Hailing from Katishtya (San Felipe Pueblo) and the Pi'pil people of El Salvador, Christian Gering discovered that running can be a form of prayer. He’s celebrating his connection to the earth by running routes traveled by his ancestors.
Christian Gering is a multimedia artist and one of the fastest ultra runners in America. Even though he’s built a career as a sponsored athlete, he doesn’t just run to win races. For Christian, running connects him with his Indigenous heritage and inspires him to create. Hailing from Katishtya (San Felipe Pueblo) and the Pi'pil people of El Salvador, Christian discovered that running can be a form of prayer. He’s celebrating his connection to the earth by running routes traveled by his ancestors.
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Christian Gering:
When I think of the cultural values of Katishyta and the many Pueblo communities in New Mexico and many other Southwestern Indigenous communities will share that very similar saying, that running is ceremony, running is prayer in action.
Shelby Stanger:
Christian Gering is one of the best ultra trail runners in America. He's won tons of long distance races, he's set course records and he's become sponsored by brands like Janji and Solomon. But Christian doesn't just run to win races. Growing up as a member of the Pueblo San Felipe tribe, Christian learned that running can be a form of prayer. It's about therapy, it's about self improvement, it's about honoring his community and his heritage. When Christian is running on a trail, he's celebrating the paths his ancestors traveled and his connections to the earth. I'm Shelby Stanger and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living. Besides, being an accomplished ultra runner, Christian is also a multimedia artist. He's currently a fellow with the Santa Fe Art Institute. Christian claims that running inspires him to create. A big part of Christian's expression is rooted in his Indigenous values.
Shelby Stanger:
Christian Gering, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. I'm excited to meet you and have you on.
Christian Gering:
I'm so excited to meet you and get a chance to hold space with you and talk about some really cool things.
Shelby Stanger:
You have so much going on. Running, art, podcasting, food, culture. We have a lot to talk about. Okay, so tell me really quickly where you are and where you're from.
Christian Gering:
Yeah, let me get into the complexity of it, because it's a beautiful thing. I think the more complexity we have as people, the more beautiful we see our lives can be. I'm currently living here in Tesuque, New Mexico, which is just north of Santa Fe and I wouldn't want to get that confused with the Pueblo of Tesuque. But where I'm living is actually on the border in between Tesuque, Pueblo, and Santa Fe. It's a little, I guess we would say a little settlement here that historically has been Pueblo Tesuque's homeland. So this is Tewa lands here in New Mexico. But I grew up and I call home Katishyta, which is the Pueblo San Felipe, if it's not in the indigenous language. I grew up there. I find many of my ties to my family, to my community, to that place. But I also have ties down in Central America because of my father, where he has originated from being the Pipil people. And that being specifically in San Vicente, El Salvador.
Shelby Stanger:
What is something pretty unique to your people that maybe you could share, because I'm just fascinated by cultures that contrast with mine, it just adds to the contrast and richness of life. So what are some that maybe you can share with us?
Christian Gering:
Yeah. I appreciate you saying contrast. As a creative, yeah, it's not so much that there're different colors, right? There is different colors but once you put it amongst a piece or amongst a visual representation or physical manifestation of a creative project, you realize they actually accompany each other and they give more depth. So us as people here, being representing different cultures and different ideologies, we're actually enriching each other and teaching each other. But yeah, I would say as it relates to Katishyta and me being a Katishyta [unknown] which is from that place as I think it relates to where I'm living at now or where I'm at in my life at this point is that, when I think about my athletic pursuits and my artistic pursuits, those are cultural values and that have been rooted in tradition and cultural practice for a very long time. So as much as when we think of contemporary times of this being my profession or my way of making a living, the practices and the things that I'm doing right now have been shared amongst time and place here. So I'm not necessarily doing anything new as it relates to running so much of that is rooted in intention and prayer and allowing that as a way for us to practice the betterment of ourselves and a place to elevate our wellbeing. So as much as I look at running as a sport and having grown up in a very sports centered family where we love watching boxing, we love watching soccer, we love playing different types of sports in my family. There's also that recognition that passion and that pursuit of being better at something is also in relation to bettering one's self. So growing up, there was not much discussion about how well you did in terms of place or getting accolades. It was in relation to how it was making you a better person. And I believe when I think of the culture values of Katishyta and many Pueblo communities in New Mexico and many other Southwestern Indigenous communities will share that very similar saying that running is ceremony, running is prayer in action. So when you're actually able to live into that step and also live in within that mantra, within that prayer, you're actually doing a service not only to yourself, but to the land and to the people that you build community with, whether that be your family, your friends, or your loved ones or complete strangers so much of what we hear about with running as I relate it to my culture, people will say it's therapeutic. It helps with processing psychological and mental cognizanse. I would say that has been known within our communities in Katishyta and the many pueblos here in New Mexico for a very long time, because it's rooted in our creation story. And it's also rooted in the fact that it would help us move forward so that's where I could definitely share with you. So...
