STORY 0007:

November is National Native American Heritage Month. While this month celebrates Indigenous culture for a month, we acknowledge that every day we live, work, and run on Indigenous land. We are honored to be premiering this beautiful short film, ‘Running is Prayer’ directed and created by Guarina Lopez and Hanad Ali.

At Pacers Running, we are driven by our mantra, For Every Run. It guides all of the decisions we make and comes to life in the stories we tell and the communities we are fortunate to work with to decenter ourselves and to center the multitude of beautiful voices in our community.

’Running is Prayer’ reminds us that Indigenous communities are an integral part of our present day and the lands we all live, work and experience every day are not just historic native lands but present native lands.

This is true even in our built urban environments where the traditional imagery associated with Indigenous people and land, vast open landscapes, can cause many of us to not understand or recognize that all land is Indigenous land including here in Washington D.C. (Piscataway land). 

We hope you enjoy this film as much as we do and hope it offers a moment of reflection and introspection on the role all of us play in ensuring that the rights, voices, and history, both past and present, of Indigenous lands and people are acknowledged and centered. 

Co-directors: Hanad Ali and Guarina Lopez
Creative Director: Guarina Lopez
Director of Photography: Hanad Ali
Composer: Olivia Komahcheet
Narrator: Dr. Gabrielle Tayac
Runners: Juanita Cabrera Lopez and Huayra Forster