Supporting runners in their mental health journeys, Still I Run leads in-person and virtual programs that provide runners with community, education, and the gear they need to keep moving forward.

(Feature photo courtesy of Still I Run)

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After years of searching for a community at the intersection of running and mental health, Sasha Wolff gave up. Instead of waiting for someone else to start what she was looking for, she decided to launch a Facebook group in 2016 called Still I Run.

What she believed could be a local community in Grand Rapids, Michigan, quickly evolved into a national movement thanks to her journalism skill set, a far-reaching news story, and many others who were seeking a similar resource.

Within months, Still I Run evolved into a nonprofit organization.

The purpose was simple: support one another’s running and mental health journeys. Still I Run began with an ambassador program and virtual events. But questions circulated about whether the organization could effectively serve a virtual community.

Then came COVID-19, and virtual became everyone’s means of community.

During this time, many people were experiencing new mental health challenges in response to uncertainty, job loss, grief, and a lack of social opportunities. People were also exploring new hobbies and getting into running for the first time.

Still I Run quickly gained momentum, and the programming grew to meet the demand.

Expanding Ways of Reaching Runners for Mental Health

Today, the organization’s programming includes the ambassador program, in-person run chapters in various cities across the United States, and a peer-to-peer fundraising program called Team Still I Run.

Annually, the organization hosts a virtual World Mental Health Day 5K in October. And for Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Still I Run leads a 1-mile run or walk streak.

People who are starting their journey of running for mental health can apply to a virtual and self-guided Mental Health Runner program. It includes a 12-week journal and workbook, created by Still I Run and in partnership with certified mental health professionals, along with a pair of running shoes and a T-shirt.

“We are not official mental health physicians and providers. We are advocates,” Sasha explains, as executive director. “But we do provide educational resources. We do provide running gear. We do provide opportunities for people to run for mental health.”

Still I Run also organizes an in-person Starting Line Scholarship cohort program that runs twice annually, in partnership with local behavioral health professionals. This year, the program is being offered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and to a group in the juvenile court system in Pierce County, Washington. Starting Line Scholarship participants receive the gear they need to train for a race together and partake in group therapy and fitness classes.

Follow @StillIRun on Instagram.

Moving the Mission Through Partnerships and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Sasha explains that Still I Run’s programs wouldn’t be possible without partnerships with local organizations and running brands.

Striders in Grandville, Michigan, sources running gear at good discounts. World Mental Health Day 5K is supported by Altra Running. And grants from lululemon and On Running enabled Still I Run to hire a part-time program manager and develop a check-in system for the group run chapters.

Sasha says a favorite partner of hers is BRANWYN, a company that makes merino wool innerwear. Each month, BRANWYN donates 1% of its proceeds to a woman-led nonprofit partner and doesn’t impose restrictions on how funds are used.

Even with these partnerships, which Sasha hopes to expand on in the future, most of the funding for Still I Run’s programs comes from Team Still I Run.

Runners for Team Still I Run receive an entry to a partnering race, including five of the seven World Marathon Majors, when they commit to raising money for the organization and sharing their journeys. Race weekends bring together Team Still I Run members for a shakeout run, a meal, and camaraderie.

“It’s just a really great way to get into some of these sell-out or lottery-based races, and run for your mental health and for Still I Run,” Sasha notes. “I’ve always been of the belief, when you share your story, you get rid of that negative stereotype and stigma placed upon mental illness.”

The race calendar for 2025 includes the New York City Half Marathon, Grandma’s Marathon, Big Sur International Marathon, and the Sydney, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City marathons.

Below, Sasha shares more on what led her to create a community at the intersection of running and mental health, what makes running with Still I Run’s city chapters different from other run clubs, and the connection between endurance sports and mental health.

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How did your journey in running for mental health begin?

Sasha Wolff: Growing up, my parents were runners, but I didn’t really do much of it. I would go out occasionally with my dad. I lived in California, so we would run the mountains and the trails in the area, but I didn’t really take to it. It was just something to bond with my dad over and fill my time.

In April of 2011, I was hospitalized for depression and anxiety. I spent a week at the mental health hospital, and they taught me a few different things that I should be doing for my mental health, including medication and therapy. They also suggested something like reading, writing, painting, puzzles, whatever, to help with the mental health toolkit. I gravitated towards running.

I had some cheap shoes from Walmart. So, as soon as I was discharged from the hospital, I saw my shoes in the corner of my room, and I thought, ‘Well, I should just go out and go for a run, see how it feels. Let’s take the dog with. It’ll be good for both of us.’

When I got back, I remember feeling very accomplished. I was literally just hospitalized for depression and anxiety, and here I was doing something good for myself. There was that sense of accomplishment, and then the physiological benefits of movement for one’s brain.

The next day, I went for a little bit of a longer run, a little bit faster. And I kept going and going and going. I soon realized that this was beneficial for me as a whole. I started digging into the research around running and mental health, and I was hooked. I decided right then and there that this was going to be a permanent part of my mental health toolkit.

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Why did you decide to launch a community focused on running for mental health?

Sasha Wolff: I wanted to meet more people that ran for mental health — just the community, the safety of all having this shared collective experience.

I started looking in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. I figured there had to be a group of people that ran for mental health, because Grand Rapids has a huge running scene. But I couldn’t find any such group. So then, I searched county-wide, I searched state-wide, I searched country-wide, and I couldn’t find a group that was all about the intersection of running for mental health.

