103. Spreading Encouragement and Inspiration Through Motivational Running (with @runnerguywithasign Ben Lyne)

Ben Lyne is a runner and for over 2 years he kept having the thought that he could use those regular runs to inspire and motivate others…by holding a sign while he ran that says ‘I Believe In You’. He finally got the courage to act on those thoughts a few years ago, and the reaction and feedback he’s received has been tremendous. He’s had many let him know that through this simple act of service he’s lifted them, encouraged them, and even saved their life. 

Ben’s story is an inspiring reminder to me that the world is filled with people who need validation, love, and lifting…and it really doesn’t take much to give it to them and to make a difference in their lives. Listen to the podcast to hear more about Ben’s story, a little bit of the logistics behind what he does, and the many people he’s motivated along the way.

I originally aired this episode in December 2023, but I wanted to share it again as a reminder of the power one person truly can have to help, lift, inspire, and make a difference.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Ben's Instagram @runnerguywithasign

Facebook Group The Signs Up Club

YouTube Video How To Make Your Own Sign

Follow the podcast on social media:

Do Something More Instagram

Do Something More Facebook

Do Something More YouTube

Transcript

Melissa: This week I decided I wanted to reshare one of my favorite episodes that first aired in December of 2023.

I really thought that many of us could use the reminder right now of the true power our small acts of kindness and encouragement can have.

Ben Line calls himself a motivational runner. And in this episode he has a lot of powerful stories to share of what his experiences have been as he's done his part in spreading encouragement and uplifting words in his own community.

Here it is. Give it a listen. Ben Line, runnerguy with a sign.

Welcome to the Do Something More podcast.

The show all about service where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more.

If you're passionate about nonprofits or looking for simple ways to volunteer and give back to the causes that matter to you,

this is the podcast for you.

I'm your host, Melissa Draper.

Stick around and I'll show you all the many ways anyone can truly make a difference in our world today.

Welcome to another episode of the podcast and today I'm super excited to talk with Ben Line because he is what he calls himself, a motivational runner.

And I first learned about Ben through his Instagram handle, runner guy with a sign and was just as a fellow runner. Thought it was really cool the things that he's doing, but I'm going to let him share a little bit more about that.

But first, Ben, welcome to the show.

Ben: Hey, thank you so much. I'm very excited to be here.

Melissa: Why don't you just start off by just telling us a little bit about you.

Ben: Yeah. So I had a kind of a non typical early life. I was born in Australia. I'm full blooded Australian.

Melissa: Oh wow.

Ben: Can't do much of an accent anymore. But because my parents passed away when I was almost four and me, I was the youngest. So me and my oldest or my oldest, the rest of my sisters who were there were seven of us, so six sisters that are older.

We went to the US to live with a family that was friends with my mom because the other family we had there couldn't take us in and that ended up being the best option for us.

So we actually moved about the age of four from there to kind of close to Melbourne, all the way to New Jersey.

Melissa: Oh wow.

Ben: Which is a little different. And then lived there until about the age of 10 that that family turned out to not be.

They didn't turn out to be the greatest people on earth were physically abusive.

And about the age of 10 I got out of there and went to Utah here where My oldest sister Kelly was living and eventually actually around 10, just before my 10th birthday was went to live with a family and then was adopted by them officially a couple years later.

You know, there's a process that you go through.

It doesn't happen right away, but they, they ended up being, you know, the best, some of the best people to ever live, in my opinion. So through all those experiences, had a very atypical childhood, you know, for those at least growing up around here in Utah had.

Melissa: Right. Wow.

Ben: But yeah, I had lived there until I went on a mission age 19 to Southern California. Came back when I was 21,

got married at 22 and lived in Layton. And then now I live in Eagle Mountain. We have five kids.

Melissa: Yeah. Those experiences I think could be a whole episode in themselves. That is definitely a unique background, but I'm sure is what has inspired you to do some of the things that you do now.

I would love to hear more about this.

Your runner guy with a sign,

how this all started and what kind of motivated it.

