Napan Thomas Coakley runs wearing a hoodie and weighted vest to encourage a dialogue about injustice and oppression. After each run Coakley posts a selfie and name of a person he's memorialized during that run. He's pictured here with another local runner, and supporter, Shari Costanzo.
On Father’s Day this year, Napan Thomas Coakley got up, put on a 20 lb. weighted vest and a long sleeve hoodie and went for a run.
It wasn’t an extreme training method or weight loss strategy.
Since that day, Coakley, 32, has chosen to run with the vest and hoodie as a physical symbol of the weight and oppression of social injustice and inequity.
In addition, he dedicates each run to a particular person – someone who died as a result of racial injustice or at the hands of police, he said.
The vest “is extremely uncomfortable,” said Coakley. “The weight is heavy.” And the hoodie is uncomfortable.
And that’s exactly his point. “That is my objective,” he said. “At the end of the day, these are burdens we all should be carrying.”
“It’s natural as humans to want things to be comfortable, and that’s where the piece of being uncomfortable with the hoodie and weight comes in,” said Coakley. “From that discomfort can come growth.”
Coakley, who is half black, half white, said he’s always cautiously paid attention to his surroundings. “It’s something you need to be aware of as a black man,” he said. “These are true fears that people of color have.”
Coakley, originally from Phoenix, moved to Napa in 2013 and works in the financial industry.
“I felt like my heart was drawn to Napa, even thought I had no idea of what was waiting for me,” he said. Besides his day job, Coakley also works as a coach for local high school sports teams and teaches at Newton’s Law of Fitness Club. “It’s a passion of mine to give back in some way, shape or form.”
After each run, he posts a selfie on social media. On each image he types out the name of the person he dedicated that particular run to. “It’s remembering them” and their story, he said.
He also wants to help start conversations about why he’s running with the vest and hoodie, said Coakley.
“It’s so easy to be so desensitized in today’s world,” he said. “If we get into pointing fingers, that’s when the fences go up,” said Coakley. But if you can have a heart-to-heart conversation, “I feel like it brings down the walls.”
“I choose to believe that,” he said.
Coakley, said he runs around seven to 15 miles a week.
About half the time, another runner will join him. That includes Shari Costanzo, a Napa runner whom he's trained at Newton’s Law of Fitness Club.
“I know that running is hard," said Costanzo. "Running with a weighted vest is hard. I thought if he is carrying the weight to get his message across, the least I could do is carry some weight too. I asked him if I could join him.” She even bought her own weighted vest.
“I want him to know that I care and want to learn about the weight that he carries and that people are here to run beside him so he doesn’t have to carry it alone,” said Costanzo, a local elementary school teacher. “It’s so much more than just a weighted vest run.”
Their running conversations have already made a difference in her life, she said.
“I started thinking what I could do to make a positive change,” said Costanzo. For example, her conversations with Coakley “inspired me to increase my books about diversity in my classroom library,” she said.
“He has encouraged me and inspired me to use my skills to let people know that their voice matters.”
Does Coakley ever get stares when he’s out running in his vest and hoodie?
Yes, he said. “I often do get funny looks,” but that can lead to more connections and conversations about racial injustice, he said. “My hopes are (they) want to learn and hear more” about why he’s doing what he is doing.
Has he ever been harassed or faced complaints? No, said Coakley, but “I would imagine it’s to come. That’s how life is unfortunately. If that’s the case, I’ll have a conversation.”
In the meantime, he continues to run with the weighted vest and hoodie. “It’s not going to stop,” said Coakley. “I don’t have an end in sight.”
Watch now: Napa's memorial to George Floyd and other victims of racism and violence.
You can reach reporter Jennifer Huffman at 256-2218 or jhuffman@napanews.com
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