Shelby Stanger:
You just really blew my mind on my paradigm with running. I just haven't heard someone talk about running like that. I think it's really cool.
Christian Gering:
Yeah, I appreciate that. And I would say because I'm in community and I'm influenced by family, friends and loved ones. This is just a collection of conversations of ideas that have been shared with me. And also I share with others as we are in space together. So as much as this has come from me in this moment, it also has been influenced by so many people.
Shelby Stanger:
Let's talk about how you got into running, because I know you were also an Olympic development player, soccer player in Nevada, somehow you find running. You happened to be pretty good. So tell us how you got into it.
Christian Gering:
I would say, growing up within my household with my family, the chance for me to express myself was always encouraged. It just happened to come in the form of being very active. So, as a young person having so much energy, my parents were like, how can Christian channel this energy and the common saying was, go outside and play. And that's where I think much of that transformed me going outside, playing to where there's no expectations. It's just, I get the chance to go outside and be a young person and explore and be creative with my imagination and my friends. So, I would say as I recollect back to those moments, there was a lot of running involved. Running around the neighborhood, running around the house, running around the backyard yet at the same time, I would say, I'm grateful for my parents being encouraging to have some form of discipline and that came through soccer. So, I was coached by my dad when I was five years old, up until about high school. I think soccer coaches in general, I hear from this from a lot of soccer players is that you have to have a strong base and that base is just having endurance. So I would say when you look at a soccer player and collection of a soccer team, a lot of them probably could run marathons just like that without having to even train for a marathon or train for a long distance race. So, just as you might see that reflected in other teams, my dad knew that early on. So beginning of practice, middle of practice, end of practice, we were always running. But as I developed into my teen years and as I got older, I started to realize I had a knack for it. And a pivotal point was my first ever race was actually a marathon.
Shelby Stanger:
That is mind blowing.
Christian Gering:
Yeah. I was about 14.
Shelby Stanger:
And you went and ran a marathon.
Christian Gering:
Yeah. With probably about less than like three months of training. And I wouldn't say that was any consistent training throughout the year. It was more like...
Shelby Stanger:
Why? How?
Christian Gering:
Because my brother went off to bootcamp and when he was coming back a way for us to - the men of the house - to build some bonds, we were going to run the Las Vegas marathon. My brother could show off his fitness. My dad could get in shape. And what I had in my mind was, I'm going to beat them because well, I'm better. Yeah, I'm the youngest I'm nimble, but sure enough about halfway through the marathon, I just broke down. I had runner's knee, I got tight in my neck. I was having some breathing issues, just a whole assortment of running poor training related issues. But to this day, both my brother and my dad are two of the people that have beaten me that I have not been able to beat since because they don't want to run against me anymore because it's a lot different now. So, but that was my first running. I would say running event and running practice where I started to like, oh I trained maybe a total of three months and I was able to finish in about four hours and 45 minutes. So, from there it's just been kind of history and here I am now.
Shelby Stanger:
Christian learned early on that he had a knack for running, but he had a lot of other passions. He was also interested in pursuing. In fact, even after that marathon, he ran with his dad and his brother, Christian was still focused on soccer. He was even on the Las Vegas Olympic development team. Then after high school, Christian went to art school a few months in though he found himself a little off course and he ended up dropping out. In college, you took a little detour, but running got you back to who you are. It's pretty common for kids in college to start going down a different path and then have to course correct.
