How running can change the world

Inspiring stories from the nonprofit helping runners turn their races and adventures into big impacts for their favorite causes

I had just run my first half marathon (Vacation Races' Joshua Tree at Night) and posted about it on my personal Substack. Something about my naive honesty of running my first race and not understanding that I was perhaps an ultra runner in the making made

Ken Seals

over at The Ultra Minute chuckle. He included me in a weekly round-up of "Good Reads," and it was that very email on my screen that had me scratching my head. In the next bullet on that same list of things worth reading, he included an iRunFar report on Tara Dower's Appalachian Trail FKT… by my boss, Zander Chase.

I knew Zander was a runner…we both work at a running nonprofit after all. But despite working with him daily for hours on end over the last year, I didn't know he was also a writer.

I sent a screenshot of the email to him…" Is this you!?" This felt a bit rhetorical since I can't imagine another Zander Chase running around and writing about other people running around, but still.

Of course, it was him.

He was just as surprised, he didn’t know I was a writer either.

As a team of two, we are the humans behind the Wander Project (WP). A nonprofit that helps runners turn their next race, FKT, or adventure into a way to do something for their favorite charity.

Charity bibs aren't just a way into big marathons anymore. They can be used by anyone, so that a first-time half marathoner or a seasoned 250-miler can use every step they take to raise awareness and funds for a cause important to them. And aren't there a lot of causes that need our support these days?

As you can imagine, we hear many stories of the folks we support turning their run into a new park for their community, hundreds of meals for their local food pantry, or hours of mental health support for those who need it.

Ricky, (above) raised $5,000 for the mental health running organization Bigger than the Trail as part of his race. Last year 171 athletes used their races, hikes, FKTs, and adventures to raise over $315,000 for charities across the country.

These stories of impact are proof that individually we each have the power to turn something we love, like running, into tangible good for important causes. We can use our energy to improve our communities, and those collective impacts are how we all move forward.

So, we came to Substack to share some stories about how running can change the world.

We thought we'd introduce ourselves since we'll both be writing the dispatches here.

Meet Courtney

Hey, that's me, this post's author and the Director of Community at WP. I started trail running last year, or as I describe it, "hiking really fast to different snack spots over long periods of time in nature."

But I've been a big fan of the outdoors for a few decades now. I've instructed rock climbing, run a nature preschool, and was a traveling outdoor ethics trainer for Leave No Trace for a while. I fell into writing because I like telling stories of awesome people and places.

My job is to use my 13+ years of nonprofit experience to teach runners, walkers, and hikers how to fundraise. I won't have any tips on shoes or how to PR, but I can help you raise $1,000 for charity.

Meet Zander

This guy is the Executive Director of Wander Project. He ran a charity bib a few years ago to raise funds for climate disaster relief efforts after his grandma's home in Florida was hit by Hurricane Ian.

After that, he joined the board of directors for Wander Project before eventually joining us in his current role. I knew he was a runner, but it wasn't until a charity bib informed me one week that they had seen him at an ultra event over the weekend, and oh, by the way, he placed in his age category. I asked him at our weekly kick-off meeting, "What did you do this weekend?"

He replied, "Went for a run. How about you?" It was then that I knew he was a runner. He's humble, fast, and great at telling stories, especially when they involve data.

So that’s us. We'll be interviewing runners and nonprofits, have occasional guest writers like our ambassadors now and again, and we'll introduce all those folks as they show up.

We can't wait to share all the good we see throughout the running community with you.

We hope you'll introduce yourself at some point and tell us how you're using running to do good.

See ya out there!