For resolute Denver woman, culture, history run together

Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 3, 2006 at midnight

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Indian country's running spirit soared with Wynn Murray, a Rosebud Sioux, and her five children at the "Mo Smith One Mile Challenge" on Sunday.

Murray, who lives in Denver, had a child in all but one of the races for 6-year-olds through 12-year-olds. For all five, the race was their first mile-long competition.

"It's in your blood," said Murray, who competed in high school at Mission, S.D.

For centuries before the Europeans arrived in the Americas, running was a way of life for Indians. Runners were valued as messengers, warriors, supply carriers and spiritual leaders.

Running was part of religious rituals, politics and marking the passages from childhood to adulthood.

Murray put her children through two weeks of daily training in pacing, sprints and running on the inside track.

When each child ran Sunday, Murray dispatched their siblings along the track at South High School's All City Stadium to encourage the runner - and run with them in the final lap. Murray ran a few stints herself.

Each of her youngsters completed the race in 90-plus degree temperatures, and most captured first, second and third place finishes.

The race, sponsored by Denver's Indian and Family Services, was named for Maurice "Mo" Smith, the first American Indian to break the four-minute mile.

Smith is the general manager of the North American Indigenous Games, which draws Indian athletes from across the country and Canada for seven days of competitions at various locations in metro Denver.

Smith was busy with the games' opening ceremony and was not able to attend his namesake race. But each of Murray's children knew about Smith.

"He was the first Indian to win big."

"He showed us what we can do."

"He's an Indian hero," Murray's children shouted.

Smith, also the executive director of the Native American Sports Council in Colorado Springs, grew up spending summers on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and winters in Denver going to school.

"In Arizona, I used to get up at 4:30 a.m. or 5 and run," Smith said a few days before the race. "My family thought I was bizarre, but it was a feeling I had in my heart."

Through running, Smith acquired the fortitude that took him through college and helped him finish more than 30 one-mile races in less than four minutes.

At the Sunday race, parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of the runners cheered each and every competitor through the four laps around the track. Even the slowest were praised for finishing.

While Smith was at the race in spirit, Billy Mills, the first Indian runner to win an Olympic gold medal, was there in person, sharing tales of great Indian runners.

Mills won the gold in the 10K event at the 1964 Olympics.

One youngster asked Mills how he felt before a race.

"You are always scared," said Mills, an Oglala Lakota raised at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

As he signed countless T-shirts, Mills said his career had years of setbacks due to diabetes.

"You learn to compete against yourself, not anyone else," Mills said.

Mills also told the youngsters about reporters who said his setbacks were due to the poor self-esteem of Indians and their low socioeconomic status.

The crowd of youngsters around Mills laughed with him.

All five of Murray's children posed for a picture with Mills, who also signed their race T-shirts.

"I'm proud of you all," Mills said.

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