Group aims to get black women running, healthy

Toni Carey of Virginia Beach called her mother one day a couple of years ago to tell her she was going to buy some running shoes.

"Your uterus is going to fall out," her mother warned her. "It's a white sport. That's just something black women don't do. Why running?"

Carey and her college friend, Ashley Hicks of New York City, laughed off the exchange and soon after, the two women started a running blog named "Black Girls RUN!"

About two years later, they started running groups, which have since grown to more than 60 all over the country.

Obesity has mushroomed into a national health crisis. The health effects are more staggering for blacks.

About 51 percent of black women 20 years old and over are obese, compared with 33 percent of white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

This is where Black Girls RUN! comes in, Carey said.

The Hampton Roads running group has about 250 members who run up to four times a week in Norfolk, Chesapeake and on the Peninsula.

Sometimes, they train for marathons and other races together.

Carey said that not all of the women are Florence Griffith Joyner types, though. Some jog. Others walk.

And the group has a few members of other races and ethnicities, Carey said.

Carey, a Nashville, Tenn., native, wasn't always a runner.

She began running in 2008, with encouragement from her husband, who was a college sprinter.

The benefits have been plentiful. She credits running with helping her lose 20 pounds she gained in college, and also being an inexpensive form of therapy.

"There's nothing like the way I feel when I run," Carey said. "When I have a bad day or am stressed out, it's cheaper than paying a therapist."

Carey said she has been inspired by first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign, which encourages children to exercise and eat healthy.

"We're all trying to fight obesity, whether it's with kids or minorities, and we all have to do our part with lowering the statistics," Carey said.

About 20 women showed up for an evening run in Norfolk's Ghent area during an unseasonably warm day in early November.

Joy Golston of Hampton ran while pushing her 3-year-old daughter, Deja, in a three-wheeled stroller. She's been with the group since April and heard about Black Girls RUN! from a sorority sister who runs in the Washington, D.C., group.

Golston, a special education coordinator, said the group has helped her maintain good health. So far, she's lost about 15 pounds and said she has more energy. She's also competed in running events and likes the friends she's made.

Sherita Parks of Chesapeake joined the group in June after finding it online. She runs three times a week.

Parks, a graduate student and project manager with Bank of America, said running has helped her manage stress.

She said she ran with another group before having gastric bypass surgery six years ago and didn't feel the same camaraderie that she does with Black Girls RUN!

Carey said she is proud of the success that the running groups and blog have brought. She's been featured on the Michael Baisden radio show, in Shape magazine, The Huffington Post and BET.com. Carey also is looking to start her first international running groups in London and Ontario soon.

"It's just grown into something we couldn't have dreamed of," she said.

Jennifer Jiggetts, (757) 222-5150, jennifer.jiggetts@pilotonline.com