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Spirit Run: A 6,000 - Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land
Spirit Run A 6000 Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land Author:Noe Alvarez Growing up in Yakima, Washington, NoeÌ AÌlvarez worked at an apple–packing plant alongside his mother, who “slouched over a conveyor belt of fruit, shoulder to shoulder with mothers conditioned to believe this was all they could do with their lives.” A university scholarship offered escape, but as a first&ndas... more »h;generation Latino college–goer, AÌlvarez struggled to fit in.
At nineteen, he learned about a Native American/First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys, epic marathons meant to renew cultural connections across North America. He dropped out of school and joined a group of DeneÌ, SecweÌpemc, Gitxsan, Dakelh, Apache, Tohono O’odham, Seri, PureÌpecha, and Maya runners, all fleeing difficult beginnings. Telling their stories alongside his own, AÌlvarez writes about a four–month–long journey from Canada to Guatemala that pushed him to his limits. He writes not only of overcoming hunger, thirst, and fear -- dangers included stone-throwing motorists and a mountain lion -- but also of asserting Indigenous and working-class humanity in a capitalist society where oil extraction, deforestation, and substance abuse wreck communities.
Running through mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his parents left behind, AÌlvarez forges a new relationship with the land, and with the act of running, carrying with him the knowledge of his parents’ migration, and -- against all odds in a society that exploits his body and rejects his spirit -- the dream of a liberated future.« less