Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Reasons for Running

Some do it to challenge themselves and compete; others to get from A to B. Some do it for fitness, whereas others turn to it to lose weight. Everyone has their own reason for running, and in a new web series created through Anomaly and Greenpoint Pictures, it’s no different – only the personal stories covered are some of the most inspiring and touching you’re ever likely to see.

As homage to the power of running, Dick’s Sporting Goods has created a content series featuring 13 sort films exploring what individuals ‘Run For’. The films feature emotional stories told by runners including Steve Bell (above), Dick and Rick Hoyt, Julia Chase, Tony Clark and Roger Wright.

"Every runner has a reason why they run - the 'Run For' content series aims to uncover some of these reasons and create authentic stories to inspire the running community,” says Seth Jacobs, creative director at Anomaly.

Steve Bell was born with cystic fibrosis. Even though he must complete an hour to 90 minutes of treatment every morning and consume between 50 and 70 pills per day, he uses it only as motivation. Bell enjoys running, but completes marathons to prove to himself that he can do it.

Dick Hoyt, a man of 72, has pushed his disabled son Rick through 31 Boston Marathons. Team Hoyt, as they are known, run for those who simply can’t run. In their 34 years of racing, Team Hoyt has completed several Ironman Triathlons and over 1,000 races.

At the age of 19, Julia Chase was the first woman to compete in the Manchester Road Race, despite organisers’ efforts to stop her and two other young women from competing in the 1961 event. Before and after her trailblazing civil disobedience, Chase has run for the enjoyment of it, ever since starting in the woods of her grandmother’s farm. According to Greenpoint Pictures’ director Nico Carbonaro, “shooting with her felt like we were making a nature documentary”.

Marine veteran Tony Clark initially became an ultramarathon runner for personal reasons, but after returning from duty in Afghanistan, he began to raise money for war vets with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He even built a heat box in his Kansas garage to aid him in his training.

Roger Wright had been overweight his whole life, until he changed his goal from losing weight to running the Boston Marathon. The halfway point of his original training route was his mother’s gravesite, on which the gravestone reads, “Hope.”

The films have been debuting weekly, with the final instalment in the series having just been launched. The five stories - along with the rest - are available to view online here.