Daryl Murphy: Protesting For Justice With Running - R4R 222

Daryl Murphy: Protesting For Justice With Running – R4R 222

4 years ago

For Daryl Murphy, running is a vehicle for justice. Having been a runner throughout his teens, Daryl ran for several years at Ohio State University until the structure of the college sports system disenchanted him from running.

Then, years later at the start of 2020, Daryl’s coworker asked him to do a 5K with him. This was a catalyst for him to get back into running. Soon enough, Daryl ran a virtual half marathon until another friend gave him an idea for another challenge– 30 consecutive days of 5K’s. Initially he didn’t think he’d get to 30 days, but after his first consecutive seven days of 5K’s, they just became part of his daily routine.

But after 30 days, he couldn’t stop. Daryl was just a few days shy of completing 50 consecutive days when George Floyd was killed, so the emotions and injustice around Floyd’s death fueled Daryl’s drive to push past 50 days. Soon friends begin getting inspired by Daryl’s runs, so he decided to take what he was already doing, running, and use it as a vehicle to spotlight racial injustices and raise money for Black Lives Matter.

His runs took the name, Miles for Justice when Daryl decided to create a Pledge It campaign. Supporters could pledge a dollar for every mile he’d run in one month. The first campaign benefited Black Lives Matter, and the second for justice for Breonna Taylor. So far he’s raised over $10,000 dollars and is planning a third campaign. Daryl hasn’t stopped running. He shows us we can transform small actions we already do every day, into impacts bigger than ourselves.

3 Lessons

You can take something simple you already do every day and turn it into something that benefits others
It’s ok to not know how to do something, such as raising money for a cause like Daryl did. But the important thing is to take a chance. There are so many resources around to help you, you just have to look around.
When days get hard, remember why you started in the first place. For Daryl, on days he didn’t want to run, he remembered he was doing it for Breonna Taylor.

Highlights

“Anyone can add something like this into their daily life. I was already going on these runs, but now I’m going on these runs in the name of justice.”

“I’m going to keep doing this every single day just to let you know we have a voice. Change is happening and will continue to happen. As slow as it may come, we will continue to be here every single day.”

Resources:

Daryl’s Instagram

Miles for Justice: Breonna Taylor

Miles for Justice: BML

Santa Monica Daily Press article

Shoutout to Aaron and Joshua Potts for connecting us with Daryl. You can also listen to the episode we did with them on growing diversity in running here.

Listen to the Running for Real Podcast here:

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Click here to learn more!Thanks for listening! I hope you enjoyed today’s episode.

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Thank you to Daryl, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Black Lives Matter, black runners, BLM, change, justice