Runners Who Read EP 2: Running For My Life by Lopez Lomong

In the second episode of the Runners Who Read Podcast, Ronnel Blackmon and Olivia Baker sit down with Lopez Lomong to discuss his book Running For My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey From The Killing Fields Of Sudan To The Olympic Games. Lopez Lomong is currently a professional runner with Nike’s Bowerman Track Club. He is a 6-time US Champion with wins in the 1500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m and a 2-time US Olympian (2008 and 2012) and opening ceremony flag bearer at the 2008 Olympics. However, his story is so much larger than his accomplishments on the track.

At age 6, he was kidnapped from church and taken to a war camp which he escaped with the help of three boys from his village. He then spent 10 years in Kakuma, a refugee camp in Kenya before arriving in the US via the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program. He finished high school and then attended Norfolk State University and Northern Arizona University before turning pro to train for the 2008 Olympics. After the Olympics, he finished college at NAU and started a foundation, 4 South Sudan designed to provide people in South Sudan with access to clean water, education, better farming tools, and improved healthcare. This pod dives into Lopez's story in his own words as we walk through some of the most moving parts of his incredible story. Through it all he talks about what it took mentally, physically, and spiritually to get to where he is today, tells us how we can all learn from his story, and discusses how we can give back to ensure that other lost children get the same opportunities that he did.

Show notes:

Lopez's Foundation: http://www.teamworldvision.org/lopez

Order the book here: https://www.thomasnelson.com/9780718081447/running-for-my-life/

Runners Who Read Book Club: www.atlantatrackclub.org/runners-who-read

 

Follow Lopez

Twitter: @lopezlomong

Instagram: @lopez_lomong

Website: http://www.lopezlomong.com/

 

Follow Ronnel

Twitter: @ronnelblackmon

Instagram: @ronnelblackmon

 

Follow Olivia

Twitter: @obaker64

Instagram: @obaker64