Production costs for this program have been made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people, November 4th 2008.

And the members of Lakeland PBS.

My name is Floyd Buck Jourdain, I'm a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians or the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation and I've been involved with the Spirit Run since the mid '90s and I think it was like the third one that I joined up so throughout the years I've been involved either as a community member, a tribal leader, or now in this particular instance an elder in the community.

I'm in recovery, I've been in recovery for 40 years.

So back then the older gentlemen who were the mentors and the bosses of the program were trying to get the word out to the community and all of Indian country about recovery and a lot of the accompanying pitfalls of reservation life that pertain to substance abuse, and part of that was getting in the grassroots, rolling up your sleeves, getting in the community and taking the message out to the communities and that's how it, and so his name was Tom Barrett Sr who is now the director of the chemical health programs here, back then he was this young guy.

They said okay if you want to set it up, you want to organize it Tom, go for it, that's an excellent idea.

So he mobilized the other reservations, White Earth and Leech Lake and Fond du Lac and they started the first ever.

Of course when you have these type of things you have tons of people yeah, yeah, this is a great idea, this is a great idea.

So it was like him and like four kids when it came the day to actually run, so he had a van with like four kids on there, like young guys, like high school and middle school and elementary age and they went for it.

Four days they completed the run and to this day Tom is still involved with the run, he's still organizing with the chemical health program and they sponsor the event along with Mash-ka-wisen and the other reservations and it's still going.

So it's amazing, he always says he's not going to run but you know I think last couple years he's out there in jeans and I'm just going to drive this year and I'm like "Yeah I'm retired from running."

And then you see him going by, you know, it's like "Hey, there he is again."

He's an inspiring leader and, you know, it all started with Tom Barrett Sr.

When it pertains to the Spirit Run actually it started probably 30 years ago, we have missed a few years running because of road construction and of course covid.

When the Spirit Run first started there was basically my mentors Giles Hart and some of the other program directors back then.

I was a prevention specialist at the time, and they were doing this what they call a AA Roundup and we were meeting at Mash-ka-wisen treatment center and they were asking well how are we going to get the word out to everybody that we're having this AA Roundup and back then I was a lot younger and so I suggested well why don't we run from Red Lake to Mash-ka-wisen and spread our message that way, our message of sobriety and healing that way, and you know I kind of said it as a joke and these older guys say hey that's a great idea why don't you do it, so that's how the Spirit Run actually got started and throughout the years the name has changed.

It used to be called the Inner Tribal AA Sobriety Run when we first started, and then it was a Run for Health and Wellness and then it went to the Spirit Run.

So as it evolved, you know, the name has changed throughout the years.

It was kind of a I don't want to call it a crazy idea but it was kind of a novel idea I guess at the time and trying to get people you know run, you want to come run, we're going to run, make this 4-day run to Mash-ka-wisen which is 180 miles away and you know it was kind of hard to get people to buy into that.

So we first went, it was just a handful of us, and we didn't make it at that point we would we'd run a mile at a time and pass the staff off and somebody else would run for a mile and it was quite tax taxing at the time, you know, to do that with a handful of people.

And as it evolved we turned it into a prevention activity also trying to encourage the young people to see what you can do if you put forth an effort to help someone or run for someone that can't.

And we used to run with say 40 young people at, you know, for a few years, you know, and like I said now a lot of those young people that ran with us have children that are on the run right now.

[Music] Well just to see the first experience of a lot of our youth who for the first time they're learning about eagle feathers, they're learning about tobacco and the significance of reciprocity, like the cedar which is a cleansing medicine that takes care of you, you wash the sacred items, you wash yourself.

I want my community to be well, I want my people to be well and if I got to run out there and put myself out there for my people I will do it.

So it's not a thing of look at me, look at me, self-grandization, like hey, you know, I want some Facebook likes and, you know, and it's not about that at all.

There's a great deal of humility and respect and, you know, courage and all of the love and you see a lot of the seven grandfather teachings as they're called, you know, are incorporated into the run as well because it encompasses all of that.

There you go loosen your back up, maybe you slept on a soft mattress or you slept in the woods or whatever it is, you know, you might be a little stiff in your back, okay.

But you're going to go back you're going to be glowing, you're going to have that goodness, you're going to share, people are going to come and see you and say "Wow, you look good."

That's where you indulge your experience, you share your experience on these last four days.

