that I'vereached.
Yeah, maybe one day I'll goafter a marathon and break 240,
who knows?
But I am running new york citymarathon and this will be my
knows, but I am running New YorkCity Marathon and this will be
my first one.
Oh, that's, exciting beingcompetitive.
You know, I had a different ideafor New York City Marathon.

(01:01:06):
I was going to break headlinesand do something else.
But I can't say you know, we'regoing to pray.
And hopefully that can stillhappen.
But that's all I have is NewYork City Marathon and I and I'm
going to train my tail off andreally run a good marathon.
My goal is to run a 250comfortable.
I know people are like yo, youran this time, you're out of
time, but New York is a hardmarathon.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
So I don't want to be like, oh yeah, I'm going to
break 240 there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
No, I want to run a 250, surviving and feeling good
about it Having fun.
Having fun, Like stopping atGFTC's Cheer Zone at mile nine,
showing love to Rue Crew at mile21, showing love to Harlem Run
at 23.
Like I want to be able to say,hey, I smacked all these hand
fives and photos and made thosemoments but still ran aggressive
and ran comfortable 250.

(01:01:51):
So New York City Marathon 2025,a comfortable, a relaxing and
happiness of a 250 marathon.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Awesome.
I'm sure so many people will becheering for you.
I know I will, um and yeah uh.
Thank you so much for coming onmy show.
If, if there's any way that youwant people to reach out to you
on instagram, go ahead and tell.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Tell us where we can find you yes, follow me on
instagram all social media asking parker go 2021, or type in
hire coach j or follow gftcbrooklyn, and I always follow
back.
I always respond to every email, every dm, and I don't look at
anybody as what you have asfollowers or likes.
I'm a social person.

(01:02:31):
See me in the street, talk tome, let's have a conversation,
let's have a discussion andlet's be better together,
because I can't do it alone, nordo I want to, and I need your
help as much as you need my help, so let's help each other
amazing.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Thank you until next time, guys, just be fast, just
win.