The greater Madison community is welcome to jog, run, or walk at the 7th annual Madison Gospel 5K, 10K Run/Walk & Health Fair on Saturday, July 12, 8 a.m. at Penn Park.
“I encourage everybody to come out because this will be fun and fellowship and fitness,” Uchenna Jones, founder of the Madison Gospel 5K Foundation and Race, tells Madison365. “It’s a chance to learn about different organizations in our community. We will have so many fun activities, including dance contests where we will give out beautiful plaque awards that are custom-made.”
Jones founded The Madison Gospel 5K Foundation in February of 2019 as a charitable organization focused on the health and wellness of families of color. Every summer, her organization has been hosting a Madison Gospel 5K,10K Run/Walk that just keeps getting bigger and better. In the past few years, a health fair has been incorporated into the event, providing important health resources and information from community health organizations.
“We will have some interesting vendors at the event, as always,” Jones says. “We will have people focused on wellness. We will have a massage therapist there. We will have bouncy houses. We will have a 5K, 10K walk/run and kids’ run. It’s all about the importance of families coming together because it’s about shifting our mental space to a better place.
“We want to create events that make not only individuals feel good, but families feel good, and take away as many barriers, especially financial, that we can,” Jones adds. “It’s hard to be angry after 10 minutes of movement, you know. Movement is so important … just moving, just taking a walk, can automatically heal the body.”
At the 7th annual Madison Gospel 5K, 10K Run/Walk & Health Fair, there will be several dance contests with categories like last one standing, smooth moves, and DJ’s choice. There will be a single jump rope competition called the Carlton Mitchell Jr. Jump Master Award, and things like an oxygen bar and leg compression with Smart Goggle Stations.
Vendors at the event will include SSM Health, MGE, Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Public Health Madison and Dane County, Gilda’s Club Madison, Get Kids Outside, Access Community Health Centers, Desere Mayo-Face Painting, Mocha Massage and Bodywork, Spa In Your SpaceHarambee Doula Care & Holistic Services, Green Light Go, LLC, and KONA Ice.
“I’m really excited about our partnerships. SSM Health and Access Community Health has been with us from the beginning. Now we’ve got some new players. We got Unity Point Health that’s with us now. They’re going into their second year with us. We got MG&E, they’re in our second year with us. So I’m super duper excited.
“We got the South Side Farmers Market. That’s [market director] Robert Pierce. He’s been with us for like five years like, so it’s beautiful because he brings us peaches from the south,” she adds. “I’ve also ordered pineapples from Hawaii.”
Jones says that with the event, she hopes to continue to “grow and raise awareness about the importance of family, faith, fellowship, and fitness.”
“It’s just really beautiful … the continuous evolution of this event,” Jones continues. “We have medals for the runners, there are plaques for the dancers and different gift prizes across all the different genres,” she says. “So we’re just really listening to the people and offering what they want with the varied movements, and then also presenting community opportunities to share and engage.”
Jones, who is the community impact director of health at United Way of Dane County, is also a registered nurse and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She started her own health journey soon after she broke her leg jumping from her burning apartment building a little over two decades ago.
“After I jumped out of a burning building at the age of 22 and the doctor told me I wouldn’t be able to walk,” she says. “And I could not accept that. I learned how to walk again, and then learning how to walk again, I ran. I started to learn how to run. I’ve been running ever since.”
She’s been involved in many races over the years. In 2019, she felt it was time to start her own race where she would celebrate the diversity of the community and where everyone is welcome.
“All the money we raised for the Madison Gospel 5K Run/Walk & Health Fair, 90% of it goes back in. So in the seven years, we have raised over $300,000 that has gone back into the community,” Jones says.
“And we’ve affected over 600 families over the years, and that doesn’t even include volunteers,” she adds. “So that’s pretty incredible.”
The event continues to evolve and get bigger and better and Jones says her favorite thing is watching the children and the families grow and evolve, too, as they become healthier young adults.
“A bunch of young kids came to me who were little when we first started this, and now they’re in middle school, high school, running cross country, playing basketball, doing all kinds of sports. And I’m just like, like, wow … how fortunate I am to watch families grow and expand.
“So that’s all I want to do …. Just spread some joy and cheer with all of these crazy things that are going on around us in this world today.”