Ben: Yeah. And you know, just like most things in reality are, they kind of happen over time.

I credit my good friend John Gifford. He, he lived. When we moved to Eagle Mountain and built a house. We lived out in City center, which is like the farthest part of Eagle Mountain.

And there's pretty much just houses out there, not a lot of houses even. So it's kind of a, you know, tight knit group in there. And about a house over from my house, same house number, a different street.

Made friends with, with John.

We went running together. He got me, he, you know, convinced me to go running with him.

Then it became kind of a competition. Cause I like competition.

Thought I could do, you know, I could do this or I can do better than John. And so he used that to kind of, you know, we, we ran marathons together and all kinds of other races.

And then eventually over the years, I got tired of racing and just wanted to, you know, run for fun, run without a schedule. And so I did that for a number of years,

about 2019. So we, we had moved in Eagle Mountain. We live on the north side of Eagle Mountain now.

I was out running one day and got a small idea, right. Like, hey, I, I'm not out very much.

I'm always kind of thinking, you know, and due to my upbringing in the LDS Church and different things, there's always a lot of things that I was taught to serve right.

And I've seen the benefits firsthand of doing that and. But sitting at home all day working at Home, in an office. I don't get a lot of chances to be out.

So I was out running and had the idea that, hey, I pass all these people,

and it's usually early in the morning, so they're probably driving to work or school or driving kids, and you don't find a lot of happy faces, right? It's.

I can remember commuting. I can, you know, and I take kids to school and do things like that. And it's. It's not like the. The first place on your list you want to be.

Especially early in the morning. I had the idea, like, hey, I could. I wonder if I could do something to motivate these people, because I see,

you know, estimate at least a few hundred people, probably depending on how far I run, but if I could do something in those few seconds to motivate them, like, that would be a cool thing.

So I got the idea.

Didn't have the sign idea right away or what it would say, but I kind of. This process went on for about two and a half years.

So I would get the idea. I get excited about it sometimes. At one point, I wrote it down when I got home. And this is what I'm going to do.

I'm going to have a sign, and I'm going to run with it. And then people that can't run, I'm going to put together events. We'll stand on the corners, like, we'll just really spread positivity.

And I would get this really amazing feeling, right, Thinking about that,

but not being, you know, crazy, extroverted,

not liking unwanted attention through it and thinking, okay, if I were out running with this sign,

like, people are going to be thinking, this guy's nuts.

Like, what. What is he doing? Right? Or worse. I.

Okay, people think I'm nuts. But, you know, if my kids go to school and they're like, hey, your dad's nuts. Like, your family's crazy. Right? I don't. I didn't want any of that kind of negative things coming towards our family either.

And so I kind of talk myself out of it. And then I would get the idea again at some point.

Like, I go around my day and get to work, and it's just like, nah, that's not a good idea. All the doubts creep in. And unfortunately, I let that happen for about two and a half years.

And what changed two and a half years later is Covid happened,

I think, which is a big part of it, that to kind of spark it.

That was in 2020. I didn't start doing it till 2021.

Actually, no, 2022. Last year in February.

So as we get into this next year, 2024, it'll be two years. But because of COVID being disconnected from people we love to travel, we couldn't travel.

You had all the political fighting going on. There was some political, you know, fighting even in our family.

You had, you know, neighborhoods or going to church or different things. People,

oh, you wear a mask, you're stupid. Oh, you don't want to wear a mask. You're stupid. And you had all these Trump and Biden and all these things going on, right?

And it's just. I got kind of just to the point where I just felt kind of tired of all of it, all of that.

Just tired of the fighting, tired of the negativity, tired of the disconnection. And there was one point I never felt like I was ever suffered from depression. I know we all get depressed about stuff,

but I would never have said, like, hey, I've had depression, right? Where it goes on for a longer amount of time. It's more intense, those types of things. I think it was a form of depression where.

Not to the point where I didn't get out of bed or I had suicidal thoughts or anything like that. It was more just like emotional, like spiritual weariness, right? Just like, I'm just tired.

Why can't people just.

Just stop?

