In this episode, we find out how someone who explained to us that he was once so uninterested in sports that he would roll around in the grass next to his childhood baseball field to make it look like he’d played when he got home later….how that kid went on to co-found a running group uptown.

Hector Espinal is the co-founder of WRU Crew— which meets every Monday nights out of Bodega Pizza in Washington Heights —and also the co-founder of Never Not Bootleggin’ – a clothing brand that fuses running with hip hop and pop culture.

Hector went from never having run more than a few steps in his life, to completing the NYC Marathon in and hopes to do another one very soon. He talked to us at a diner near where he was raised about how he first started to run for his health and how a community grew out of that. We also delve into what made him so determined to finish a marathon, how he dealt with having to pull out of one and why he continues to run as much as he can, even if his free time is a rare commodity.

Catch the first five episodes of the show now and be sure to subscribe on iTunes. For listeners who prefer a listening experience on Google Play, we’re also now available there!

You can follow Hector on Instagram here. Check out the We Run Uptown Instagram page here.

Follow the show on Instagram: @RunnersOfNYC. Don’t forget Twitter as well: @RunnersOfNYC | Email any comments, feedback or possible sponsorship ideas to runnersofnyc@gmail.com

Our producer is Jon Phillips. Music for the show is by Future Generations. Podcast artwork by Kyle Klosinski.

Special Note: In the early morning of Thursday, December 6th 2018, Marquita Hannibal-Francique passed away at the age of 38. She leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter and three-year-old son along with her husband, Adam. She was heavily involved in the Uptown running community and will be dearly missed by many. A fundraiser was set up to help her family cover funeral services and the remaining placed into a college fund for her two children. Nearly $42,000 was raised as of Monday night. If you are interested in more information and how you can help, please visit this link.