Midsize Business 

A candid conversation with the co-chair of the Running Industry Diversity Coalition Alison Désir is changing running for the better. Her journey as a runner began, like so many do, as a personal challenge. But after completing her first marathon, she wanted to help others achieve the same experience and started a community group, Run Harlem, that continues to thrive today. Désir has been a force in the movement for improved access and racial inclusion in road running, and she currently co-chairs the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC), an organization that is working to “create a more equitable and inclusive running industry where race, religion, gender identity, sexuality, immigration status, socioeconomic status, and ability do not serve as barriers for full enjoyment.” “We are looking at the ways that historically, Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) have been made invisible in this industry, both in the community and in positions of power,” Désir said of RIDC’s work. The group has recently earned non-profit status and a search for an executive director is ongoing. RIDC provides resources and education for events and race directors who want to produce inclusive, safe and welcoming events for all. The running world has long been an overwhelmingly white space, and Désir’s voice is one of many now working to change that. She’s currently writing a book about the experience of BIPOC participants in the sport and revisits the last running boom through their experience. In 2021, she was named Director of Sports Advocacy for Seattle-based women’s running brand Oiselle. In 2022, she received Running USA’s first Award of Excellence for her work in the running space. I was grateful for the chance to sit down with Alison Désir to discuss how race directors can take the first steps to improve their events, building community at Oiselle, and much more. Read on to join the conversation. (Ed. note: Interview questions and responses have been condensed for clarity.) Running USA: You are the Director of Sports Advocacy at Oiselle.  Tell us about what that means and what you're working on? Alison Désir: My role really has three parts to it. There's the internal piece, which is about really looking at employee culture, and what is the language that we're using? What are our values? And how do we create connection and trust internally? The second piece is about the Oiselle Volée. The Volée is a 3500-member, women-only global organization. It's folks from all walks of life who love the brand and love the sport. And so part of my role is really about how we can grow the Volée, either in terms of depth of what we're offering the membership or width (of participation). I believe that the Volée could have 100,000 members. It’s a space for women to connect and talk about clothes, but also talk about life issues and improving the sport. The last piece is about growing Oiselle to everybody. Oiselle is a small but fierce and growing women's brand. Being there, I realized just how unique that is. Everybody at the organization identifies as a woman. There are not many companies that can say the same. And what are the ways that we can get this message across? Our values are to make great products, improve the sport, and really do good. So how can we share this message with more folks? Roughly speaking, that's what I'm here to do. When you're talking about the Volée, how do you become part of this group? AD: The Volée has changed over the past several years. It's now over 10 years old. Initially, it was a brand ambassador group and people applied to represent the brand. But what we've realized over the years is that people were making really strong connections. And it was more than just this outward facing ambassadorship. It was more like a life changing community. The Volée is open to all. Now we have two seasons of openings. We're hoping to move to a model where you can join whenever. It’s $120 for the year, but there are many sponsorship spots available. If a community of women movers and shakers and activists sounds like something you want to be part of, don't worry about the cost. If that's a problem, just please apply. There are sponsored scholarships, so you can join. You've been very personally out in front leading the charge for running to be a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable space. What do you think the running industry needs to continue to do or needs to do that they haven't done to make that happen? AD: It's been really exciting. It's been really exhausting. It's been really frustrating. It's been all those things. I feel very privileged, though, to be in this position of connector and community builder within the industry. Before this, talking to a CEO was not really something I did. And now, It’s “hey Jim, hey Sally.” I recognize my privilege to be in those spaces. I also really honor and respect the folks that are in those (leadership) positions that recognize that it's important, that they have to be on these calls and involved in this work. At the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC), we're right now undergoing a strategic planning process, something I've never done, but it's really helping us hone in on what we're here to do, which is really talk about racial equity from an intersectional lens. We are looking at the ways that historically, Black, Indigenous, people of color have been made invisible in this industry, both in the community and in positions of power. We're doing this strategic planning to really think about what our goals are for next year, what are our goals for five years, 10 years? Thankfully, we've gotten some massive financial contributions. We are now a 501c3. And this money from – well, I can't reveal it just yet. But brands are realizing that this is important. It's important to have an organization that is focused on racial equity, that's focused on education and training, that's focused on providing talent, pipeline and job opportunities and creating new race directors who are people of color. Within a few months, we hope to have an executive director, and we've got some money to do the work that we do. I won't be (RIDC) co-chair forever, I'm realizing I will need to step away, because it's a lot of work. But I feel really good that we are setting up this permanent organization to be a respected and meaningful part of the industry. You have a compelling personal story about why you started running, can you share that? AD: Growing up, I had been a 400 and 4x400 meter runner. And it's so funny because I had these pipe dreams of being an Olympian. And now that I have actual friends who are Olympians, I'm like, I had no freaking idea. There is no chance in hell that I could have achieved that, because you have to want it in a way that I just did not want it. Anyway, so I was a 400, 4x400 meter runner. And then I went to school and life happened. I found myself in 2011/2012, very depressed. I could not find a job, I was in a really bad relationship. My father was very sick with Lewy body dementia. I was at home all the time. It felt like I was watching other people lead their lives. But thankfully, one of those people I saw was a Black guy who was training for a marathon. And this to me, really brings the point home about the importance of representation. Because I saw a Black person running and I was like, ‘this guy doesn't look like a runner.’ He was super average looking. I thought marathoners were skinny white guys. So he drew my attention. And I saw him do something that I thought that people like me didn't do. So I decided I'm going to give this a try. And like so many people can attest to, just the transformation in terms of seeing what was possible for me. Breaking up something really hard into little parts was a perspective that I began to apply outside of my life. So I ran my first marathon. Shout out to the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. And I raised over $5,000, and I decided, I want to build this community for people like me. At that time, and it's changing now, but the conversation around mental health was even more taboo. I wanted to put this front and center about the connection between mental and physical health. And then, of course, me being me, I went back to school and got my master's in counseling psychology. I always feel like I need to be the expert in things. And that's where I started off in building a community that was centered in mental health and really in racial justice, making sure that folks like me were out there running. I know we talked about this a while back, but you started the Harlem Run running movement. So how did you go from your first marathon to building out a community? AD: It was very, very slow. And not glamorous at first. I had been blogging about how amazing the (marathon) experience was. And I felt like, why am I just talking about this? Let me actually create this. So I started in November of 2013. For four months, nobody was showing up. It was just me every Monday. I would post photos of random people's feet so that it looked like there were people. There were a lot of sad calls to my mom at seven o'clock, crying, ‘nobody's showing up!’ But I just kept showing up. People really can become fanatical about running when you've had that first positive experience, and I felt like I needed to share it. And so that just kept me going. I was like, I know that people are going to love this when they show up. So I'm just going to keep showing up. And sure enough, within six months, there was one person and then five people and then a year and a half later, there's 150 people. Now, I live on the West Coast, in Seattle. But Harlem Run is still running and we now have a leadership team. That's a beautiful thing. They've embraced it as their own community, their own movement. I take pride in that it's never been about me. It's been about other people having that experience. Tell us about your book, which I understand will be out this fall? AD: Yes, “Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport that Wasn’t Built for Us” is now available. It tells my personal narrative, but it also tells the running boom story from a different lens and centers the experience of Black and Brown folks in running. I hope that this book opens eyes to the reality of the BIPOC running experience, and also offers tools around what we can do to make this space more inclusive. Where can runners and readers find it for preorder? AD: The best place to preorder is at Penguin Random House. I hope that it's something that everybody buys, and it gets on the New York Times bestseller list. Thank you so much for taking the time. I know you’re busy, but it’s always great to catch up with you.

This spring, Running USA was able to spearhead the production of a research-based white paper that will help races get started again. Recognizing that every area of the country is different, and protocols and regulations are constantly changing, epidemiologist and medical modeler Dr. Brooke Nichols has outlined the safest way for running events to get back to the starting line. Dr. Nichols brings a perfect mix of skills to this project. In addition to her epidemiology background, she has spent much of her career focused on mathematical modeling of HIV transmission. She’s also a dedicated runner who has completed the famous Comrades ultra. In 2020, those experiences came together when she was asked to help the Boston Athletic Association and other organizations with the science behind racing safely. Dr. Nichols recently sat down with Running USA for an interview on COVID-19, running, and her expectations for our industry and getting back to normal. If you haven’t had a chance to read the white paper, find it here by clicking through to a downloadable version. Many events have told us that they are taking this white paper with them as part of their permitting negotiations with city and county officials in advance of summer and fall events. Thanks to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Chicago Event Management, Brooks Sports and P3R for their sponsorship, which made this project possible. Tell us a bit about your background and how you decided to pursue quantitative implementation science?  I don’t think it’s something that most little kids dream of, becoming a mathematical modeler when they get older. Dr. Nichols: No single scientific method is enough to answer some public health questions. I was trained as an epidemiologist and infectious disease epidemiologist, and in the mathematical modeling of infectious diseases. But the number of tools that you need to answer so many questions in public health is large. Modeling isn’t enough, epidemiology isn’t enough. Sometimes you need health economics, and you need to bring all these other disciplines together. And so that is what we’ve been calling quantitative implementation science. And as a little girl, obviously, quantitative implementation science wasn’t a thing because I was not grown up yet. I’d always been interested in the fact that you can use math to explain the world around you. So that’s how I initially got started. My background is mostly in HIV modeling, and looking at different policy decisions around how can you prevent infections, as well as have you invested resources properly to ensure maximum impact? And then, along came coronavirus. How did that change your daily work? Dr. Nichols: At least half of my time has been spent on coronavirus since March of last year. Because it turns out there’s not a lot of infectious disease modelers out there. Infectious disease epidemiologists were in high demand, and we pivoted all of our skill sets to work on coronavirus. Over the past year, my primary work has been working with country governments to look at testing policies and global resource allocation specifically for coronavirus testing, and rapid