So I remember feeling like, man, I just. I feel so uninspired. And so I don't want to do. I don't want to talk to anybody. I have nothing to say.

Like, I hope they. I hadn't spoken in church for a while. I hope they don't ask me to speak or something like that, because maybe they'll ask me to speak.

And of course, a week later, I get a call that I,

you know, to speak in sacrament meeting. And I thought,

okay, I'll do it. And then I just thought, I don't want to do it. I have nothing to say to anybody, right? And it was. I was given a topic of love thy neighbor.

I thought, you know, I. That's one of my favorite topics. I. I love that. But I don't feel like I have anything to say. I just. I'm feeling so uninspired, so weary of all of this stuff.

And so I. I said. I think the next day I said a prayer. And it's like, I don't want to feel like this anymore. I'm just tired of feeling this way.

And then I just went about my business.

Nothing really changed. Now the Next time I went to run,

I got about a mile into the run and then I got the idea again.

And this time, you know, it was like a really, really forceful to the core of my heart kind of, kind of thought, you need to do this and it's going to go well and you'll have something to talk about.

You'll. It'll be a lot of fun. Right. And I got really excited about it again and I made a commitment. Okay, I'm going to do that.

I had a few days until the next time I ran and I thought, okay, on Tuesday, I'm going to do it. I'm going to make the sign.

I didn't know what I was going to say, really. I didn't know how I was going to make it. I put it off. I procrastinated.

I don't want to do this. And so Monday night at like 8pm I'm sitting on the couch after I helped put my, my daughter to bed. It was about 6 at the time.

And then I'm like, okay, I've got to do this. And I know that my wife's crafty, she usually has things. So I went to her craft room.

She gave me some poster board and I took it downstairs and I started making a sign. I tried to write on it, couldn't do very well. But I decided on I believe in you.

I thought that was something that really resonated with me, that made sense to me and it wasn't something creepy or weird.

Melissa: Yeah, it's pretty universal message.

Ben: Yeah. And it's not something I came up with. Right. It's a pretty common thing that, that people say from time to time. And I thought it would be something great. So I decided on that.

Ended up like printing out letters in Google Docs on paper and then like taping them on to the poster board. And then it was, I had my sign, I thought, okay, it's done and I'll do it tomorrow morning.

And I woke up in the morning and I just had all this dread. Like I actually, I have to do it. Like I can't back out. Right. But I don't want to.

I just feels. And I don't know how it's going to go. And I'm just, oh, how's it going to go? And I just, I grabbed it eventually and just went out the door,

you know, started running with it. And people right away, you know,

responded really positively. Honking, waving.

I got really kind of excited running. And you know, it ended up being something that was really fun. To do and didn't realize the physical toll that it was adding to my cardiovascular system.

I probably should have only ran a few miles or something to get used to it. But I was like, I got about two and a half miles away from home and then thought, oh, I've got to make it all the way back.

I'm going to be probably over five miles and I feel like I'm going to die right now.

Melissa: But as a fellow runner, I can somewhat identify. I can only imagine holding that sign up and running like that.

Ben: Yeah. And I didn't mean to hold it up above my head. I just thought, I'll hold it at chest level because that's where your hands are anyway.

But every time I saw a car, I like, okay, I gotta hold it up, right.

And so I don't hold it up the entire time. I hold it up when there's people there to see it. So if there's a long line of cars, I will have it up the whole time.

But as soon as, you know there's a break in cars, there's no one around, I'll pull it back down.

But I don't know why I chose to run on the highway, cuz, you know, there's just very few brakes.

Melissa: Yeah. Lots of cars.

Ben: I was able to get through it. And then I,

I did it, you know, in those following weeks up to my talk, gave a talk on it and it was an amazing experience.

Had a lot of people come up to me, text me and just say, wow, that was like, that was so amazing. Thank you so much.

Just had so many good things come from it. But then I was kind of wondering, like, should I keep doing this? Right. I want to do it, but can I do this every time?

Should I do it once a week?

