Our first blog post of 2021 highlights McKinley Tenny, from the Detroit chapter of Black Men Run.
McKinley’s love for running began while attending and playing basketball during high school, in 2001. His passion for running elevated after deciding to run at his high school’s track. He became enthralled with the thrill of it all.
As a Special Olympics athlete McKinley states, “Running helps me to build and maintain my strength and makes me feel awesome afterward!”
Even though, McKinley Tenny was faced with numerous challenges, at birth. He has never allowed those challenges to be a roadblock.
His first race was the “Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo” 5K at the Detroit Zoo in 2015. In the same calendar year, he competed at the “Detroit Turkey Trot” on Thanksgiving Day. From there his race career took off! Since 2015, McKinley has competed in numerous 5Ks, 10Ks, Half Marathons and in 2018 he completed his first Full Marathon at the “Detroit/Chemical Bank Free Press Marathon!”
McKinley loves to help other Special Olympic athletes by lending support and attending their running and multisport events all while encouraging his friends to push forward and finish the race!
His 2021 goals: To compete in the “Special Olympics” again and his target for long distance running are to participate in the world majors starting with the “Bank of America Chicago Marathon” and then the “TCS New York City Marathon” and see where that takes him.