Christian Gering:
Yeah. I would say some people I've met within the ultra marathon trail running world have had similar plights as I have. After that time after dropping out of art school, I would say my community and my family definitely supported me in this decision to run more. As I got, was getting kicked out of the dorms at II for substance abuse, I returned back to the Pueblo, the Pueblo San Felipe to live with my grandparents and it was a beautiful moment. I would say as much as it was heartbreaking to feel I dropped out and I'm not going to, I'm kind of like in between limbo, what am I going to do? Am I'm just going to work a little bit or am I going to back to school? I got back to being with the land and I would say that's where my community and my family really held me. So a lot of people saw that like when Christian has a network, a support system that is encouraging and supportive, that is where anyone could do a lot of things. And I was working in the field with my grandfather because we grow green chili, peas, corn in our village. And then on the weekends I'd be up in the mountains with my friends backpacking. I just had so much time where I was just being outside. I remember this race it's called the Acoma Seed Run happened Memorial day. I didn't really have much of a training program or a training plan that whole spring, but I just kept running every day and being active every day to where that race, I won outright by 20 minutes from the next competitor. So...
Shelby Stanger:
Gosh, that's amazing.
Christian Gering:
It was a 10 mile race and the last time I ran that far was back when I was 14, so really was astounded that I had discipline and whatever I was doing was working. So by the end of summer I was deciding I need to get back to doing something. I don't want to just work. I want to go for higher education and see what else is out there. At the time I heard that Fort Lewis college was a tribal serving school, which meant that you can get tuition waived for being native American. So I never heard about Durango, Colorado. I never really even been to Colorado before then. So, I went on a whim signed up online. I remember I submitted my application to be accepted in the school on Tuesday and was formally accepted on a Thursday then by that Friday, I think like a month before school started, I called the cross country coach and said, I'm a dedicated, hard working person. I would love to just walk onto your team as long as I can participate in any way. And he said, pay $250 for a camp fee and you got a spot on our team. And I said, great, let's do it. So it was a quick turnover. And I remember a lot of my family and my community were just so excited for me.
Shelby Stanger:
By the end of Christian's freshman year of college, he went from being a walk on runner to the number one runner for the program. For each of the next three years, he took Fort Lewis college to the Division II Cross Country National Championships. During his time in school, Christian also got really into food, but he approached it from a different angle. If you're a runner, you know that food in sustenance while running is key. It also just tastes amazing after running because you just get really hungry. But running snacks, they usually aren't that healthy. And they're definitely not locally grown. Maybe you could just talk just briefly about your connection to food, because I think it's so fascinating, especially healthy food and your connection to land and running. Talk to me about food and farming.
Christian Gering:
So I'd say yeah, again working the field within the grandfather during my high school years, was impactful or important. I went to school at Fort Lewis for environmental studies where I was learning more about a lot of social issues around protecting environments and sustainability. During that time when I was at school, I was fascinated by this woman, her name's Roxanne Swentzell, she's from Kah'p'oo Owinge which is Tewa village. Also, known as the Pueblo Santa Clara to preface, she's an acclaimed artist that she works in the Smithsonian in DC. She's one of the most accomplished native artists in the United States anyway. At the same time I realized she was doing this work on food and seed saving through her flower and tree permaculture Institute. And she produces documentaries saying, talking about how she was experiencing health issues as she got older in age, but that she was finding that was rooted in what she was eating. She come to find out that the majority of her foods were not from this place. We as Pueblo people are land-based people. She took it upon herself with the help of her son and her family to figure out what was all pre-contact food. Meaning, anything that was brought over from the Spanish was going to be taken away. When she did that project, she saw her health improve phenomenally to where a lot of things were on high blood pressure, around cholesterol, just plummeted and there was nonexistence and it just was not even around after she did this for about six months.