Like I don't know how my body can hold up doing this or not. And I was kind of doubting if I should do it every time. And then friend said, hey, you know, someone's giving you some love on Facebook in a group.

And so I got added to the group and I started reading all of these. Somebody posted that they saw me, posted a picture of me. Of course, you know, it's a picture of me.

It looked like I was about on my deathbed, but you have this mental image. Like I looked, you know, so great.

Melissa: I looked amazing.

Ben: Yeah, I looked like I was, I was almost dead.

Melissa: Yeah.

Ben: Just appreciating seeing me and then having their, their daughter with them in the car and they had this really positive talk on believing in, in themselves. Right. And how positive that is.

And then everybody responding to it and then writing comments. Oh, I saw you. Right. And just sharing little stories about what happened. And those posts and those things became kind of a regular thing.

And so I started having,

you know, now I have hundreds and hundreds of little stories and comments from people and all kinds of things. You know, amazing things started to happen. I knew I had to keep doing it.

Yeah. It's just. Just a wide range of things. Right. Like, just small things from, hey, it made my day to,

like,

it changed the way, you know, my relationship with my parents. I decided to try and do this again. Try. I'm gonna stay in school now. I'm. Whatever it was people are struggling with.

And then I also.

I think the biggest one that. That really hit home with me was I saw.

This is about six months in, I saw a guy about a hundred yards ahead of me. He. He u. Turned and he pulled over. And I've had a couple people do that.

I always get a little bit nervous about that.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: You know, I don't know,

you know, what's the intention?

Right. But it's probably fine. As I got closer, he rolled down the window and crouched down, and he was in tears and said that he.

He was struggling with some things. He was driving around, and he had just. He had just decided he was going to end his life.

Melissa: Oh, my goodness.

Ben: And then right after that, he saw me, and it. He said it had such a huge effect on him. Right. It snapped him right out of it. And he decided, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna battle through that, and I'm not gonna. Not gonna do it. So that floored me, and that was a huge emotional experience for me and just really solidified that, hey, this is.

I can't stop doing this.

It really helped put any doubts that I had about, you know, can I keep this up? Can I do this? And. And now it was like,

and I've got to do this. This is. This is having a huge impact.

It seemed like a lot of responsibility. Right. Because I don't look at it as, hey, if I don't get out today,

someone might, you know, not see me, and it might cause problems. You know, I might. I need to get out there, and it's a huge stress. It's just a lot of fun.

Melissa: Yeah.

Ben: Know that I'm getting out there, getting exercise, but I'm helping spark something in people,

really. They do all the work I'm really doing, you know, less than 1% of the work. I'm just running by with a sign for a few seconds and they see that and then they take that and they do amazing things with that, which really speaks to, you know, they were amazing the whole time.

I just reminded them of that. And if I can have that effect,

you know, I don't know how many people I affect every time I run, but like I said, you know, a few hundred or more every, you know, a few times a week adds up and has a large butterfly effect on, hey, maybe, you know, for example, the next five cars I see,

the first guy sees me and he decides not to road rage.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: Five minutes later. Right. And cause a fatality or this person saw me and it, it helped them, you know, treat their spouse a little bit better or change their entire outlook on life or whatever it is.

Right. And you have that effect on people.

Melissa: And yeah, it's definitely a ripple out effect.

Ben: Yeah, definitely.

Melissa: And I love how you shared that. Getting that feedback helped you realize, hey, I, this is important. I can keep doing this because I, I'm sure it's not always easy.

Like I said, as a runner, I know that we don't always love and look forward to those long runs,

but it's amazing when you get a little, just a little tiny bit of feedback, how that can bolster you to keep doing what you're doing.

Ben: Yeah, it's all the difference. I think we get so blind to actually how good things are, but we don't necessarily see it. We think, oh, things are bad, things aren't going my way.

All it takes is just a little reminder from somebody else, some external validation from somebody.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: You know, it's like my wife, she's been to the store and with our younger kids in past years and having a hard time and they're, they're not cooperating and someone walks by and says, oh man, I really admire how you handle your kids.

