Run strong, run free
How I met Raven
This is the story of my 2023 encounter with Raven, the legendary streak runner1 from Miami Beach.
You don’t know Raven yet? OK, then you can start here, watch this short movie made by Runner’s World magazine about Robert “Raven” Kraft.
As a streaker myself, I first found stories about Raven on Streak Runners International’s Facebook page. I read articles and watched movies about this guy and his crazy ritual of running 8 miles2, every day since January 1st, 1975! That’s my entire lifespan!3 Always starting from the same place, 5th street Lifeguard stand, Miami Beach, at same hour, 5:30 PM. Crazy, right?
Raven’s is currently ranking no. 5 in the world on SRI’s active runners list, and he’s the only one running on sand, in the same place, for his entire streak. Yup, he never left Miami Beach.
Before we move forward, let me tell you how popular Raven is in Miami: when the Covid curfew shut down in 2020 every outdoor activities, the Miami Beach mayor gave Raven a special permission as the only citizen allowed on South Beach to maintain his streak. In 2024, Miami renamed a street with his name and the state of Florida declared January 1st “Raven” Day. Then, those crazy stories of him running his eight miles through Irma and Irene and Wilma - these are just a few hurricanes among others! Injuries, sickness, pain, nothing stopped this guy from keeping his 8 milers streak alive. All these years of running on the beach he saved 17 people from drowning and, of course, Miami Beach lifeguards are his friends.
Reading the Streak Runners International’s list, one can notice Raven’s occupation: songwriter. You can find his playlist on Spotify here. He’s a composer and singer4. The day we ran together he told me he was recording a new song, Dracula.
Back to our story. In June 2023 I was traveling to USA to attend the wedding of a dear friend. The wedding was celebrated in California but on our way back to Europe we stopped in Florida to visit the newlyweds’ house. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale and that’s the moment when my brain made the connection: I was less than 40 miles away from Raven and that famous beach. What if…
The next day, on June 8th, I took an Uber with Angela and two other friends and arrived to Miami at around 4PM. After walking around on Miami’s Ocean Drive, photographing some strange, lovely characters, at 5:20 I went with Angela to the 5th street Lifeguard stand to meet my guy.
It started to rain but nothing serious, a light drizzle. Sky and beach were grey, with small blue patches. Air humid. Famous Miami Beach…
At 5:30, we saw Raven. A shy, silent question mark - bent forward body - slowly walking toward the stand, carrying a black nylon bag. He’s cool! my first thought. We said hello, shook hands and waited for him to change clothes for running. He took down his worn, greasy pants, his black-greyish sleeveless denim jacket, while he kept talking to us. He ended with a naked, inflated, hairy torso5, blue shorts, a pair of incredibly broken, loyal, dusty New Balance running shoes, his right big toe brazenly saluting us through a hole.
After a guy came and bought a t-shirt from Raven (content of black bag), he placed his clothes into the same bag, threw it under the Lifeguard stand, stretched a bit and we started to run in the mist.
While we slowly made our loops (a full loop of 6km, beach only on sand, starts from 5th St going South until you reach South Pointe Pier, then it turns to North until Lincoln St and then you head back), we talked a lot. Raven gives each running companion6 who completes an 8 mile run with him a nickname and a number on his famous Raven Runners List. I found out my row was #3642. Listening to his companion’s stories, Raven is choosing the nickname right on the spot. You’ll find mine at the end of this story.
From time to time, when we reached a trash can, Raven stopped, grabbed with both hands the trash can poles and made a few stretches, bending his knees. I can still hear the cracking sound of his bones and cartilages while he made those moves...
Reaching the Southernmost point of his running loop, we ended at a concrete pier, called South Pointe Park Pier. From there, across an artificial sea channel called Governments Cut, one can see Fishers Island7, the island which has had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States.
On the South Pointe Pier, Raven, a man of habits, has this spot he needs to touch every time he’s reaching this milestone of his run. It turns out he’s not the only OCD stricken runner. I myself have a few spots in my town I routinely touch…
While running and talking, Raven actively scanned the sand through his sunglasses, a bit helped by his bended running posture. From time to time he suddenly stopped, bending down to grab what it turned to be a small coin. Confessed that he’s collecting around twenty bucks each month only by doing that. He challenged me to find coins too, but I haven’t found none.
Listening to Raven I learned so many things about the history of the Beach. About running as a long-term goal. About friendship, time, greed and generosity. About so many other things. He sang to me, his deep, cavernous voice, strangely soothing.
We left Raven and his Beach late in the evening, it was already dark. We returned in a strange, green LEDs filled Uber to Fort Lauderdale. In my bag I had a Raven t-shirt8 I bought, but the most important thing I carried was a bit different: the fact that for more than two hours, I ran and connected with one of my running heroes.
Truly yours, BeyondForest9.
The END
PS: Let me know if you want to read my conversation with Raven and I will transcribe it here, on TNP. Send me a message.
The official definition of a running streak, as adopted by the Streak Runners International, Inc., and United States Running Streak Association, Inc., is to run at least one mile (1.61 kilometers) within each calendar day. Running may occur on either the roads, a track, over hill and dale, or on a treadmill.
In November 2023, Raven’s chronic back pain forced him to decrease his daily mileage from eight to five.
I was born on November 30th, 1974, and this runner started his streak one month after.
He has written over 1,800 songs in his lifetime. In 2022, he formed a band, Raven and the Dark Shadows.
He’s a big fan of workouts and he still beats much younger competitors at dead hang isometric challenges.
People from around the world have joined Raven since he started to do his streak. Some of them travel to Miami especially for the opportunity to run with him.
Fisher Island is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Since 2015, Fisher Island has had the highest per capita income of any place in the US. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561. Named for automotive parts pioneer and beach real estate developer Carl G. Fisher, who once owned it, Fisher Island is three miles off the shore of mainland South Florida. No road or causeway connects to the island, which is only accessible by private boat, helicopter, or ferry. Once a one-family island home of the Vanderbilts, and later several other millionaires, it was sold for development in the 1960s. The property sat vacant for well over 15 years before development began for very limited and restrictive multi-family use. Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, and Mel Brooks are among the celebrities with homes on the island. In 2005, the island attempted to incorporate as a town, but the Miami-Dade County Commission did not support this initiative. (Wikipedia)
Transylvania name origin - trāns (“across”) + silvānus (“forest”) meaning “on the other side of the woods”. (Wikipedia)