antigen diagnostics. And I’ve been working with running events as well. How did you get started working with running events? Dr. Nichols: I’ve been running distances from 5k to ultra-marathons and been an avid runner for as long as I can remember. A former classmate of mine from my epidemiology studies was working with the Boston Marathon. He said, Brooke, you’re an actual infectious disease epidemiologist, and I know you run a lot. So why don’t you come talk to us, and we can see what we can figure out. And so that was my first connection between infectious disease epidemiology and my greatest passion, which is running. Since then, I’ve been serving on the Boston Marathon COVID-19 Medical & Event Operations Advisory Group. And we understand you’ve worked with some other major industry events as well? Dr. Nichols: Yes, I have also done some work with Bank of America Chicago Marathon and Spartan event series over the last several months. With our race director audience in mind, what are the scientific and health factors that need to play into their planning for events this year and beyond? Dr. Nichols: Coronavirus has evolved so rapidly, and our response has evolved rapidly. In a lot of ways, planning is about having a plan for  the worst case situation. For example, if vaccination isn’t scaled up to the extent we thought it was going to be, then what’s the plan? And trying to plan around that, instead of assuming that we’re going to hit certain targets. Because public health is notorious for not achieving the targets that they hoped that they would. But I do think we know enough now about the virus, how its transmitted, and almost all the key factors that come into running (and producing) a race. In the white paper you wrote that temperature checks are not useful or necessary for large events. Can you explain that? Dr. Nichols: Temperature checks are very likely to get the answer wrong. If you do not have coronavirus, it is likely to say incorrectly that this person needs to be screened out because of elevated temperature.  The other way around, I could have coronavirus and no temperature, and it would not screen me out. The Cochrane Review, a systematic review of research in health care and health policy, has come to this specific question of the usefulness of temperature screens and they’ve also concluded that they are not very useful. And in many people with COVID, especially asymptomatic infection, the probability of having an elevated temperature is low. You’d actually miss your most important group of people, those who are infected but not exhibiting symptoms. Another conclusion that was interesting is that surface transmission of coronavirus is something that we don’t really have to worry about. Can you explain why that is? Dr. Nichols: Early in the pandemic, we actually had no idea whether it was fomite transmission (surface contact transmission) or airborne aerosol droplets. I mean, the CDC didn’t officially agree on how it was transmitted until about a week ago. (Ed. note, conversation took place May 4, 2021.) But now there’s been enough data and enough people infected with coronavirus that we now know that the vast majority of transmission events occur through the air, via people breathing, and not through surfaces. There are very few cases that can be linked directly or proven through just contact on surfaces.  In the white paper you also talk about testing protocols and timeframes for doing testing. Can you talk a little bit more about that? Dr. Nichols: There’s been a lot of discussion about rapid antigen diagnostics vs. PCR testing.  Most everyone considers PCR testing as the gold standard, which it is to some degree as it detects virus. So if you have virus alive and replicating that’s transmissible, or dead virus, where you can no longer infect someone, it will pick up the virus and say that you’re positive. For example, if I was infected three weeks ago, and I coughed on you today, I wouldn’t actually give you coronavirus. But the test would say that I’m positive still. But the PCR test is good because it can pick up virus before you start transmitting, maybe a day or two in advance. Whereas an antigen test can only tell you sort of at that moment forward that you are no longer or that you are currently infectious. So antigen tests are actually really good testing tool to say whether or not you’re going to transmit the virus. Whereas PCR can give you a tiny bit of a signal ahead of time. The other difference is that PCR testing typically needs to go to a lab, and there’s a turnaround time, so you don’t actually know the result of your test until a day or two later. With rapid antigen tests, you know straightaway. What are the implications here for events, differentiating between the small local events and large events with tens of thousands of participants? Dr. Nichols: I tried to make the distinction in the white paper about large scale events. And when I talk about large scale events, I mean when people are traveling into a city or community from elsewhere. The reason that that matters is because not only are we trying to keep our races safe, but if you’re bringing in 50,000 people; not only the participants, their families, and others, all into an area that didn’t have those people before, there could be an impact. You could make the race safe, with no transmission events, or very few transmission events. The consideration would be the impact on the community. It’d be participants and their families and others who are part of the event, interacting with the local community at restaurants and social events around the race, that would be more of concern. When we’re thinking local events, typically participants are just going to drive to the event the same day, they’re not staying in a hotel, they’re not going to different restaurants than they normally would, then you’re not going to impact the community differently.  When events are smaller and local, you wouldn’t necessarily need to use a testing strategy. But at a large event where you’re having people come from multiple locations, that testing strategy becomes more important. If you had access to rapid antigen tests, you could certainly consider that as part of your mitigation strategy at a small community event. But it matters to a lesser extent to global public health then it does at a large event. Is coronavirus eventually going to fall off our radar like SARS or Zika? Or do you think it’s something that we all have to worry about for years to come? Dr. Nichols: We’re going to worry about it for forever. Eventually we will worry about it less, because it will kill people less frequently once people are vaccinated. But this is something that will become, by my estimation, endemic.­ We can’t get rid of it. If we could really vaccinate everyone in the world at the same time, maybe, but that is incredibly unlikely. This will more likely become more of a seasonal virus or a childhood virus potentially.