Running as Prayer, Medicine, and Healing with Navajo Race Director Shaun Martin

Shaun Martin is a Diné (Navajo) runner and coach, the founder and race director of the Canyon de Chelly Ultra, a five-time Shiprock Marathon champion, and one of the featured runners in the documentary 3100: Run and Become.

In this conversation, Buzz sits down in Shaun's kitchen in Chinle, Arizona, the day after this year's race, with race gear still being unloaded and a houseful of runners milling around. They talk about the four reasons Diné runners head east every morning (to celebrate, pray, grow, and heal), and the sunrise fire ceremony that opens and closes the race. Shaun explains how a race works inside Canyon de Chelly: the bib doubles as a permit, the field is capped at 150, and the lottery is drawn from his mom's stew pot. They also get into the scholarship the race funds, which stays with a local student all the way to a bachelor's degree, and Shaun's longtime mentorship from Billy Mills. Running's place in Navajo ceremony comes up too, along with hózhó, the idea of walking (and running) in beauty and balance. Fifty-nine years after his first ultra, Buzz finds a few new reasons to keep going.

The Buzz is part of the UltraSignup Podcast Network.