Well, I think with Indian people the tobacco is the first medicine and the humility to accept the fact that, you know, I do not have control over this addiction no matter how hard I try, no matter how many times I try, I just keep ending up back in this perpetual state of misery and dysfunction and until the individual just accepts defeat and says "I'm done, I'm defeated and now I am ready to do whatever it is that I have to do, I'm gonna take my tobacco and I'm gonna ask the Creator permission and the Creator, you know, and they say we do ka-wisen which means please help me, you know, I'm defeated, I need you I need you to help me, what do I have to do," and to be totally honest with yourself about it, you know.

Not half measures well, I'm kind of ready, I'm, you know, I still want to do this drug which is not as bad and then but I'm not going to do these ones, it's like I give up and I need, I'm ready now.

So I think that's the key, you know, and it might come in increments, you might have setbacks, but, you know, if you are sincere about it, honest with yourself and then you accept the fact that I have lost control and there's nothing that I can do, I'm ready Creator for you to help me and from this point on I'll find the tools, I'll find the way, I'll find the networks, the people that I need to surround myself with, I'll set goals in my life that I need to follow, I'll have more structure.

And just sitting around is not good for recovery, so, you know, you have to have goals and you have to have and those are goals that you set yourself.

So I think the people who have sobriety behind them they all have followed that basic formula and they've said I'm ready now and I'll do whatever I have to do to stay sober.

In recovery running is just one way, like I said four quadrants: mind, body, spirit, and emotion.

It's just one of a whole spectrum of areas that are tended to and the mindset of someone in recovery is that if I have diabetes, for instance, this is not something that I can just get rid of in one weekend.

For the rest of my life I'm going to be tending to this, I'm going to be changing the way I eat, I'm going to be changing my lifestyle, and it's gonna require constant attention for the rest of my life in order for me to keep this disease at bay.

Same thing with recovery.

You know once you're in recovery it's constant maintenance for the rest of your life, and it's good work, it's good you know that you replace a lot of the negative things in your life with more positive.

You still have the same pitfalls, you still have the same approaches, you have bills, you have family, you lose loved ones, you have crises that occur, things happen in your life, but only thing now you're meeting them instead of putting them aside, you're facing them with courage, you have a clear mind and you're able to overcome things clearly as opposed to shoving them off or jumping into the bottle or a drug or something.

But as far as the actual outlets in recovery people go to ceremonies, people say I want to go back to school and get my high school, you know, diploma.

Yeah, you know, when I was younger I mean I struggled with those issues, you know, I, you know, during my teenager years I started doing drugs and doing drinking and, you know, found myself in lots of trouble back in those days and, you know, in and out of jail and in and out of treatment and so on, you know.

But in my early 20s, you know, I went through a lot of crazy stuff and, you know, actually ended up moving away for a while and then, you know, basically cleaning myself up and, you know, I stopped using for a long time.

So I, you know, I've been, you know, trying to practice sobriety.

My name is John Gonzales, I'm a member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation.

One of my spirit names is Makade-Ma'iingan, which is black wolf.

I've been involved with the Spirit Run I guess maybe for over eight or nine years total, you know, going back to I don't know 2010, 2011 somewhere there maybe before that a little bit as well, so yeah.

I'm the first one in my family to go to college, but you know I really had no idea what I was doing and, you know, after like I said after I got into lots of trouble and, you know, finally turned my life around and decided, you know, to try to live a good life is a win is what we say in Ojibwe you know try to live a good life.

And then, you know, one you know my dad was like you got to get an education, so I'm like, you know, yeah, you know, that's how I, you know, got to sort of try to live a good life.

So I came here not knowing what I was supposed to be doing but there was people who helped me along the way right and sort of get, you know, gave me great mentorship and great advising and great support and along the way and you know.

So all through my undergraduate and in my graduate, you know, work and even in my early career as well too, you know, there was always folks who were helping me and supporting me and, you know, showing me, you know, what I needed to do to be successful and giving me opportunities to do, you know, different things and get involved or whatever so that's been, you know, really it's just shaped the way that I sort of serve in my role right now right.

I mean it's, you know, here at at BSU it's all about giving back to the students and helping that next generation coming through right because, you know, that's what got me to where I am so I'm here to basically do the same thing for for all of our students coming through.

