FROM THE VERY FIRST STEP,
running changed Charlie Dark’s life.
Initially moved to don his trainers during ‘a period of darkness’, he quickly found the miles transformative. But having fallen in love with the running world, he soon set about changing it so that this ‘special thing’ would reach the people who he believed would benefit from it most. He founded the pioneering Run Dem Crew in 2007 and it’s difficult to overstate how influential RDC has been in expanding and enriching the running community in the 14 years since. Few people have done so much for so long to spread the joys of our sport, and Charlie has received a Points of Light award for his dedication to establishing an alternative running community. More than a runner, Charlie is a modern-day renaissance man – a DJ, poet, yoga teacher, mentor and community-builder – and we sat down with him to chat about the role of running in the creative process, reconnecting with your inner child and the work still to be done to bring all that running can give to an ever larger and more diverse community.
Before we go back to the beginning, how is your relationship with running right now?
CHARLIE DARK ‘Because of Covid, my relationship with running has had to change. Prior to lockdown, a large amount of my time was spent running with other people – and large amounts of other people – but over that year, a lot of that was exchanged for running by myself or with my partner.
But for me, running has been for a very long time about much more than just training for races, distances, speeds and so on and so forth. It’s definitely become a more holistic connection, definitely a more mindful connection. I’m very thankful for the fact that I had running in my life to get me through the course of the last year as I think that people who had a physical practice dealt with things a lot more easily than those who didn’t. Running can help with your mental health at the best of times, but particularly when you’re going through a global lockdown.’
And does running also play a role in your creative process?
‘I’m a poet and a DJ, and I’d say that I wouldn’t be able to continue doing those things if I didn’t have running in my life. They’ve always gone hand in hand. When I first started running it was very much about making music in the studio, writing poems, recording these soundtracks to run to. Being able to record my thoughts around running in a poetic form was really important to me, particularly when trying to encourage new people into it.
Now it’s very much about giving me thinking time. It’s the only time of the day when I’m not contactable by email. Generally, I’ll have my phone off and it’s good to have that space. It gives me the chance to think about new ideas, develop new ideas, listen to new ideas. The thing about being a runner is you’re always thinking
about what time the next footstep will lead you to – if I do this today then later down the line this reward will happen, be that a race or a goal. As a DJ, you’re always thinking two, three, four records ahead, so there’s a kind of parallel in that and the ability to get into the zone while running I find very helpful in the creative process. If you’re in a club with a thousand people and you’re kind of in control of everyone’s emotions, you want to be in the zone and tuned into what’s going on or it could go wrong very quickly!’
RW It’s been 14 years since you founded Run
Dem Crew – its influence on the running scene in the UK and globally has been huge. What made you start it?
CD ‘It came out of a period of darkness where I was really disillusioned with the music industry and the creative industries – I didn’t really feel like I had a place. I wanted to restart my journey and I fell into running through having a large trainer collection. I’d just accumulated this humongous trainer collection and thought, some of these have actually been designed for running and I’ve never tested them out. It was Christmas Day and around that time you start assessing your life and your achievements for the year. And I was in a place where I was looking in the mirror and wasn’t happy with what I was seeing.
So I went out for a run on that Christmas Day and my life changed forever. I had a transformation and fell in love with this new world and wanted to share it with as many people as possible, but in particular people from the music industry, from the creative industries – the people I was working with.
I just thought, “This is an amazing drug, you’ve got to check this out. It’s really cool – they do these races and they dress up in funny gear, and they’ve got their own language.” When we look at running now, after this 15-year boom and renaissance of running, it’s quite cool to run and hang out in Lycra all day. There are all these gadgets you can get – it’s easy to forget how it used to be.’
When you started out, RDC felt like it was there to shake up
RW the traditional running scene. Was that the intention?
‘It was very deliberate from the very beginning. I went to a race
CD at Battersea Park and I remember pulling up in the car park – I had a really big sound system in my car, I was wearing totally inappropriate footwear, totally inappropriate apparel and I just remember being on the start line and looking at everyone else like they were aliens. They were looking at me like I was a complete alien, too. Then there was this athlete in an all-in-one tracksuit and suddenly she just kind of flipped the sides down and a gazelle appeared in front of everyone!
‘I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS WORLD – I WANTED TO SHARE IT’
Then I realised that most people’s idea of running is based on their memories from school – which aren’t often happy memories – or they’re based on watching the London Marathon on TV, which, as you know, is very different to running it. The Kenyan and elite athlete part is just a small part of the story, and with each layer of running I discovered, I realised that it’s a really special thing. But for it to reach the people that can really benefit from it, it was going to need a bit of a shake-up. Coming from a music background, where I was asked to remix records or sample old records and make new ones, or being part of musical subcultures where they take something from here and there, it was really natural for me to come into it and steal ideas from other influences.’
