New Story from the Star Tribune:

On a Tuesday morning just after 9 a.m., J.C. Lippold waited for runners in a hallway at the Mall of America. Several arrived, and more were expected, even though it only was 12 degrees outside. He checked his phone to see how close the others were to arriving. They were here for what Lippold calls “5K Everyday Conversations.”

“Last April, I ran a mini-version of this,” he said. “Each day I would host a 5K where our first goal was to have a conversation, and the second goal was to move. Because 95 % of people will say, ‘I’m not a runner.’ And think about how irrational a statement that is. We’re all capable of the act of running, just like we’re capable of sitting and walking.”

Every day in April, Lippold posted on Facebook where the run would start. Some days, one person showed up. Other days, 25 did. One day a woman came who had just ended a long relationship. She ran and talked with another woman who’d proposed to her partner. Another day a choir teacher came and one of her former students randomly showed up. The two ran and reconnected.

Read the rest here.