Christian Gering:
I was fascinated because I was going to school for the environmental studies and I was like a runner. I was also putting on a production called the Pueblo feast day. We decided to do a feast day, run a 5k run, free event, open to everyone in the community, in Durango, in the Southwest to where we invited people to run around the campus and to set the day with intention and prayer. I took it a step further because I realized after the first event that a lot of the foods I was supplying people were bananas, Gatorade, any type of finish line food. After that documentary came out, I was just like, let's flip it and let's make everything pre-contact diet. So, we ended up making atole which is a blue corn mush drink, cota which is Indian tea...
Shelby Stanger:
Atole is like blue corn mush with cinnamon usually. Yeah. How do you make it?
Christian Gering:
They can be, you could normally people with salt, they put it. I've seen an assortment of additions, peanut butter, almond butter, you can super pack it. Atole, Cota which is Indian tea. We made blue corn tamales, blue corn sweet tamales. And then we just made these things called Pueblo power balls, which I'm still working on potentially as a business idea. But it would be, it was a combination of currants, pumpkin seeds and Amorth and you compile all together. And this is all through the help of Roxanne because she's my mentor. And I want to make sure that she gets credit. But as she'll say, these things have been taught to us by our communities. So we're just helping bring it to life in the present day. But these have been things we've been eating for a while.
Shelby Stanger:
Did you have something that could put Cliff Bar out of business. I really like this.
Christian Gering:
I know.
Shelby Stanger:
Pueblo Power Balls. Don't steal this idea if you're listening.
Christian Gering:
Yes. It's still in the works.
Shelby Stanger:
Patent pending.
Christian Gering:
Yeah. And then we just did that and was what started that track to then by the time I graduated college a year after I graduated, I ended up working on her permaculture farm and being able to work alongside her. These ideas of discussion that we've talked about all today, I was able to discuss with her and her family to where again, nothing that I'm doing really is ever my original idea, but that is always built within community. So I want to make sure that's clear because, I've only had the opportunity to learn from all these other people. And that's whereas a runner you'll find within my story, it's more running is in connection to my relationship with land. So I am that seed. When I think about planting, I am that mountain and when I can emanate that type of energy and that intention, there's so much beauty that can be made and that can be had.
Shelby Stanger:
When we come back, Christian talks about how he ties together art, culture, and running. He also shares how he embodies and carries his values into his everyday life.
Shelby Stanger:
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Shelby Stanger:
Since college Christian has been able to pursue both his athletic and artistic career and his art is often influenced by his running. In fact, he's using his artistic background to design a clothing line or his sponsor Janji. The gear Christian designs features patterns that are inspired by movement, terrain and tradition. He has a new project on the horizon that will also combine art, running, and history. So this project that you're working on, you're running trails that were traditionally used as Pueblo trade routes. Can you tell me more?
Christian Gering:
I would say once the pandemic happened, when I was out running and being amongst these places here in New Mexico, kind of gave me the chance to think a little more deeply in where I'm running. And when I choose to run in a place when I tell people, I'm running over in this trail system, why is it called that? Why are we calling it Dale Ball, the Windsor trail? Why is it some Spanish name? And this really started when I would have my daily training runs in this trail system called the Dale Ball trail system. And I was so fascinated because, there have been many communities that have come before this gentleman that have called this place, this land, different names beyond Dale Ball. Who is Dale Ball? I don't know. And I'm not saying I don't care to find out, but I do know that there's a lot more rich history that I can probably share with people that is more of a representation of the people that make up this community. There's going to be a lot of different trade routes. The one I referred to, the Windsor trail -
Shelby Stanger:
Oh, I got it. That's part of the Pueblo trade routes.
Christian Gering:
- is one of trade route that Pueblo people would take, but also other tribes would take into this region.
Shelby Stanger:
Ah, okay.