Did you realise you were starting something that would play
RW such an important role in the evolution of running?
‘Run Dem wasn’t supposed to become as influential or as large,
CD or as globally recognised as it has become. But I think it was something that just arrived at a time when people needed a way of connecting with each other. At a time when the world – because of the rise of technology – was making personal connection quite fragmented. Also, very quickly, two things happened: first, we discovered that we were actually good at it. In a very short space of time, we went from the fastest guy in the crew being a five-and-a-half-hour marathoner and the rest of us thinking he was a god, to someone breaking four, then three and a half, and then people started qualifying for Boston. That led to us starting to meet other people from around the world who were doing similar things and we suddenly realised: this is a movement, this is picking up momentum, we can make something of this because we can see how beneficial this is to our communities.
That was always the drive; it was never about relationships with brands and other opportunities that came along; it was about how can we use this thing that we’ve fallen in love with to help – and more importantly – empower the communities that we work and live in.’
How crucial is it for RDC and other similar groups to feel
RW entirely distinct from traditional running clubs?
‘My experience of running clubs and the running industry
CD was that it was very focused on running itself and not what you were learning from running and how that was impacting on the rest of your life. But the thing I always say is that there have to be running clubs in order for there to be a Run Dem Crew. The two interact and what’s been really interesting over the years is that when we first came out, and similar organisations followed, the reaction to it was like, “Wow, these guys are really exciting and the running club guys, they’re old school,” whereas we were actually looking at the running clubs thinking, “What can we learn from these guys?” Because we had the graphics, but they have the hardcore knowledge that’s been passed down through the generations that we really want to learn from and I wish there were more times and occasions where we could integrate and meet together.’
What are the potential pay-offs from
RW traditional clubs and groups like RDC working closer together? ‘Something I always tell people who come to Run Dem is you’re not supposed to stay there for the rest of your running career. It’s supposed to feed into clubs, or Team GB and so on and so forth, because there are people there who can really take that raw talent that you’re discovering to a higher level. So that’s one of the things that I’m really pushing for in this Run
Dem 4.0 version – that we spend a bit more time in that world, exchanging ideas and learning, because I think we can both benefit from each other.
I was at secondary school when the whole Coe, Ovett and Cram battle was unfolding and I was transfixed by that. One of my things with Run Dem right from the start was focusing on what can we do to discover raw talent that’s being overlooked that can help British middledistance and long-distance running in the future. There’s something so amazing when you work with a kid who has only ever played football, doesn’t consider themselves a runner, doesn’t have running shoes, and goes and runs a 1:28 in a half marathon in Air Force 1s with no training. So I think we’ve definitely contributed to a healthy UK running scene.’
Speaking of a healthy UK running scene, a key part of RDC is
RW that it’s representative – it offered people of colour a place to run with people who looked like them. How important is this?
‘It’s very difficult to explain to people who’ve never had to think
CD about it, when every door is open to them and every opportunity is available to them, but for a lot of people who grow up in communities of colour, before you’ve even tried something, you’ve spent your •
whole childhood being told, “that’s not what we do”. So a lot of us will arrive at something that could be really beneficial and exciting for us with this fear and trepidation. If you look at rap videos, they’re always in the sun in Miami, in a mansion surrounded by models, with a big swimming pool that no one ever gets into. It’s just this thing that’s there because you’ve been taught, “Oh, swimming, no, no, no. We don’t swim, we don’t do that.”
I thought, “Why is it that fast runners of colour are celebrated, but we’re not celebrating the fireman who’s running the marathon?” Running is in everyone’s DNA, regardless of race, colour, gender, class or wherever you are in the world.
But as a Black man coming into running, I felt really welcomed. So I realised that I was arriving at these situations with some of my own reservations and that running could actually be a bridge to conversations about race, class, gender and so forth. I knew if I could lead by example and get people like me involved, it would change the narrative of the options available to other young people like myself in my community. We’ve proved it with the Youngers project; you’ve got young kids of colour coming out and their whole world has been transformed because they’ve been encouraged to do something they never thought they could do.’
Do you think running can be a catalyst for bringing people
RW together and driving positive change in the wider world?
CD ‘It’s very natural for people to be cautious of people who are different from them – that’s okay. But what should be encouraged is, how do you start the conversation, how do you bring change? The art of movement brings people together in the same way that music brings people together. One thing I know about it is this: in the final two hours of the London Marathon, when your legs are falling off, people don’t say, “I’m going to help him, I’m not helping her.” People just don’t care. It’s like, “I’ll take help from anywhere!” We’re all just trying to get to the end. That’s what I love about running: regardless of class, colour, gender, sexuality, beliefs, the road and the distance remain the same. It asks you that question: are you ready? If you’re ready, it will reward you. If you’re not, it will humble you and teach you a lesson. That for me is one of the purest forms of education we can have.’