So there's so many things that you think that life is so mundane and there's nothing to do around here and you know all there is to do is to, you know, do drugs or alcohol or whatever and there where reservation life it's so boring nothing going on.

There's all kinds of things going on around at all times.

Walking in the woods, you know, going down to the lake and the smells so much beauty around us that a lot of times we take for granted and like that's what life is all about how could I not have seen that before but now that I'm in recovery it was all there all this time and I just never really paid attention.

What you're doing is you're committing of yourself and the run is not about you it's about you are sacrificing for the betterment of everybody else besides yourself.

So they're running with a purpose as opposed to well I'm running to, you know, to be sexy or I'm running to, you know, be a better athlete.

The really shallow aspect of fitness a lot of time gets emphasized, but it's not about that at all.

If you're running for 4 days you're not thinking about any of that.

You're like, you know, this is an experience I'm having that really feels good and I really feel a sense of purpose and I'm accomplishing something.

They always say the first mile is a liar.

Someday you take off and you're like "Oh I feel like, oh, I'm this is going to be excellent."

And then you get half a mile down the road and then all of a sudden you run out of gas and you're like "What?

I rested, I ate good, I, you know, I think maybe it's stress, maybe it's grief."

You never know.

Or you know something crappy that you ate.

But then other days you're like I don't want to run, I don't want to, you know, I just don't feel good and you grab your shoes, you run out the door and you get down the road and all of a sudden you got this energy and you say "Oh my God I could go forever today."

So that first mile is always, yeah, you never know what's going to happen.

The run is a ceremony and you're carrying a message, you're carrying sacred objects, eagle feathers, eagle whistles, drum prayers, tobacco and sacred medicines, and you're running through the community and you want to heighten awareness.

You know when I'm out there running, you know, just to try to take care of myself it really is a part of this, you know, it allows you to clear your mind, you know.

You know you're doing the physical aspect of it for your body but then there's a spiritual component that kind of goes along with that as well too.

And I use it a lot of times as, you know, as a way to pray.

And it's for anybody, not only Indigenous people.

You know there's been people from all nationalities, every race, every culture at some point or another has joined into the run, so we welcome everybody.

We refuse to be professional victims, you know, we tell our youth and our people don't you dare walk through life as a professional victim.

We're survivors, we're warriors, we follow our ways and our traditions.

You know we will always be here, we will always be here, we always have a Creator, we always have something to be thankful for, and so we welcome our interactions with other nationalities, other communities.

And a lot of things we can see past because that's part of our teachings, you know, to be compassionate, to have humility, to have courage and love for all walks of life.

Sometimes it's hard to deal with the racism, it's hard to deal with the ignorance and the bigotry and those kind of things that are prevalent, you know, all over the entire globe.

It's not only exclusive to Indigenous people, you know, in the Australian outback and Africa and you know Asia wherever you go you're going to run into some form of discrimination, so but if you're taught, you know, this is something that we can overcome and we're better than this and you know we are just on the equal plane as everybody else, it makes you strong in your mind, in your body, in your spirit, and in your emotions.

The first day is about 45 miles and we have marathoners, we have basketball players, we have young children, elders, and the reason why we do what's called a crow hop.

You know we'll do it in increments like a relay style and you don't want to burn everybody out, you want to have participation from everyone.

You know of course you could throw some elite runners out there and they could run all the way to Bemidji and, you know, just wow everybody, but that's not the point of the run.

The run is that everybody can participate no matter what age, gender.

You know you can be a young child who wants to walk a portion of it with their mother or their grandma or maybe you're on your lunch break from your work, I'm going to go out for an hour and see if I can jump in there for a little bit and then I got to get back.

Generally it's like 3/10 of a mile which is three football fields or 2/10, we'll shorten it if there's like people who are not able to to go that far.

And when we go through cities though that's when we put the young horses out there and just let them go, you know, because there's congestion, there's traffic, the busy world is happening so we want to get through there.

We try to make sure that we're high visibility because we want people to know this run is coming through and this is what this run represents.

We don't have strict rules as to oh you have to keep running, you have to go you can't stop.

Some cultures are very strict about that, you know, once we run, we run and we don't stop, you know, but we're not that strict about running because we are speaking, bringing a message, and we are hoping that the Creator will hear us and observe what it is that we are doing.

Everything we do Spirit Run it's for the spirit so that's what it's about.

