Charlotte — Mad Miles Run Club founder Cornell Jones candidly admits he never set out to exercise. He just wanted to stay in shape.
As the Winston-Salem State University alumnus and former track and field athlete neared his 30s, he found himself sitting a little too far for his taste. So he decided to do something about it and gathered a few friends to take charge in early 2019.
“I started working out a mile a day,” Jones said. “They joined me one week at a time, one month at a time, and at the end of the year, 30 or 40 people went into 2020 with me. Then the pandemic hit. So So we started the Man Miles Run Club and challenged each other every Tuesday and it grew like this.
Mad Miles. It’s a full-blown athletic movement led by black millennials (many of whom are his HBCU alumni like Jones) that exploded in Charlotte like 1980s televangelists. But Mad He Miles is more than just a running club, just like an HBCU is more than just a place to learn. A community for health and fitness beyond running.
Clubs meet twice a week. Tuesdays are held at Camp North End in the shadow of Uptown Charlotte. Participants scan her QR code, sign a consent form, and the party begins. A DJ plays hip-hop and his R&B, and the sidewalks fill up as runners gather to chat and stretch. Jones maintains the energy, greeting attendees with a dap and a smile as hundreds line the space. It’s easy to see why he was Mr. WSSU while he was in college.
“I owe it to Winston-Salem State University because I learned how to be human at Winston-Salem State University,” Jones said. “There I learned how to raise a family from different people from different places.
“Anyone who comes to Mad Miles feels at home. Whether it’s your first time or your 10th, you’ll feel right at home. You’re going to dance with us. We’ll teach you the dances here. Once you’re out here.” That’s where I started the family atmosphere.Our volunteers are great.It’s not just me.I started it and everyone else embraced it and they just did it. I always like to tell people that I made what is.
On this late August evening, the nearby Hardinge College Marching Band pulls over just before the run to put on a show for the Mad Miles crowd. Some of her band members will be awarded micro-scholarships while another WSSU alumni-run nonprofit, the Big Wave Family, collects school supplies.
“The community is not just our community. It’s a young community that’s coming out,” Jones said. “That’s one of my favorite things about Mud Miles. You can come here and see kids in strollers. You can see a three-year-old learning to run.” We can, we are in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and that community, we have to help each other, right?
feel the love
At 6:30, we started with the marching band seeing off. A stream of people passes by, some walking, some running. Jones estimates there are 600 to 650 people in tonight’s crowd.
Most runners are black and brown, but not all. Transplanted from nearby Monroe, Sam His Hyman was looking for something when he moved to Charlotte in 2021.
“It’s beautiful to show up somewhere on your own because you show up with an open mind,” Hyman said after Tuesday’s run. I knew right away that this was going to absolutely explode.It’s grown.Absolutely.It’s grown so much in the past year.”
Volunteers are strategically placed to stand and cheer along the path as you circle Camp North End for a mile. They provide encouragement and energy to keep moving forward. Seeing hundreds of black people running together is a powerful experience. Not for a match or a medal, not out of fear.
Come to Mad Mile every Tuesday and Saturday and you’ll find people cheering you on to help you reach your goals and reach your goals. So we go out to those places and represent our community,” Jones said.
“There aren’t a lot of African Americans out there, but that’s what I want Mad Miles to do. I want to go out there and change that perception a little bit and build that community as well. You walk in and you feel like the whole team is behind you, it’s not just you, it’s the mad mile in your chest and right behind you are the 500 people who come here every Tuesday. ”
Gabrielle Jones, like many, came across the move on Instagram. She said she wanted to go, but she was hesitant to come alone.
“The community and I definitely think it’s professional development,” said Jones, wearing a UNC Charlotte shirt. “I can tell people what I’m doing and see what they’re doing and how it fits into what I want to do someday. ”
Jones said she wasn’t running at all before joining Mad Miles, but she turns corners very quickly.
“I wasn’t exercising at all,” she said. “So I can tell you that coming here made me healthier, I could run and my endurance improved. I hope you can run.”
HBCU Pride Run
HBCUs will take center stage in Charlotte when North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central face off in a football game on September 3 at Bank of America Stadium. Mayo Classic, Jones and Mad Miles take part in the ‘HBCU Pride Run’ at Camp North End before his two rivals face off on the home field of the Carolina Panthers at the Dukes.
“It’s going to be amazing. We’re starting the HBCU run at 10am ahead of the Around the Crown 10K Symposium. It’s going to be a great time,” Jones said. “We’ve got people here representing colleges. We’re going to have some bands playing here. We’ve got cheerleaders here. And when I told you, it’s just going to be a Saturday run.” – 10x – you have to pull up.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t go to HBCU. Represent what you love and have a good time. ”
Running starts at 10am.
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