Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/885387
DONOR PROFILE Small Steps, BigGoal Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait reflect on their Run for One Planet, and what it means today By Jacob Parry TEN YEARS AGO, Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait laced up their sneakers and left Vancouver to run a marathon. e next day they ran another, and then another – and about a year later they had completed 369. Over the Rockies, through the Maritimes, across Louisiana's bayous and stretches of the Arizona desert, they ran a total of more than 17,700 kilometers. A few times a week, they stopped at elementary schools for rallies with students. "ere were a million reasons that it wouldn't work out," says Tait, "but when you're in the moment, you just sort of do it." e idea was initially sparked back in 1980, when Hill was 10 years old, and he watched on television as Terry Fox struggled to complete his Marathon of Hope. It had a profound impact on Hill, eventually inspiring him to devote himself to a similar adventure that could inspire positive change. But it would be many years before his own epic run. After finishing high school in Tsawwassen, Hill launched into a film career, appearing alongside Jackie Chan in p a g e 1 2 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l 2 0 1 7 Photos: Courtesy Matt Hill & Stephanie Tait