In 2018, Verna Volker saw something missing and did something about it.
“One day, I was scrolling through Instagram and noticed a lack of Native women runners,” she remembered. “When I realized many runners don't look like me, I decided to start Native Women Running.”
The organization Verna developed aims to encourage and feature Native women runners in the running community on and off reservations. Building teams to participate in various events, Native Women Running (NWR) strives to provide community, inspiration, motivation and visibility to its members.
“In 2009, I started my running journey to lose weight, but it has turned into a quest to find out who I am internally,” Verna recounted on the NWR website. “This journey has taken me from a newbie runner to a marathoner and recently accomplished my longest distance of 94 miles. My desire is to use my running to inspire others.”
“When I did my research in 2016,” the Minneapolis resident from the Navajo Nation told the Connection, “I saw Native runners represented far and few in the running space. So, I wanted to create a space where I would share stories of Native women runners.”
Thanks to her efforts, eleven Native Women Running members will participate at next week’s PNC Women Run the Cities, presented by TRIA.
“The impact of NWR in Minnesota is small, but I am slowly building it up,” Verna explained. “NWR is a national organization, but we are based here in Minneapolis. As a founder, I have worked specifically in the Southwest, so I wanted to do something that was local with native women from the tribes here in Minnesota.”
In the running space, which considers itself open to all but has faced criticism for not actively welcoming and celebrating runners from outside the mainstream, NWR is making sure Native women take their rightful place on event start lines.
“Women want to be a part of NWR because they want a space where they can see themselves,” Verna explained. “Many of us run for the same reasons. We run for healing. Running is more of a spiritual journey for us, so that resonates for many of our women. We want to be included in this running space.”
The Native Women Running contingent at PNC Women Run the Cities will also be running to draw awareness to the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.
“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women is a growing movement for Native women whose voices have been silenced,” Verna said, “to draw attention to the bias in law enforcement and laws when our Native women go missing or murdered. In 2016, a study done by the National Crime Information Center, there were 5712 reported cases of American Indian and Alaskan Native women, only 116 were recorded in the Department of Justice database.”
Verna and Native Women Running welcome partners and allies on their journey.
“NWR's goal is to draw representation,” she said. “We create teams around race events, so we are always open to partnerships and collaborations. We hope that you join in this movement of advocacy, sisterhood and representation.
“We as native people often are taking upon ourselves to advocate for our own issues,” Verna said. “We know that allies can help us so much by donating to our causes, joining our virtual runs, supporting NWR by following our social media accounts.”
This article originally appeared in The Connection in May 2023 , TCM's weekly e-newsletter. Subscribe here.
Update: In November of 2023, Runner's World magazine named Verna one of its Runners of the Year. Read their profile of her here. KARE 11 interviewed Verna at TCM's Turkey Day 5K shortly thereafter here.
Learn more about Native Women Run, the current name for the organization via its website, Instagram and Facebook channels.