{"id":159194,"date":"2020-06-07T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=159194"},"modified":"2021-07-06T12:49:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T19:49:53","slug":"the-pansa-boyz-running-for-every-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/the-pansa-boyz-running-for-every-body","title":{"rendered":"The Pansa Boyz: Running for Every Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the summer 2020 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On his long summer runs in Brooklyn, around Green-Wood Cemetery and up to Prospect Park and back, Tyrone Alomia, 32, occasionally takes off his shirt to keep cool. The four-time marathoner loves to explore his borough on foot even when it\u2019s sweltering. His runner\u2019s high, though, is often interrupted by street-side snickers, particularly in his own neighborhood, Sunset Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, that guy\u2019s got boobs,\u201d one onlooker remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is this guy wearing tights in the street?\u201d another stranger sneers.<\/p>\n

But the worst offender might be the seemingly innocent thumbs-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not dying here\u2014I\u2019m just running,\u201d says Alomia, challenging stereotypes of what a \u201ctypical\u201d runner should look like. Those sorts of reactions are part of what motivates the Pansa Boyz, four first-generation Latin American men born and bred in New York City, to run relay races shirtless. At a combined weight of nearly half a ton, the Pansa Boyz are trying to show that running is for everyone, regardless of shape or size.<\/p>\n

Alomia admits he could stand to lose some weight, but it\u2019s not his driving factor for lacing up. \u201cIt\u2019s about maintenance, socializing and getting better at it,\u201d he explains, adding that he wants to run a sub-two-hour\u00a0half-marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love about running is that you\u2019re not competing against anyone but yourself\u2014I\u2019m just trying to keep up with my body and what I can do,\u201d says fellow Pansa Boy Emmanuel \u201cBodega\u201d Rodriguez, who logs 20 miles a week. What started out as a hashtag (\u201cpanza\u201d is Spanish for \u201cbelly\u201d) turned into a team in early 2019. While working at a Nike store in midtown Manhattan, Rodriguez and Alomia hatched a plan to participate in The North Face Endurance Challenge on New York\u2019s Bear Mountain that May.<\/p>\n

\"Tyrone

Tyrone Alomia runs near his high school on New York\u2019s Lower East Side. (Photo Credit: Ben Clark)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get two other fat dudes to run the marathon relay with us\u201d is how Rodriguez, 39, recalls pitching the idea. The two had already competed in Oregon\u2019s 199-mile Hood to Coast Relay in 2018, when they ran all night fueled on Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. (Yes, they had a designated driver, and yes, they\u00a0crossed the finish line feeling good.) Alomia was up for a repeat as long as Rodriguez did the recruiting. \u201cWe knew we didn\u2019t want to run with anyone fast,\u201d Alomia says. \u201cWe needed a team that still felt competitive, but also would wait for us without getting mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez reached out to two-time marathoner Hector Espinal, who cofounded We Run Uptown, a run club that meets for a 5K every Monday evening at a pizza place in northern Manhattan. Espinal started running in 2013 to get healthy and get over a breakup. It quickly became a calling for the 28-year-old, who now works at a hospital as a patients\u2019 financial adviser. Espinal was all in. \u201cIt\u2019s taboo for men to speak about their weight,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re giving these men a platform to feel confident in their own skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, Rodriguez approached Jason Suarez, 33, a freelance photographer who has run three marathons since 2016 and logs up to 50 miles weekly. He was a natural fit, except for one thing: going shirtless. \u201cI\u2019m body-conscious\u2014the struggle of knowing what I used to look like is hard,\u201d says the former Division I collegiate sprinter. How did they convince him? Peer pressure, rational arguments and FOMO, of course.<\/p>\n

Building a team was particularly significant for Alomia. Running had, after all, saved his life. \u201cFrom age 20 to 24, I was directionless\u2014I\u2019d just work and party,\u201d he says. His boss at Nike challenged him to run a New York Road Runners 4-miler. \u201cIt was probably the greatest accomplishment of my life,\u201d Alomia says. \u201cIt opened so many doors for me.\u201d That fall, he ran the New York City Marathon. Today, Alomia is a high school physical-education teacher. \u201cWith the Pansa Boyz, getting a platform to speak out about a topic that\u2019s often shunned\u2014bigger men and bigger people in general being active\u2014is very important,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s working. The team\u2019s Instagram account, @pansaboyz<\/a>, features testimonials from people who say they finally feel like they fit in. One fan wrote, \u201cKeep killin\u2019 it guys and inspiring other big dudes to feel a little more comfortable to put themselves out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

At press time, the Pansa Boyz had been planning to complete their next relay, the Ragnar Trail Atlanta. Competing on the roughly 200-mile course at the hilly Georgia International Horse Park, a former Olympic venue, meant the Pansa Boyz had to recruit four new members for a team of eight, each tackling about 30 miles during the two-day event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing how we come together, push and show up for each other,\u201d says Suarez. \u201cWe have no idea what we\u2019re getting into, but it should be fun.\u201d Cases of PBR in the home-base tent have not been ruled out. Shirts optional.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the summer 2020 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path.\u00a0 On his long summer runs in Brooklyn, around Green-Wood Cemetery and up to Prospect Park and back, Tyrone Alomia, 32, occasionally takes off his shirt to keep cool. The four-time marathoner loves to explore his borough on foot even when it\u2019s sweltering. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":159959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2006,155,1376,1934,2024],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-159194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-run","tag-issue-3","tag-new-york","tag-running","tag-uncommon-path","tag-uncommon-path-issues"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/run\/the-pansa-boyz-running-for-every-body","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Pansa Boyz: Running for Every Body","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/the-pansa-boyz-running-for-every-body","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/run\/the-pansa-boyz-running-for-every-body"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Copy-of-REI040120unsung01_hero.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/05\/Copy-of-REI040120unsung01_hero.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Run","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["issue 3","new york","running","uncommon path","uncommon path issues"],"dateCreated":"2020-06-07T15:00:27Z","datePublished":"2020-06-07T15:00:27Z","dateModified":"2021-07-06T19:49:53Z"},"rendered":"