The Silent Run

The Silent Run

not a race

a ritual for remembering

with no finish line

 

 

The Silent Run celebrates people who died in prison or elsewhere

because running is not just running

Running is dwelling poetically!

 

The Silent Run offers us the opportunity for opening a wider conversation about death in prison and works as a starting point for opening/allowing a space for grieving for people in custody. By acknowledging that people in prison often die alone, with no real celebration, with no families and friends around and with few possibilities to grieve for their loved ones when they die, through this event we aim at creating the ground for a culture around death which is equal and just especially in marginal context like prison, in recognition of the fact that end of life care, funeral provision and post-death care need to be considered part of healthcare.

Competing and looking for a personal best are not the only things runners do. Many runners dedicate their marathons and long distance runs to the memory of a loved one. They might write stories, poems or eulogies to print on their T-shirts or bring memorial objects with them on their runs. The Silent Run shows how running and other practices like Feldenkrais can offer ways for celebrating and remembering. This potential has been already felt by many runners part of the running club at HMPG who recognized in the way Runforever proposed running, something of a different kind from the fitness culture. As example listen to this Runningstories episode at minute16'15

Building on internal experience to Runforever (ESRC-Care in funerals – University of Aberdeen, End of life aid skills for everyone (EASE), Prisoners becoming doulas – Maine) we aim at following this path in the coming future.

Please see here below what we have done so far. 

 

November 2024

After two years of work at HMPG (February 2023-March 2025), Runforever organized the first edition of the The Silent Run in November 2024 celebrating the To Absent friend week in collaboration with HMPG, ACE Voices,  Familiesoutside and with the support of To Absent Friends and Athletics Trust Scotland. 

Following Runforever’s commitment to bridge the inside with the outside, this memorial run has taken place in two parts, to involve and connect both the prison community and the community outside the prison. People have been invited to join and dedicate their run (or walk) to someone they love, or to remember and celebrate absent friends, family members or loved ones who died, in prison or elsewhere.

The Outside session at Heatheryburn School, Northfield – Aberdeen, featured a performance by Aberdeen’s Intergenerational Choir supported by Twisting the Rainbow to record the song Travel these Ways, dedicated to people in prison, followed by a run around the playground.

The Inside session at HMPG featured art practice and tribute-making sessions, the ACE Voices choir in the weeks before the event. On the day (7th November 2024) a memorial run took place followed by listening to the recorded song and some singing together.

 

The Silent Run 2024 has been part of To Absent Friends Festival 2024

 

 

The Silent Run at HMPG – Thursday 7th November 2024

 

April 2025

The first edition of the Silent Run has not been a one-off event. Runforever is working towards the next Silent Run and keeping it as a common goal for next November 2025 to provide a focus for our activities. In virtue of this experience, we have been invited to speak at a few public events for different institutions:

  • 25 April 2025 – New Insights into Scottish deathways. University of Aberdeen, 24th – 25th April 2025. Presentation: Runforever, humanising responses to grief and loss in a prison environment. See link here
  • 18 March 2025 – The Future We Choose: Ethics, Governance, and Regenerative Leadership, RSA event at RGU Aberdeen. Presentation: Runforever and Deeside Climate Action Network. Small, beautiful actions – towards healthy and happy communities
  • 26 February 2025 – Demystifying Death: Making Change Happen, GLGDGG (Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief) Conference. Renfield Centre, Glasgow. Presentation: Runforever, humanising responses to grief and loss in a prison environment. See link here
  • 25 February 2025 – Ethnographic Research Methods for the Arts and Humanities, University of Aberdeen. Presentation: Runforever – beautiful actions leaving inspiration. See link here
  • 28 November 2024 – Health Promotion Event, Reducing Inequalities through our Healthcare Practice – BSLM and IHPE Joint Webinar. Presentation Runforever and new paths to health. See link here

Like a research team, we are now working collaboratively with prison staff, prisoners and partner organisations, weaving together a few complementary strands:

  • We are working at HMPG every Thursday with running and Feldenkrais sessions and in collaboration with Ace voices to create a Choral run – a choir in movement for next November
  • We started offering the End of life aid skills for everyone (EASE) by GLGDGG in the community and we are now proposing it in the prison to create bridges between both sides and enable people to become more comfortable with death.
  • We are creating links with the Lonely funeral project to inspire poetic practices at the end of life and celebrate people who might have died alone and in isolation.
  • We are exploring the time After the last breath as proposed by Pushing up the daisies to take care of the body and its transition.
  • Finally we are planting the seeds for a songline – a long Run and walk along the Dee as an expansion of the Silent Run and a ritual of reintegration for ex-prisoners after release. See here and here