BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Five teams of 12 runners will make a roughly 450-mile trek from Buffalo to Brooklyn in just under two weeks, as part of the inaugural The Breaking Balance Project, a relay run aimed at raising awareness of mental health.
The journey begins Friday, June 12, at 7 a.m. at Pace Buffalo on Louisiana Street in Buffalo.
Rochester native Devin Coleman, CEO of the nonprofit Balanced Hope, an organization named in honor of his late mother, Hope, who passed away in 2009, created the event. Now based in New York City, Coleman said the relay is an extension of his mission to spark conversations around mental health, as he has had his own mental health struggles.
“Would you guys run from Buffalo to Brooklyn? And they’re like, how? And I was like, well, we could do it as a relay,” Coleman said.
Coleman said he has studied the safety of the route for runners to take this journey.
“I spent months combing through maps and going through every checkpoint, and making sure that it’s as safe as possible for all of us to be out there. So, I want to experience it firsthand,” Coleman said.
When asked what message he hopes people struggling silently will take away from the journey, Coleman said the run is meant to inspire action.
“This sparks a conversation of maybe you do reach out to somebody to talk to them about their mental health. Maybe you do get up for a walk or movement, or maybe you do start a movement club or a run club,” Coleman said.
The relay will feature five 12-person teams rotating runners continuously over three days, with each runner covering about 13 miles per day. Participating run clubs represent Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and New York City. The route goes from Buffalo to Rochester to Syracuse to Albany to Brooklyn.
Kathleen Granchelli, founder and president of Pace Buffalo, is leading the Buffalo team.
“The routes will all be the same. It’s just going to be a matter of who runs with whom. It’s not technically a competition, but, there are five different run clubs that are out there doing it, so we’ll definitely be pushing each other along the way,” Granchelli said.
Runners are preparing for a range of conditions along the cross-state course.
“It’s really like supplies, like food, a headlamp for running at night, gear for rain, stuff like that. You never know what you’re going to see running across the state,” runner Adam Moore said.
Sports nutrition professional Stevie Smith said her preparation has focused on keeping the team fueled.
“For me as a sports nutrition professional, I’m like, how many snacks are we going to have? What are we going to stock the van with? How’s everybody going to stay hydrated? So I’ve started to kind of think of that,” Smith said.
Moore said the challenge is part of the appeal.
“I think we just like doing hard things. There’s kind of like a fear of the unknown, I think, among all of us. I think all of us agree that if we were to like say ‘oh, I don’t want to do this, I think we’d regret it’,” Moore said.
Those who want to support the Breaking Balance Project can donate through a link here. The Pace Buffalo is also accepting food and snack donations to help fuel runners along the journey.