You're doing such a great job. Or hey, your hair is pretty. Right.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: Just saying those little words makes, I mean, she remembers that forever. I remember things like that when people say things. And so I think even me, I'm out there running with the sign when I hear the feedback like that's needed.

Luckily I hear it so often,

I just get such a kick out of it. I mean, we need to spread it and get it out in front of people in other areas and other cities. And I just want to spread it over the whole world because I know how powerful now, just a few kind words are.

Melissa: Yeah. And I love what you shared there at the beginning of your Story how you went back and forth,

how it was this idea, you know, as someone, myself, who it took me over a decade to do this podcast,

how you bounce. You know, that idea had to keep coming back and you had to kind of let it sit there and marinate maybe for a little bit and then finally get the courage to do it.

I think that's a good reminder too for anyone that's wanting to do something good that it's totally normal to fill that hesitation about it and that it does take a little courage to finally step forward and do it.

Ben: Yeah, definitely. It's a process.

Melissa: So I love you were sharing that you would love to spread more of this. What, what are some of your thoughts or ideas with that?

Ben: Yeah, so I have a lot, a lot of things I want to do. Some of the things I've done already is I've run in other areas in other countries, and when I, when I go on vacation or in my line of work, I work for a tech company that does consulting.

And so from time to time we have to travel to different companies and different customers and meet with them in person. And I don't even care where that is. Right.

It could be, you know, I've been all over different places, but it could be Corning, middle of nowhere, Corning New York or Omaha or wherever it is. Right. And I get excited because now I can get in front of a new group of people.

Melissa: Yeah, yeah. I saw on your Instagram you just did Japan and you had your sign in Japanese.

Ben: Yeah, that was.

It's always nerve wracking going to a new country because you don't know the culture. I mean, you know, in theory, because you've watched videos or talk to people. People.

But I just, I always wonder, like, how is this going to go over right, in this new area, this new country with Japan, you know, being a completely different culture.

And I know that they value looking out for others and not bothering other people.

That's really huge in their culture. And so I thought, will I be bothering somebody? Will they not appreciate that? So,

and, and plus I wanted to make sure that the sign meant something to them. And I found out that I believe in you didn't really translate directly very well.

And so I, I talked to some Japanese people and some other people that had lived there and spoken Japanese and came to the conclusion that Ganbare,

which is something they used to motivate each other and say, like, hang in there, keep it up.

Melissa: Oh, okay.

Ben: And so I use that on my sign and it, it, it Definitely resonated with them and had, you know, all the same kinds of fun experiences, Right. People clapping,

yelling back.

Positive things, not negative things,

honking, things like that.

Still had the same kinds of experiences there have had everywhere else. So that was an amazing experience. Wonderful, awesome people over there.

Melissa: Yeah. And it looks like from your pictures that you've graduated from that original poster board.

Ben: Yeah. So I had my original sign and I didn't. That first run, I didn't cover it in tape. I just taped the letters on.

Melissa: Okay.

Ben: And if, I don't know, you think sweaty hands and outside isn't a good. It's not a very good combination for poster board. It doesn't last very long.

So I realized I had to cover it in tape. And so I kind of patchwork taped it up with shipping tape and that worked okay for a while. And then I ran with it for over a year and it got really ragged, I think.

I don't know what happened, but I noticed a hole in it. Almost like a rock went through it or a BB got shot at me, I don't know.

So there's holes in it. There's little areas where mold started to kick in. And I've got it hanging on my wall.

But I did retire it. I went to another poster board sign that I moved on from paper letters to vinyl because I have a vinyl cutter. And then I had an idea because it's like when I would go on trips, I'd have to fold that up in a suitcase to roll it up.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: And that takes a toll on it. And I told my wife, because she's very crafty,

she knits, she sews, she does all kinds of things. So I said, hey, I have this idea if I can get some kind of fabric that's, you know, kind of weatherproof,

that's really lightweight, that doesn't stretch when you pull on it and it won't tear or anything like that. And then I can put some.

If you just have some slots in the end, I can put some wooden dowels or, or something in that and then I can take that with me on trips and roll it up.

