RUN ACROSS MAY RUNNER PROFILES: ANGEL RISHER
Angel Risher
In 2018, Angel Risher found Keep it Run Hundred, a local run club in her city of Los Angeles and joined the group. Angel found running as a form of self-care and has been doing it ever since. This past May, Angel and Keep it Run Hundred raised over $7,000 for Run Across May!
I sat down with Angel for an interview to learn more about her experience as a two-time RAM participant and her involvement with WORK. Throughout our conversation, Angel really emphasized the importance of running in her life and how eager she and her run club were to participate. When I asked why she and Keep It Run Hundred chose to run for WORK, Angel said, “I wanted them to think outside of themselves. Running brings both missions together.”
RAM allowed Angel and the club to run for a cause, for a community bigger than themselves. She noted how easy it was to feel important because of WORK’s efforts to encourage teamwork and communication. She explained that she felt like she and the run club were actually helping with the motivation and support that WORK provided for its participants. When I asked Angel how her RAM experience helped her understand WORK’s mission and values, she spoke about how WORK made a strong effort to encourage teamwork and communication by being transparent about how the participants were helping the organization and the families in Haiti.
Angel found her recruiting the run club for RAM easy, as everyone was enthusiastic about the challenge and found it to be a great way to motivate one another and to keep everybody on their toes (or feet, as it were). She recalled that the whole experience was great for team building and morale, and that “the teamwork and community really kept [her] going”.
Angel’s experience with Keep It Run Hundred exemplified WORK’s concept of community by creating a network that allowed others to get involved and find their own “ why”. RAM has always been about community and doing something for a purpose greater than oneself, and Angel’s story shows just how impactful an individual can be.