The Marathon Project
WE ARE SO PROUD OF THE MARATHON PROJECT RUNNERS!
Hello Community!
Let’s celebrate these amazing humans! Our Marathon Runners, who have said yes, have helped promote Rising Hearts and have helped fundraise for the heart work we are grateful to keep doing. This opportunity about The Marathon Project was a seize the moment feeling a year ago in 2025 when they announced that this would be happening. So, Rising Hearts wanted to make sure we could help increase representation on the start line but showing our support. We are able to support Hosava (who is trying to achieve the 2028 Olympic Trials Qualification), Kylie and Nate, representing Trans and Non-Binary runners show up and take up that space. The race is on December 21st, so if you’re in the area, please get out there and cheer them on!
And in doing so, we reimbursed them their registration fee (which was hefty), provided them with a singlet and gear, and a $700 stipend to support their travels getting there. It’s not much, but we believe in these three amazing and inspiring humans.
We are so grateful for Hosava, Kylie and Nate for being part of Team Rising Hearts and for fundraising!
Learn a bit more about our runners, their why and their reflections ahead of the big day!
- Rising Hearts
MEET THE RUNNERS
Hello! Loloma and yá'át'ééh, shik'éí dóó shidine'é! I am beyond excited to be running in the professional race Marathon Project on December 21st! It’s an honor to once again represent Rising Hearts and fundraise for such an Incredible Indigenous-led organization. The work of Rising Hearts is dedicated to amplifying community voices through kinship, movement advocacy, and
storytelling.
Rising Hearts empowers diverse communities by fostering intersectional collaboration, promoting cultural integrity, and creating meaningful change for the next generations. Rising Hearts continues to inspire collective action, elevate Indigenous and community centered narratives, creating safe and supportive spaces, and mobilize support for those in need. As a Hopi and Diné runner, I am grateful for Indigenous-led organizations such as Rising Hearts. My So'to (grandma) always told me when I was young, "Whatever you do in life, do it for your community." That is why my goal is to help raise $1,000 for Rising Hearts so their incredible work can continue.
Hosava’s Goal: $1,000
I’m an enrolled member of Zuni Pueblo (Zuni, NM) although I currently live in Boston, MA. I’m a queer autistic trans woman and an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. My family have always been runners. Growing up, my mom would always be training for a marathon. I started running in 2015 as a way of coping with gender dysphoria (although I didn’t realize that’s what it was at the time). I transitioned in the last year of my statistics PhD program at Purdue University before moving to Boston. After taking a break from running for several years post-transition, I started running again in the pandemic. Since then I’ve raced multiple marathons, including three Boston Marathons, and have begun racing on the track both indoor and outdoor. I'm proud to support the Rising Hearts community that has steadfastly defended the Indigenous and transgender communities through movement and advocacy at a time when we increasingly face erasure and exclusion from sports, healthcare, and public spaces. I race because we are here — we've always been here — and for all of my siblings whose dreams and lives have been stolen from them through prejudice and hate.
Kylie’s Goal: $2,000
I'm excited to support Rising Hearts and help them further their imperative mission for Indigenous, Queer, and BIPOC runners. As a non-binary runner, Rising Hearts helps me advocate and empower not only my community, but all communities. Now more than ever, we must amplify our voices together in running and beyond. If you are able, please donate to support Rising Hearts' essential mission.
Nate’s Goal: $500
RUN REFLECTIONS AHEAD OF TMP
HOSAVA’S REFLECTIONS
I am feeling excited that I get to run for my community and on Native Land (Gila River Indian Reservation). Running has always been central to my life and kept me grounded. I lost my job in early May of this year due to DEI cuts to several grants that supported underrepresented minority (URM) students and Native students. Luckily, running has helped me stay focused as I am still completing my PhD at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and working to pay the bills. There were days I would be in class most of the day, start my run at 9pm in 27 degree weather, and I would have to run 10-15miles. There were beautiful runs under the sun with snow or rain. There were runs where I got to see the sunrise or sunset. The best runs were under the full moon and in my tribe, we have stories about the full moon, which remind me of being at home.
This past month, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Nike Cross Country Regional race (NXR). This was an incredible cross country race where I had the opportunity to cheer on many Native high schools from across the Four Corners region. More now than ever, we have to continue supporting our Native youth so they can look forward to a bright future.
Remembering my home, where I come from, and who I run for, is the fuel I need to cross the finish line at the Marathon Project.
KYLIE’S REFLECTIONS
Three weeks before The Marathon Project, I watched the Shalako race on the banks of the Zuni river back home. The ten foot tall birdlike kachina-gods had danced all night, and their ceremonial race would begin the end of the year and bring good luck and fortune into the new year. Unless any of them fell. That would be bad luck, and we would all be punished. I held my breath.
When I applied for The Marathon Project, I had high hopes for racing a fast marathon on Native lands and setting a personal best while showing the world that trans athletes belong in sport. After the 2025 presidential inauguration, everything changed. My life became about civil resistance organizing. It’s hard to go out and train and do hard things when your immigrant neighbors are being rounded up and sent to concentration camps, and your trans siblings are losing access to lifesaving healthcare, and your civil rights are being eroded day by day. But doing the heart work is hard too. I couldn’t keep moving at the same pace, and now I’m feeling burnt out and broken.
But the Shalako didn’t fall. And the songs they sang were the same songs as have been sung in Zuni for thousands of years. We continue. So as I look toward my own race to begin the end of the year, I only have one goal: to start.
Because we can never be broken as long as we keep moving forward. Because I’m still a trans woman who’s alive, and I’m starting a race that the most powerful people in the world say I have no right to start, and that is rebellion enough for one day.
Because if we want to be good relatives in America in 2026, we must begin by being as brave as we can possibly be. I’ll start. And I don’t know exactly how I’ll get there, but I’ll see you at the finish line.
NATE’S REFLECTIONS
For the first time since college, I'm working with a running coach. While I've had successful marathon training blocks in the past, I decided to fine-tune my approach specifically for The Marathon Project (TMP). Under my coach's guidance, my preparation has involved consistently stacking 30+ kilometer long runs, structured interval workouts, and strides week after week. All this work has culminated in my best marathon training yet.
I'm excited to time-trial the marathon at TMP, but at the same time, represent and express myself as a non-binary Filipino-American runner. Building community with Indigenous, queer, and BIPOC runners is more important than ever. I'm excited to celebrate both movement and community at TMP and to always remember that the process of running should always be cherished.
END OF THE YEAR FUNDRAISER
We are 71% of the way there to reaching our end of year goal of $10,000!
Team Rising Hearts came into the @everywomansmarathon with a fundraising goal and community goal of BELONGING, JOY, RESILIENCE, FRIENDSHIP. And all funds raised has its place to be and support from a run retreat, to our 38 athlete advocates, 30+ charity runners, film screenings and events, consulting, and staff.
Donate $55 and get a Yeti mug as long as supplies lasts!