Christian Gering:
So that's one and as a person of color, as an Indigenous person, I find it important because when I'm out there, a lot of times I feel very isolated because I'm normally the only person of color. And it only reaffirms it's a white space because there's a trail system called Dale Ball. I get it, conservation is an American ideology, but let's be real. A lot of these systems, roads and trails and places that we choose to live here now have been established for a very long time to where people have come to say, well, now this is mine. And when you start to do that, you can exclude people that have been here well long before. So as a person of color and as Indigenous person, I find it's important that I dig up that history. And this is something, if you don't know much about Pueblo people or Pueblo culture, on some anthropological website about Pueblo people, they'll say their sedentary, agrarian society. And I would say to some extent that's accurate, but the same time because of our cultural connection and our practices, we've not only just been sedentary. And these sites like Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Aztec ruins and the many other places that we have remnants of our past show that we've migrated. So we are mobile. Our communities are in motion and always evolving. So I would like to revisit to that, to be able to bring up a lot of things around migration and how people see migration because of the complexity of my identity. As I shared with you earlier, I also have connection down south. My relatives to the south in El Salvador and in many other central and south American communities, we share more in common with those communities than people might tend to think. So, when you think about that is showing that running or walking, hiking, or just moving was happening quite readily throughout the Southwest here all the way down to the Yucatan and to Central and South America. So, why I'm bringing up is because when we think about migration in the present day context, current El Salvadorians, Guatemalans, hons that are being held up at the border and being put in cages while at the same time I think about the idea around trail running. Because when you think about these long distance events and these runners like myself and many other greater runners, more accomplished runners, you'll find that there's a certain prestige that comes with it. "They're so wow. They ran a hundred miles, they trained and they did this awesome feat." Yet, when you think about it, it's conditioned, you have your gear, you have support, you have aid, you have just in case you get hurt medical and things of that nature to where your level of risk is still pretty high and dangerous, but you also have a supportive network that people say you doing that is of meaning. And I'm not ever trying to say that people that choose to do these runs or do these things is a bad thing. But when we look at it in the context, when there's a Guatemalan or El Salvadoran woman coming up from central to south America, who's literally probably walked the majority of the way to our border. Imagine that being her finish line, she starts from her house, wherever she's from in a different country to then the finish line being, she wants to seek safety in a place that she's going to have more opportunity and only to be met with the finish line being well, now you need to get in that cage. That is a societal issue I feel is when I think about that dynamic, as we relate human feats in ways of hierarchy, because well this is seen as a sport. This is seen as someone trying to take our freedom away. That's a weird thing happening in society, but it's happening at this moment in time. So as the person that I am and representing the identities that I do and the cultures that I do, it's only been nagging at me. It's not stepping away from my competitive athletic pursuits, but I'm moving in more of a way of how can I be able to put this out because at this moment in time, I'm 30, I've been competing and doing these things that I'm proud of, but there's some redundancy happening, as one of the only native people at a competitive level in these elite competitions it nags at me because if we're not having these conversations, then there's the potential that other people that look like me or come from the similar places than me are not giving the opportunity. And by having this discussion, I'd only hope that there'd be other people that look like me that could be involved in this sport. It's only to grow this sport. It's only to grow this community.
Shelby Stanger:
For Christian, there is so much more to running than putting one foot in front of the other. Christian's success isn't just about being the fastest. It's about applying lessons from his art and his culture to the sport he loves. That approaches open up a lot of opportunities for Christian so far like farming with sculptor Roxanne Swentzell and designing clothes for Janji. There've been a lot of twist and turns on his journey, but Christian relishes everything he learns a lot along the way. You have a lot of interests and you're pursuing a lot of things professionally: running art, food. How do you stay focused?
Christian Gering:
One thing as it relates to my mentor Sean because he'd always be like, you should never have to get ready, but you should stay ready. And I'll always be like, what does that mean? Stay ready and never get ready. Is that feeling of just being assured when you are having alone time and having the chance to refine yourself through practice, through routine, is that when you go out and give these gifts to the world, whatever it is, whatever passion, whatever pursuit it is, you are only getting better. And when you are getting better for yourself, you are actually enriching other people's lives as it relates to running so much of it feels very individualistic. It's like sometimes you can do it with your friends, but even then when you're running on a trail, you're also having a very singular experience. You and I could go on a run and see the same mountain, but how we feel in that part of the run and being at that moment in time might feel very different for us, but we share the pursuit of putting our footsteps together. The other point, it relates to my grandfather of having that chance to give me some sense of security and assurance during a time where I was everywhere, was the fact of being able to be mindful. And how so much of that, could be related to nknee'pahsruh is like, you give it your all, you give it. It's hard to translate into English, but it's like, give strength, give good, give power, is the best way I could kind of say give it all.
