What's The Run Project All About?

We run to stay in shape. We run to lose weight. We run to push ourselves to our mental and physical maximums. We run raise funds for a cause. We run to support someone else or someone who can't. We all have our different reasons for running, right? And if we all had to answer a question as simple as "Why do you run?" we'd hear several different answers.

If you ask Jon Rankin, an elite runner who made the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team as an alternate in the 1500-meter run, that question, he'd likely say that he's running to save the world. He'd also probably tell you that he runs to beat his kidney disease and that running saved his life after he was diagnosed with a terminal kidney disease; that diagnosis gave his running a different purpose. Rankin and Benjamin Auerbach are co-founders of The Run Project, a company that started all because of a 2011 conversation the duo had about how running could save the world. The sport can save those who run, or runners can save others by lacing up their shoes for a charitable cause.

The Run Project is the online community for sharing those stories. As its site says, The Run Project is "home of the 60-second running story." The idea is to create one-minute videos as a way to connect runners, the charities and causes they run and fundraise for, and donors. And those videos can also serve as inspiration, help find causes worth supporting, connect runners and their stories, and aid in using running to save the world. Cool stuff, right?

Silver Screening of "Miles and Trials"

Celebrate women's running at the Miles and Trials premiere.

Wendy Shulik, a Chicago-based documentary filmmaker with a passion for running, has filmed the Bank of America Chicago Marathon and countless races around Chicago. She's lugged camera supplies across the country. She's trailed female runners to Grandma's Marathon and the California International Marathon. She's gathered hours of interviews and film footage. It's all been part of her dream to share the story of female runners as they shoot for their goals of competing at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials for the 2012 London Games, held in Houston in January. And the finished product will be Miles and Trials, a documentary film that takes nearly 50 hours of film about women's running and showcases female runners as they train for and try to qualify for the marathon trials.

Tonight, runners, film fans and anyone who's curious can catch a glimpse of Miles and Trials, the project Shulik has been pouring herself into for more than two years. A trailer of the documentary will premiere at the Indie Incubator Film Festival. Held at Mother's Bar at 26 W. Division, the doors open at 8 p.m. for this free event. Not only do you get to watch highlights of Miles and Trials, which is expected to be released in full during summer 2012, but you can also check out the rest of the film festival. All of the films showcased at the festival are up for the "Best of the Fest" award, which is decided by a judge's panel and awards $250 to its winner.