I am a fourth-generation, Brings Three White Horses runner.
My Lala (grandfather) Nyal Brings ran.
My Ina (mother) Terra ran.
Every time I run, I run for them.
I run for my family.
I run for my relatives.
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I feel like I was born to run, even if I rejected it at times.
My Lala took me on my first run, which ended on an uphill back home.
I kept thinking: How is this fun?!
But I saw the joy it gave him, so I stayed with it.
(Mills later won gold in the 10K at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
)My grandfather never mentioned this to us until Mills told us at Lala Nyals funeral.
My mom and I were shocked to hear itbut the unmentioned victory shows the humility that my Lala had.
My Ina Terra was a sprinter and my Lala was her coach.
I startedwith 5Kand10K races, then moved down to the shorter distancesa mile, 3K races, and relays.
Being a fourth-generation runner is also about representation.
With my running, I am trying to create opportunities to call and bring people in.
We are our own storytellers and we can control the narrative of our past, present, and future.
These were such successes and was truly beautiful to see the support that came in.
So many of us are running with purpose.
This was a powerful prayer run and I learned so much.
Eleven Native runners from across Turtle Island (North America) came together to run in prayer.
And then, I ran the Truthsgiving 30 miler Prayer Run.
And running is advocacy.
This is why I run and what motivates me.
Im excited to keep on running.
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