And so she made that for my birthday and I moved to that sign and I just, I just kind of heat press vinyl onto that.

Melissa: Yeah.

Ben: And it's worked really well. And I've, you know, kind of iterated on that as well. I have all these other ideas for, you know, light up signs and I have a reflective sign just to make it easier for people to, you know, to see no matter what Time of day.

Right. Or what.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: What area I'm in. But yeah, it's. I've definitely moved on from the original sign. It would have been. Would have ripped in half by now.

Melissa: Yeah.

And I think the sign is what kind of makes what you're doing unique because you could put that on a shirt or in other ways. But there's something that is different about seeing someone holding a sign above their head while running that I think catches people's attention and just kind of illustrates that message a little more.

Ben: Yeah, that's a great point. It's something I didn't realize right away and actually somebody pointed out to me online because people would comment and say, hey, you know, you should.

That looks really hard. You should make T shirts or,

you know, you should rig something so you don't have to hold it and things like that. And then somebody responded and said exactly what you said. And I thought that was.

That's a great point, since I haven't seen myself do it. I mean, I've taken videos and things like that, but I've never been out driving and seen and experience what the people see when they see me.

Melissa: Very unique, what you're doing.

Ben: Yeah,

right. And there.

Someday when I see somebody, I'm gonna. I'm gonna freak out and I'll probably scare the person to death when I just look after him to get a picture and hug them.

But,

yeah,

I. I didn't really. You know, I hadn't really seen that. And so I. What you said is exactly right. People,

to see somebody going through the effort to do something difficult to get that message to you means so much more than a sign on the side of the road or a T shirt.

Yeah, for sure.

That's a good point.

Melissa: Yeah. Drives the point a little more, so.

Ben: Well, do you.

Melissa: Do you have a specific. I know you kind of mentioned this, but do you have a specific schedule or routes that you stick? I mean, I know runners.

We kind of have schedules and routes anyways. But that you follow, or do you just kind of go out when you're feeling like it's a good time or what. What have you kind of.

Ben: Yeah, I.

I have kind of a workout schedule. Like Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday are my running days usually. Unless you don't travel interferes with that. I have to move things. And then Monday, Wednesday, I'll do weights and I usually.

I don't do anything on Friday or Sunday sometimes, you know, depending on. I went on a business trip and I went for a run, and then coworkers. I was There with said, hey, you know, you run with your sign.

Can I come with you tomorrow? And I thought, okay, we'll go again.

So, you know, I'll run a couple days in a row sometimes if things like that.

Yeah. I don't run a few times a week, and usually almost every week, I run three times unless something pops up. And usually not less than, like, four to five miles.

And then sometimes longer. Right. It just depends. Sometimes I get tired of running. I don't have specific routes that. I mean, there are. There's only so many routes from where I live.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: But sometimes I will, like, drive out to the high school, which is about six miles away.

Melissa: Mm.

Ben: Or catch a ride with one of my kids, and then I'll run home in the morning.

Melissa: Yeah.

Ben: Or, you know, I'll ask my wife. Hey, I'm gonna run down the highway. I'm gonna go past Costco down to Lehigh or something. Can you pick me up in an hour?

And just to get out of the. The monotony of running the same areas. But since I've been doing this, too, I.

It's a factor, right. Like, I try to pay attention. Like, where should I run today?

Most of the time, I'll try to get out in front of people where there's, you know, the most people.

But not always. Like, sometimes I just feel.

And this is something I've gotten better at over the last couple years is I'll get a thought like, hey, I should do this or go to this place. And then usually I would have just kind of disregarded.

Like, that's just, you know, myself,

hey, I should go here. Here. I could go here. But I noticed when I follow through on those things, like, something always comes out of it, like, something significant.

One thing I do is I have these little. I. I wanted to leave something when I ran. And, you know, and trying to spread as much positivity as I could,

I thought, hey, I could bring something with me, and then I could leave it somewhere and somebody could find it. Right. Like a.