Is running moving in the right direction
RW in terms of diversity and inclusivity?
‘I think the running world is making more
CD steps. I think it’s realising that there’s more work that could be done. I don’t think that the speed it’s happening at is quick enough because there’s still a lot of hand-holding and a lot of, “It’s not about politics, it’s not about race, it’s just about running!” But politics and race touch everything in this world, especially right now.
But I’m very positive about the future, seeing organisations like Black Trail Runners network and the rise of other small crews. At least the conversation has started. Because as welcoming as running has been, there have definitely been situations where I personally haven’t felt welcomed and I’ve felt prejudged – I don’t want to buy spikes for the 100m, I want to buy some hardcore trail shoes. But every 10 or 15 years there’s a change or a small bit of growth. I don’t expect it to happen overnight because we’re dealing with an industry that has been very successful at remaining the same for a very long time. I mentor the Bikestormz movement and 8,000 young people came to the last ride that we did. That’s 8,000 potential runners. So why is it that kids are going to ride a bike that costs money, but not running? For a lot of people, I think that’s because they don’t feel welcome and my job is to try and make people realise that they are. People expect change to happen overnight... but I’m just a small part in a very large jigsaw.’
The title of your Worldwide FM radio show is Peace, Positivity
RW
and Blessings… how can we get more of those things in our lives?
‘I always used to say that I wasn’t sure whether I was running
CD towards a new version of myself or running away from an old version of myself, whereas now I feel like I’m in a place where I’m accepting the person that I am today. That’s one of the things I learned from my yoga practice and my yoga teacher training – the acceptance of who you are, today, right now. The acceptance of the now. This idea
‘MINDFUL RUNNING IS ABOUT HOW IT MAKES YOU FEEL’
of living your life with peace in your heart. At all times, try to look for the positive light. There’s always a glimmer of positivity somewhere, if you look hard enough. And when you come into contact with another person, walk with this idea that if you do well, I do well – that it’s not a competition between us. Let me bless you and you’ll give me your blessings back. I’ve been a much happier person since I adopted that philosophy. You only get one life, so why live it with negativity in your heart?’
Does accepting yourself as you are today also help your own
RW relationship with running?
‘Running is a journey. Some people come into Run Dem and burn
CD really brightly for a couple of years and achieve amazing things, but then they leave and they never run again. One of the biggest things that has always resonated with me was the first time I did the London Marathon, being passed by one of those old-school club runners – you know, those guys in their seventies, tiny vest, tiny shorts, super-hairy legs, old-school running shoes – and you fly past them at mile 14 waving, and then at mile 24 they come past you. It’s then you realise that it’s about being able to wake up every day and have this ability to put one foot in front of the other and go out on an adventure. That’s what it’s about. So if that means my running has to change with my mindset, body and circumstances, then that’s okay.’
Has the work you do with Lululemon been part of embracing
RW a more mindful and holistic approach?
‘I’ve been working with Lululemon for about three years now.
CD They arrived in my life at exactly the point when I needed that wellness world to be in my world. I was at a point where I’d been running stupidly hard, doing all the miles, doing all the things that I thought I needed to, and then I got injured. That’s the funny thing about running – when it’s raining and it’s cold and you don’t want to go, you think of every excuse in the world, but when you’re injured it doesn’t matter what’s outside, you just want to get out there.
This idea of mindful running was introduced to me through encountering yoga. From a distance, yoga looks very gentle and you think that’s not going to give you a workout, but when trying it for the first time, I was humbled in the same way I was humbled when I first started running.
With Run Dem, we started looking at running through a more mindful lens – the idea that it’s not about speed or distance, but about how running makes you feel and the lessons you learn about yourself on the run; who you were sharing it with and what impact that would have. Suddenly, it opened up the door to a new group of people to come and start trying it out. I really do feel that, particularly after a year of lockdowns, this idea of moving because it makes me feel good is perhaps more of an incentive than I’m moving because I’m training for a race. What I like about working with Lululemon is that they come from this world, so when I start talking about running in a mindful way, people aren’t looking at me like, “What’s he talking about? What pace is mindful?”’
So how can we all be more mindful on a run?
RW
CD ‘A big thing for me when I go out on a run now is to think about the five senses. What do I see? What do I hear? How does the air feel against my skin? Taking a childlike approach to running. That’s another thing that’s really interesting about watching my own kids grow up – there was a point in their lives when you couldn’t keep them still. They were always trying to test out their running legs. Then they went to secondary school and stopped. Suddenly, running became about who came first, second or third, and who was the best.
You know what it’s like when you have that friend who thinks you’re a bit weird because you do that running thing? I’ve had lots of people in lockdown saying, “Charlie, don’t tell anyone, but I started running – I really like it.” And now they’re running more than me.’