I kind of sat on that for a few years. I kept waiting for something to pop up — for someone to start something — and it never did. On World Mental Health Day, October 10, 2016, I put out a little Facebook page. I made a website and put my story out there, just to see what would come of it. I thought friends and family would maybe like it.

With my little bit of journalism [experience] I had under my hat, I pitched my story out to the local news stations, and the FOX 17 station in the area did a story on what I was trying to do and why. Then more people got interested in Still I Run, and people started asking, ‘Well, how do I donate? What kinds of programs do you have? How do I get involved?’

That really showed me that there was a need for a group like Still I Run. A couple months later, I made it an official nonprofit, and the rest is history. It was only going to be a small Facebook group, and then it kind of exploded into something much larger.

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What does a group run with a Still I Run city chapter look like, and how is it different from other run clubs?

Sasha Wolff: Our group runs are hyper-focused on the mental performance piece of it. So instead of saying, ‘How did you do?’ after a run — focusing on performance— it’s ‘How do you feel?’ — focusing on what you feel after that run.

Our Grand Rapids chapter, they start the group runs by giving everyone a card. It has a special quote on it, and there’s a reflection question on the back. You’re asked to think about that reflection question as you’re going on your run. And then when you return back to the group circle, you can choose whether you want to read it, or [share] how it touched you.

It’s so weird. The card everyone draws is always the card that they need. I don’t know how it happens, but it’s amazing, and it really leads to a lot of reflection and mindfulness.

Some of our chapters are a 1-mile loop you can do as many times as you want within an allotted time period. The majority of them have 3-mile routes that they do.

We have a strict ‘no runner left behind’ policy. We lead everything with ‘forward is a pace.’ It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you go, as long as you’re moving forward.

People ask us all the time, ‘In order to be a run chapter captain, do I need to be a fast runner?’ No, you don’t. You just have to show up and be there and make sure no one is left behind.

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Training to be a run chapter captain is about more than running and run club inclusion. What else does it include?

Sasha Wolff: Our captains are trained in suicide prevention, so they’re coming at it with that mindset. We also have special leadership training for the run chapter captains every single year, because you never know the kind of individuals that are going to be attending your run chapter.

Are they really in a crisis mode, or do they just need a little help or some resources? How do you meet those people with grace and empathy? That’s what our run chapter captains are all about.

We really try and provide them with the tools that they need to be successful. We have a run chapter handbook for them. The program manager we have, she’s a licensed therapist, so she can help people talk through things. Shes also a running coach herself.

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Read Sasha’s insights into the risks of approaching running as the glue that holds our mental health together, rather than a tool in our toolkit, in this Running Lifestyle on Substack post.

Based on your experience, why do you think there’s a strong connection between endurance sports and mental health?

Sasha Wolff: Personally, running reminds me that I can do hard things. I’ve run five marathons now, and I told my husband I would never run one. But having run them now, because it’s such a physical and mental sport, I feel stronger physically and mentally. I feel more resilient in terms of everything — with hard things I have to deal with at home, or hard things I have to deal with at work.

I think, because they’re so intertwined, that’s why a lot of people do gravitate towards it, why a lot of endurance runners run for their mental health …. It’s like private therapy. It doesn’t replace therapy. I want to make clear on that. Running does not replace therapy. But it’s very therapeutic. The things going on in your brain when you’re running and the time you take for yourself.

I’ve seen that for a lot of individuals in the Still I Run community. They start off with that 5K, and then they progressively work their way up because they feel stronger, in mind, spirit, and body.

I feel like a lot of people that come to Still I Run are like, ‘Oh yeah, I have been running for my mental health for years. I just didn’t know it.’ That’s the other beautiful thing about Still I Run. It’s really drawing in people that have been running for years and now have this connection, and it’s also bringing in new people that may have never even thought to go outside or run or walk for their mental health.

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What have you enjoyed most about developing and leading the Still I Run community?

Sasha Wolff: The stories I hear, and the community that’s been built thanks to everyone else, it almost feels like I get more of a benefit out of it than everyone else. It’s brought me so much joy and faith in humanity.

I think the other thing, too, is the places I’ve gotten to experience and see the resilience of runners, like going to the Chicago Marathon, New York, Marine Corps, Honolulu, it’s just amazing. Hearing people’s stories at each of those races, it’s given me so many gifts in life.

I go to therapy on my own. I have my own issues with self-confidence and being able to recognize my accomplishments …. That ‘I did this’ has kind of helped me love myself a little bit more, if that makes sense. I just like helping people out. I feel good being able to lean on my skill sets of communications and marketing to help people.

Being able to do good in the world has really made me happy, and I think my family sees that, too. I’ve got three little kids and my husband. I have a 7, 5, and 3-year-old, and showing them that you can put goodness out into the world is so important these days.

Outside of my family, it’s my purpose and my ‘why’ in life. I had terrible experiences, going through depression, having recurring depression, going to a mental health hospital. But if all of that was so that Still I Run could come to life, it was 100% worth it.

Learn more about Still I Run.

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READ ABOUT OTHERS RUNNING FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Erica Meisner on Starting a Community 5K for Mental Health

How This Running Program for Women Who Are Incarcerated Improves Mental Health

Uplifting People Experiencing Homelessness Through Run Club Meetups

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