How can I be a Runner?

In response to an open invitation for runners to participate in the 2024 Peace & Dignity Journeys indigenous peoples prayer run from across the continent, approximately a dozen courageous core runners began the 6,000 mile run from Fairbanks, Alaska on May 2nd. Over the course of the run, serval had to drop out due to injury or other personal reasons, while others took their place, joining the run for over a month or more.

Throughout the run, hundreds of local relay runner also supported the run, carrying the sacred staffs for individual legs of the run, playing an important role in moving the run forward. In the Central Coast Region, just over one hundred local runners participating in portions of the run through the three-county region of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. In order to fully ground these local runners in this the PDJ as ceremony and pray, and not a race, all of the Central Coast runners participated in one or more local prepartion runs, each of which opened with a ceremonial circle with a smuding and acknowledgement of the four directions. For photos and information on several of these events, see our Events page.