It's not about us and it's about asking that our prayers are answered.

We as a people, as anybody, we do recover.

If you have an addiction you do recover from it, there's hope out there and that's what the runners are for, they're spreading that hope and awareness that yeah, you can recover.

If I did it you can do it.

You know utilizing your recovery to help other people that's what the run does for people.

You know so tomorrow might be different, tomorrow you might wake up and just like oh life sucks, you know, recovery or not, but at least you're going to make it through that day and you ask permission again.

You know you ask "Hey Creator thank you for this day.

I'm here another day.

I'm in recovery."

Say, for instance, someone is recovering from cancer and the cancer is eradicated and you're in remission.

There's a constant fear of it coming back and all of our families have experienced cancer in some way, shape or form, and we have people we've lost and we've also had people who survived it, but you talk to a survivor they say I have this constant, you know, it's in the back of my mind that someday it might come back.

And so I have to do the things to make sure that I, you know, it doesn't.

That's what recovery is.

I could be sober 40 years today and have a college degree and have all these accolades and accomplished all these things, just one day boom, I'm right back where I was when I was drugging and drinking and, you know, living that kind of lifestyle.

So I think it's over time you can never just dispel it like "Oh, I'm free now and everything's all good and you know..." No it's you live life, you're more appreciative of life and you're accomplishing good things in your life and you're happier and healthier hopefully and things are going okay and you're trying to keep everything in balance.

I think it symbolizes hope, if anything right, and then it also, you know, symbolizes strength and resilience in the Native communities, you know, and what I mean by that, right, is that you know people struggle, we all go through struggles, right, everybody has struggles in life and there's difficult times and so on, and you know unfortunately some of us struggled even more, right, and you know sometimes we even, you know, sort of take on this negative view of our own communities, right, that we're not capable of doing certain things or things are always going to be this way and it's always going to be difficult and so on, you know.

But when we come together as Native folks and we, you know, put our, you know, our efforts into something I think that sends hope to other people who are struggling, right, that they can see that there hey, here's some strong Native people, right, that are doing something and they're trying to do something good.

So it sort of sends that message of hope to folks and then again, like I said in terms of strength and resiliency, it shows right that you know that we are strong people, that we can overcome things, right, and that we're, you know, we're resilient and we've been able to, you know, go through a lot of difficult stuff but yet we always end up rising up and coming together to support each other when we need to.

Well one of our old teachings in prophecy said that someday there would be a great river that would come and take many of our people, sweep them away, but we would be able to overcome this river that takes all these souls and so the reason why those type of teachings and philosophies are shared is because in recovery they say now that you are in recovery you have an obligation to spread the message, take this message of recovery to as many people as you possibly can.

Share these teachings, share these prophecies.

If you have to run in the community, if you have to go to a meeting, or if you have to talk to a youth group or learn from elders just sit and listen, do that teachings and carry that message with you.

So that's what the Run is about, it's the next generation coming up.

We don't want them to be on fentanyl or found and, you know, unresponsive somewhere or incarcerated, you know.

We want to help those brothers and sisters and carry that message from those elders so this next generation doesn't have to suffer a lot of those same traumas.

The Run is super fun.

To get out there and run and you just see the youth they're like hey, I really like this, you know this is and they could be the finely- tuned athlete and, you know, I'm here man, I'm going to run and I'm just really going to, you know, display my physical abilities and then you start to see them change.

They're like you know, hey, you know, this is, you know, this is something more than just a physical event, you know this is really nice, you know, I learned something today.

And so once they start running with a purpose you could see that within them start to grow.

It's just like hey, I'm a warrior, I'm doing this for a purpose and I'm doing something for my people.

And young ladies they come out there, they run, they start to learn more about themselves and they learn more about the men's and women's roles as they're related to ceremonies and sacred objects and the role that they play in society which is equally as important as the men and so it's a learning experience.

By the end, on the last day, when we enter the arena at the Mash-ka-wisen treatment center you'd think people would be fatigued.

Four days of running and it's grueling and, you know, their legs are hurt some of them got blisters and, you know, and they're like at that last leg, you see this energy.

And it's not only about giving back.

When you're doing that you're getting so much more also, you know, people always talk about giving back but you get so much more by doing it.

It's definitely a tradeoff.

I wouldn't trade my life for anything over the last 30, 30 plus years.

Production costs for this program have been made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.