Multimedia artist and professional ultra/trail runner Christian Gering draws inspiration from running and his Native American heritage.  Hailing from Katishyta (San Felipe Pueblo) and the Pi’pil people of El Salvador, he believes that “running is a form of art, and art is also a form of movement.”  He balances his running achievements, which include winning and setting course records at the Javelina 100K and Jemez Mountain Trail Runs 50 Mile, with creating art reflective of movement and the land. So much of what I've learned through this process is being able to step into opportunity with confidence and knowing that I am capable. One of Christian’s recent projects was creating fabric prints for Janji, the first time a runner has designed the apparel.  It was a new experience for him, which he equates to running:   “It's like that moment that you are on the start line and there's anxiety, potentially ... you're excited by the environment and wondering if whatever you did is going to be enough.  And just to remind people that when we put in the work and we manifest and we have that intention, you areenough, we all are capable of whatever we put our mind to.” A common saying that they would say would be, “ go outside” and I reflect on that so much because that is where the imagination for myself started. Christian’s parents encouraged him to be active physically and intellectually.  Growing up in Nevada, there was plenty of opportunity for outdoor recreation, and, he says, “I just always held that so close to my heart because when I got the chance to go outside, I had the chance to express myself.”  He developed his imagination playing outdoors with his friends, where they created games from their surroundings. Heavily involved in sports from an early age, he entered Nevada’s Olympic Development Program, hoping to become a professional soccer player.  However, he became disenchanted by the politics behind it and the lack of a supportive environment.  He decided that it was time to let go of his soccer “dream” and transition to something different. My dad thought it would be a great last bonding experience for the men of the house to share something together, something that would be of significance.  Around the time that he decided to stop soccer, his older brother got out of Marine Corps boot camp, and his father suggested that they all run the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon together.  During the year leading up to the race, he trained “maybe three months and not even consistently, it was probably like one day of the week I'd run, maybe the next week I'd run two days, and then take a week off and run one other day.”  At mile 22 of the marathon, as he was limping to the aid station, his dad passed him, “just chipper, you know, big smile, and I could just already feel he has something to say and sure enough,he goes, “All that training, is it paying off for you, Christian?” Christian went on to run cross-country in high school, but after graduation found himself on a different path. After high school I realized, well, I'm not gonna go for sports, so I'll pursue the other, which is my artistic side. It’s not athletics; I’ll do art. He enrolled in the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where he started using marijuana and alcohol regularly and remembers “just kind of getting further away from moving my body and at the same time I'm starting to see a stagnancy in my creative flow because I'm not moving my body as much.”  He left art school, and on a backpacking trip into the mountains with friends, felt that he was back in his community. I was going inward and really molding myself to be representative like the mountains, like the landscapes. He went to live with his grandparents, where he worked their farm alongside his grandfather every day, then would go for a run in the mountains.  “So much of my relationship with movement,” he says, “was also tied to my connection-ship and relationship to land.” He enrolled at Fort L