A Documentary Film
The Distance We Run
How far would you run to save your kid's life?
Logline
After losing his son to an opioid overdose, a Vermont father transforms his grief with ultramarathon trail running and builds a support network that helps others in recovery find healing through endurance and community.
Film Summary
The Distance We Run follows Chip, a Vermont father building a legacy after losing his son Michael to an opioid overdose. Channeling grief into action, Chip trains for a 100-mile trail ultramarathon while founding Trail Run 4 Recovery, a grassroots nonprofit supporting people in recovery.
The film documents the physical toll of his training: solitary runs through snow-covered trails, visits to recovery specialists, emphasizing strain and vulnerability over athletic spectacle. Running parallels his behind-the-scenes work of meeting community members, securing funding, and navigating the demands of sustaining a mission-driven organization alongside his job and family responsibilities.
Chip's journey intersects with collaborators including Dawn and Greg Tatro of Jenna's Promise, Danielle Wallace of The Turning Point Center, race director Andy Weinberg, and mentor Jim Ploof, each offering insight into recovery support and endurance culture.
The 100-mile race becomes an emotional and physical crucible testing Chip's resolve, but the film remains focused on what the effort represents rather than conventional success. In the aftermath, Chip carries the experience forward, deepening his recovery work while confronting the challenge of sustaining purpose beyond the finish line. The film reframes recovery as a collective, lifelong effort: grief transformed through endurance and community.
Film Structure
Love & Loss
The film opens with an intimate, recollected portrait of Chip and his son Michael. Despite the tumultuous periods, the relationship was grounded in love, place, and the bonds they shared. Through family stories and everyday moments, Michael is introduced not through his passing, but through his life and spirit. The inciting incident arrives with Michael's death from substance use disorder, a rupture that reshapes Chip's world. Grief becomes the film's first landscape. A new existence that feels unfixed, unresolved, and introduces a broken-hearted father searching for meaning.
Endurance as Purpose
In the aftermath of loss, Chip looks for ways to remain close to Michael, spending time in the natural world and pushing his body through long-distance running as a form of connection, healing and survival. What begins as private endurance slowly becomes public purpose, as Chip commits to raising awareness and supporting others in recovery. This path leads him to The Endurance Society and the daunting challenge of seemingly impossible physical feats. The Second Act culminates in Chip's renewed effort to complete the 100-mile Infinitus race, testing not only his physical limits but the intention behind every mile.
Beyond the Finish
After the race, the film turns away from the spectacle of ultra events and toward what remains when the finish is behind him. Chip begins to translate the experience into sustained action, growing his recovery-focused organization and deepening his commitment to the recovery community. At the same time, he must confront the quieter challenge of his own recovery. How does one manage grief without training schedules and purpose without constant motion? The film closes on a reframing of healing, not as an arrival, but as an ongoing practice of presence, opportunity and community.
Topic Summary
Grief, Recovery & Collective Responsibility
The Distance We Run explores grief, recovery, and collective responsibility in the aftermath of substance use disorder. Using one father's response to loss as a lens on a broader community crisis, the film examines the long timeline of healing. It centers on Chip, a Vermont father whose son, Michael, died from an opioid overdose. Rather than framing the story solely around tragedy, the film asks what comes after loss and how individuals and communities search for meaning, connection, and pathways forward when prevention has failed.
In the wake of Michael's death, Chip turns to ultramarathon running as a way to remain close to his son's spirit. Physical exertion becomes a means of transforming grief into action. What begins as a private act of endurance evolves into a public commitment to supporting people in recovery and promoting healthy alternatives to addiction. Through this shift, the film traces the movement from personal coping to collective responsibility.
The narrative unfolds across two intertwined arcs. One follows Chip's preparation for the Infinitus, a 100 mile trail ultramarathon that tests discipline and resolve. Running is not presented as a solution, but as a framework for healing. Parallel to the race is the slower work of building a grassroots recovery effort through awareness, partnership, and consistent support for people navigating sobriety. By placing these journeys side by side, the film challenges the notion that healing comes through singular achievements and emphasizes its relational and sustained nature.
Set against Vermont's rural landscape, The Distance We Run blends verité observation with composed interviews. The film asks how communities can respond to loss with accountability and preventative care. It shows how recovery can be understood not as an endpoint, but as an ongoing practice shaped by presence, responsibility, and hope.
"On the other side of the pain of losing Michael is the hope that we can do something meaningful for other people. That pain doesn't go away—it's with me every day—but if I can help even one person in recovery, then all of this matters."
— Chip Piper
Frame Grabs
Gallery
The Team
Primary Contributors
Chip Piper
Athlete & Founder TR4R
Trail Run 4 Recovery, founded by Chip Piper in 2022, was initially created as a fundraising effort to support local nonprofit recovery organizations. Chip has since completed two major milestones — 5 trail marathons in 5 days in 2023 and 10 trail marathons in 10 days in 2024 — raising over $50K through a grassroots campaign for nonprofits supporting recovery and those suffering from substance use disorders.
Dawn and Greg Tatro
Founders of Jenna's Promise
Dawn and Greg Tatro are Vermont-based founders of the non-profit organization Jenna's Promise, established to support women in addiction recovery following the death of their daughter, Jenna Tatro, from a fentanyl overdose in 2019 at age 26.
Danielle Wallace
Executive Director, Turning Point Center Addison County
Danielle has her Master of Art in Restorative Justice through the Vermont Law School.
Andy Weinberg
Founder of The Endurance Society
Andy is a Professor of Health & Exercise Science at Vermont State University in Castleton. He has also participated in 100 mile running races, long distance swimming events, and even a quintuple iron man distance triathlon (12 miles swim/560 mile bike/131 mile run). He is a strong believer that adversity defines the path to success.
Distribution Strategy
The Distance We Run will be shared through a grassroots, self-distribution initiative designed to foster public dialogue around grief, recovery, and civic responsibility. Screenings will take place in high schools, town halls, libraries, and community spaces across Vermont, positioning the film as a catalyst for conversation rather than a standalone event.
Each screening will be accompanied by thoughtfully developed discussion guides that invite reflection on the film's themes, ethical questions, and local responses to loss and healing. By partnering with educators, municipalities, and community organizations, the project emphasizes accessibility, reflection, and sustained engagement. This approach encourages communities to move from shared viewing toward deeper understanding, dialogue, and collective care for people in recovery.
Once the community screenings are completed, the film will be made available for educational distribution through New Day Films or a similar organization (pending acceptance).
Film Team
Corey Hendrickson
Filmmaker
Director of Photography and Offline Editor for the nationally distributed PBS TV show, Weekends With Yankee. Corey has also worked as a cinematographer for NBC, HBO, and the PBS series, American Masters.