Eight months ago, Melissa Carlino-Diaz found the community she needed in an unexpected place. The 49-year-old audiologist from Queens, New York, was out for a walk, seeking a respite from the demands of working with COVID patients, when a message written in chalk caught her eye. The markings on the ground in Cunningham Park indicated the start and finish of Open Run.
Curious, Carlino-Diaz pulled out her phone to learn about the run, one of 15 free community-led events hosted by New York Road Runners (NYRR) that meets every week. At the time, Carlino-Diaz didn’t run, but she walked often and felt drawn to the inclusivity of the event.
“I needed to reconnect with people after the pandemic,” she told Runner’s World. “I came that following Sunday and everyone was so welcoming. I’ve been hooked ever since.”
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Since joining the group, Carlino-Diaz has found running to be the boost she needed to cope with working in healthcare during the pandemic. These days, she runs far more than she walks after putting down roots in the community as a race day volunteer and advocate for hearing impaired individuals.
Growing up, Carlino-Diaz ran track in elementary school but until recently, stuck with walking and hiking. For the last 25 years, she’s worked as an audiologist. As a hearing-impaired individual, she’s able to provide a considerate level of care to her patients, who range from infants in the NICU to the geriatric population. But when COVID hit New York City, Carlino-Diaz and many of her colleagues were reassigned to cover different departments in the hospital. She had to suspend her work in audiology in order to treat patients who were coming off respirators and relearning how to swallow. “That’s when I realized that I need to de-stress for mental health,” she said.
“I really need to be part of this group in order to maintain my mental health and my focus to be able to take care of myself, my family and others.”
Established in 2015, Open Run was created to serve New York City communities, many of which are under-resourced and underfunded, Marissa Muñoz, NYRR’s Senior Vice President of Community Impact, told Runner’s World. By offering free weekly events for runners of all abilities across the city, the organization—which also hosts several major races in the Big Apple, including the New York City Marathon—aims to encourage healthy habits within those populations. “So many of the communities that we serve have larger health disparities, unfortunately. It’s our goal to help increase the health and longevity of folks there,” Muñoz said. “It would be great if they fell in love with running and in doing so, they make friends and connect with one another.”
When Carlino-Diaz showed up for her first Open Run, she went alone and felt nervous at first. But the feeling didn’t last long. Before the run started, a volunteer greeted her and explained the 3-mile route. Soon, many others followed and introduced themselves.
That day, Carlino-Diaz walked the course and completed the run in the back of the pack, where the same group welcomed her at the finish line. “From that point on, I knew this was going to work out,” she said.
Thanks to the encouragement of fellow runners, Carlino-Diaz built up from walking to running consistently three to four times every week. In the fall, she volunteered to hand out water at mile 14 of the New York City Marathon, where she watched almost 50,000 people run through the five boroughs.
Now she finishes in the middle of the pack at Open Run and pays it forward. “I don't leave until that last person comes in because I remember the people waiting for me,” she said.
She’s also pushed for change so more hearing impaired runners can feel safe in the community.
Since taking up the sport, Carlino-Diaz has encountered a few challenges, including confusion that sets in when runners pass her from behind. If they call out, “On your left,” or “On your right,” she can’t hear them and fears they assume she’s being rude when she doesn’t respond or gets startled. While she feels comfortable in the Open Run community, running by herself or in other groups can be intimidating. “I’m always a little cautious about my environment because I don’t want to run into any problems,” she said. “We definitely need to work on that, to educate people, so they know that this is a thing people have to deal with.”
In the last year, Carlino-Diaz has given recommendations to NYRR on ways to make events more accommodating for runners who are hearing impaired. For example, she suggested the organization create bibs to be worn on runners’ backs that indicate if they are hearing impaired. The distinction would raise awareness and encourage other runners to give them extra space when passing, she said. She’d also like to see more sound amplification when race organizers are making announcements at the start. And for those hearing impaired individuals who might not feel comfortable voicing their needs, she recommends event leaders provide more written handouts to explain the race guidelines.
After running her first turkey trot and getting inspired by the buzz of the New York City Marathon last fall, Carlino-Diaz has her sights set on competing in a 10K in Queens this summer. In the meantime, she’ll continue to show up for herself and the community at Open Run every Sunday morning.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
