April 12, 2025 – Several Native American tribes in the Fresno County area gathered at
California Health Sciences University on Saturday, April 12 for the annual Spirit Run,
hosted by the Fresno American Indian Health Project (FAIHP).
Aimed towards providing all-encompassing wellness services to the Native American
community, the FAIHP put forth their best efforts to provide a lively start to the day for all
attendees.
The event encouraged participation from Native American tribal members and non-tribe
members alike. It celebrated Native American heritage and the importance of staying
active through a 5k and 2-mile run.
“A lot of our approaches to wellness are rooted in culture and community,” shared
Community Outreach Coordinator Diego Espinoza. “This event obviously kind of
embodies, you know, the physical wellness, [getting] people out there, [but] there’s also
a social aspect to it.”
The services offered by FAIHP display this multi-faceted approach to wellness, offering
medical services, care integration, Native wellness, youth services, behavioral health,
and general services. Within those groups are a variety of resources from substance abuse counseling and injury prevention to spiritual healing and diabetic care.
As it fits within that multi-oriented approach to wellness, the run didn’t just provide a
means of getting people active. It also highlighted the organization’s services and the
importance of physical health in mental well-being.
This is something that participants Analisa Zamora and her cousin Amelia Holguin
valued. Zamora shared that she regularly participates in 5k runs not just because of the
benefits to her physical health but also to her mental health. She stated, “I find that it is so helpful [not] only for my physical health, but my emotional health and also my social health. I’m able to connect with people that also enjoy
movement, running, and walking.”
True to that statement, many of the 5k participants, Zamora and Holguin included, were
found running alongside friends and family.
But before racers crossed the starting line, the organizers of the event had something
special in store for attendees.
At 9:20 AM, staff from FAIHP welcomed the Indigenous Warrior Flag group, who
presented the colors with Native American dancers donning vibrant regalia and a
drumming group.
The drumming group that accompanied the dancers stunned the audience in a show of
strong cultural heritage as the dancers performed with energy and skill. The performance left the audience applauding enthusiastically as they headed towards
the starting line. With the performance leaving racers energetic, they were more than
prepared to begin running, an air of excitement spreading throughout the area.
Children were the first to approach the starting line, sprinting across with eagerness and
speed. They were followed by adult 5k runners and those participating in the 2-mile
walk.
The first to round the corner of the trail was Sergio Perez, who came in at an impressive
17 minutes and 31 seconds. Several runners followed in the following few minutes, eager to don their participation medals for the race.
And though their running time for the morning had lapsed, their time of connection had
just begun. FAIHP staff and volunteers encouraged participants to stick around afterwards in the parking lot of the university. There, they learned more about FAIHP, purchased shirts
from the previous years’ races, chatted, and grabbed tacos and acai bowls from food
trucks on site.
Unlike many other 5k races, a multitude of tables and chairs were centered around the
food trucks, encouraging participants to sit and enjoy the meal together.
Participants were more than eager to stick around, displaying their “spirit” for community
and connection. The importance of the run’s name was certainly not missed as
individuals departed for the day.