Shelby Stanger:
Can you spell that word? It's a really cool word.
Christian Gering:
Yeah. We don't have crazy enough a lot of the pueblos here in New Mexico do not have a written language. It's what actually keeps our languages alive, but best way I pocket spell it would be K-N-E-E apostrophe, P-A-H sruh which is S-R-U-H. Nknee'pahsruh. It's not a word that you're just saying while you're sitting down, it's usually always said in relation to you're doing something. Nknee'pahsruh you're dancing, you're praying, you're in the field, you're running, you are singing, in that moment, channel your energy, channel your intention to give all. So, that was something as it relates to when my grandfather we'd spend times in the field and just being alongside each other, is to be mindful of what I'm living through. When I'm thinking about how I'm feeling, how I'm choosing to walk, how I'm choosing to do things is to be mindful because those actions alongside my thoughts and my intentions will have reverberations out into my life. We can only ground ourselves with practice and intention that gives back. And I would say running is that way, because when you can put powerful intention, prayer, and meaning behind your run, you are able to reverberate that out through the motion of one foot in front of the other, your breath, trying to align and steady your heart rate. That is an example of nknee'pahshru. You're putting it all. So, much of that is just rooted in why I continue to do what I do and that as much as it's a sport and I get paid, I get to travel, I get to compete, will always be what grounds me.
Shelby Stanger:
You talked about prayer before you run. What does that look like for you?
Christian Gering:
Yeah, I think it looks like a lot of different things. And I think for a lot of Indigenous people, there's different practices but...
Shelby Stanger:
What's your practice?
Christian Gering:
Yeah, my practice would be rooting back to breath because that is the thing that gives life, right? Especially for us being five fingered people and these people that we walk on our two feet, the breath is what is going to be what grounds us and what also propels us forward. So for me, it's that moment to take, to find and find my breath and to be with my breath, to then be able to feel that and to go to where I need to go, whichever that be. Sometimes you can be stressed, sometimes you be tired, sometimes you could be overly excited, but finding your breath is that first step into prayer. And I want to lead with that because so much of this, is tied to spirituality, but when you can find your breath, normally you can find a lot of the things that might be on your mind and going on. And for myself, that is what I've been taught and what is a cultural value shared within Pueblo culture is that breath is important. You put your breath onto something. When we pray with corn meal, before our run, or before our ceremonies, before our dances, before our songs, we put our breath onto it because it is what is life for us. If we didn't have no breath, there would be a chance for us to experience life. So, it's the thing that roots us to this world. A lot of it is in recognition and reverence to the fact that we have a beautiful gift of life. So, it's more of giving appreciation, highlighting the things that I appreciate, asking. That's a thing too when we think about breath and prayer, a lot of times it's ask, but when you ask, there's also the other end to it, I feel which is, what are we giving? What is that reciprocal relationship when it comes to prayer? And because running is a way that we give our energy, that is that ability for us to put into motion, what we're asking for, but we're also giving.
Shelby Stanger:
Christian Gering, wow. Thank you so much for coming on wild ideas worth living. You gave me a mega dose of inspiration. Thank you for sharing your experiences and your beliefs. And mostly for demonstrating that running is so much more than getting to the next race. We're getting the biggest sponsor. If you want to learn more about Christian, check out his art or fall along with his running, you can go to his Instagram @christian.gering. You can also go to his website, christian-gering.com. That's C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N G-E-R-I-N-G. Make sure you also check out Christian's new clothing line with Janji too. It's called the American Southwest collection. Wild ideas worth living is part of the REI podcast network. It hosted by me Shelby Stanger written and edited by Annie Fassler and Sylvia Thomas and produced by Chelsea Davis. Our executive producers are Palo Mottola and Joe Crosby. As always we love it when you write a review on this show, because we read every single one of them when you follow it. And when you review it, wherever you listen and remember some of the best adventures happen when you fall your wildest ideas.