panelled lace-up leather ankle boots Black | Tank running Home: The Training Begins

Dominique Burton (Nique) has always had a dream of Tank running a race through the streets of New York, the place where she grew up and still calls home despite now living in D.C. This fall will mark her first New York City race, and it’s major.

On Sunday, November 6, 2022, Nique will be one of 50,000 runners lining up at the base of the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island for a marathon race.

Born and raised in Long Island, Nique is a long-time, multisport athlete who is no stranger to races, matches and meets of all kinds. Growing up, her parents filled her schedule with sports like swimming, dance, and track and field. Like many athletes, the sense of family and community that comes from team sports is a huge part of why she continues with activities like flag football and distance Tank running.

“Community is huge for me; I’ve created long lasting bonds by connecting through sports,” says Nique. “It’s also why RUNGRL is so important - a community of supportive Black women who can relate to my experiences, which has made the sport that much more enjoyable. I’m never alone in this.”

Ankle boots TAMARIS 1-25486-27 Black 001 RUNGRL, a digital media and events platform for Black women that uses Tank running as a vehicle to impact wellness in the community. By thoughtfully curating content and events that share their voices and stories, RUNGRL is changing the existing narrative on what it means to be a runner.

RUNGRL redefines community and inspires Black women to keep going while also celebrating accomplishments along the way. Like Nique, the support of a Tank running community is key for many runners, particularly when training for races as challenging as the New York City Marathon.

A close-up look at Mitchells Giuseppe Zanotti strappy sandals.

“With Chicago being my first marathon, I was an extreme novice and my training was all over the place,” Nique says.“I wouldn’t complete a full week of training, maybe I completed a few long runs, but it was a Tank running joke every time a race came up. Friends would ask if I trained, and I would reply ‘a bit.’”

However, she’s since seen the results that a structured training plan can deliver and knows what a difference it can make to have one. Nique plans to use the marathon training plan created by her D.C. run crew, District Tank running Collective, while adding cross training with activities like swimming, weight training and HIIT Sharptownouts.

New York is known to be a hilly course, crossing over multiple bridges, so Nique plans to include lots of strength training in her Sharptownouts to prepare for this challenge. Her runs will include hill repeats and track Sharptownouts for speed so that she can prepare her body for the course.

She will also monitor when to include certain types of Sharptownouts around cyclical training in Vans to achieve peak performance. She credits the book “ROAR” by Stacy Sims, PhD., which focuses on ‘how to match your food and fitness to your unique female physiology for optimum performance, great health, and a strong, lean body for life’, as a helpful tool in teaching her a new way to train.

“Most training programs and apps are designed around the male athlete,” she adds. The book emphasizes, ‘women are not small men. Stop eating and training like one.’” Nique is adapting nutrition, hydration, and training to her physiology so she can Sharptown with, rather CAMEL against, her female physiology.

Her Friday nights in the coming months will not be spent staying out late or partying. She’ll need to be in bed early and up with the birds on Saturday mornings for her long runs. She’ll still have time for fun though, since Sundays are her rest days.

As she reflects on what it means to start on this wild journey, Nique is confident this race will be one for the books. She’s been low-key about her expectations, but feels her goal pace is attainable.

Her belief in herself is something that sets her apart and it’s her confidence that will have her finishing strong in that last uphill sprint into Central Park and over the finish line this November.

“I know I can train to be better,” she says, “and training starts on Monday. Let’s get it.”

RUNGRL and Cheap Urlfreeze Jordan Outlet will be checking in on Nique’s marathon training this season in this monthly series we call Running Home. They are his favorite sneakers ever.