A little packet with a letter in it. And I 3D print. I have 3D printers, and I 3D print my little versions of my sign.

Melissa: Oh, okay.

Ben: And I put them in there. And so I have a little letter, and I have that. And I've recently got some stickers and magnets and things, and I'll put them in there.

And the letter just kind of explains, you know, my story. And then ask people, like, hey, if you're feeling up to it, you know, here's my number Text me back and let me know you got it.

Or, you know, do something nice for.

Melissa: Somebody today and like a little inspirational geocache.

Ben: Yeah, I'll leave them around town. Sometimes I'll time to a tree or I'll a bench or, you know, it just depends. Sometimes I. I had one experience where I ran past somebody's house and then had the thought, I need to go back and leave it at their house.

And I thought, that's like a quarter of a mile back. I don't want to turn around.

And I thought, you know what? I'm going to do it anyway. So I went back and did it.

And the next day I got a text and it was this big, long,

awesome story about how they really needed that and they were able to, you know, spread that to their friends. And then husband has had cancer and was really struggling. And.

Melissa: Wow.

Ben: I probably get about 1 in every 20 I leave. I'll get a text back. The fact that I. I felt like I had to go back. I didn't want to, but I did, and I got a text back.

It was just kind of.

Melissa: Yeah.

Ben: Just evidence that, hey, I was. I was supposed to do that. That was really needed there. And so I try to.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: I try to be open to that, but, you know, with life and all the distractions and things, I don't always.

Not always in that state of mind, but, yeah, I just try to put, you know, thought into where. Where does it feel right to be instead of, like, what's the best route to get my workout in?

Melissa: Yeah, that's such a great reminder that there are so many in the world who are struggling or going through hard things, and it really does not take much to help them feel lifted and loved and valued and all of those things.

Ben: Yeah, for sure.

Melissa: And the other thing I love about what you do is you've taken something that's natural for you. Maybe not everyone would want to be a motivational runner,

but it's something you enjoy and you've just. You've taken it and used it to serve. And I love that reminder, too, that we can really take anything that is natural to us and use that to serve others.

Ben: Yeah. And we all have something or we all have multiple things.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: It's fun to, you know, when you come across those things and you do them and you think, well, you know, that was just for me because, like you said, like, the running.

I had to be running in the first place.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: And the way I got involved with that and. And then coming up with the idea and receiving some inspiration and everybody has that opportunity or those opportunities.

We just have to.

What I've, what I've learned is that when you have a good thought to do something good, like, you just do it, no matter how inconvenient or weird it is.

Melissa: Oh, true.

Ben: Right. As long as it's legal. Right. It's a good thing and something great comes from it. And it's, it's always very, you know, it's not in a way that you expect, it's just very unexpected, but it's.

If we can tune into those good thoughts, like just act on them. And the more you act on them, the more you pay attention, you'll notice, the more you'll have and you just tap into that and amazing things happen.

It's, it's just, it's an awesome thing.

Melissa: So true. That's great.

Well, I would just love to close with any advice or encouragement that you would give to someone that's learned about what you do and wants to be a motivational runner or really anyone that's wanting to spread positivity and encouragement to the.

Those around them. What, what advice or encouragement would you give them?

Ben: Yeah, I mean, if somebody wants to, you know, to be a motivational runner, I will definitely, you know, help get you a sign and all those things. You can go to my Instagram for sure and message me there.

But yeah, I,

like I was talking about before,

we all need encouragement. We all need external validation because we don't realize how amazing and awesome we already are. The advice I would give is just, and it's not, it's not these amazing, you know, life changing necessarily, you know, situations that you find change your life.

It's, it's these really small, simple things and thoughts that if you listen to those good thoughts and those ideas that pop into your head and you,

you act on those, it, it just really grows into something amazing. So if you're finding yourself struggling, if you're finding yourself down,

know that, you know this happens to everybody. Also know that you're amazing and you're of, of high worth and high potential and that you're just struggling with, with those things.

But just try to do something good for others.

Try to do something small and see the effect that it'll have on you. It'll change,

could change your life completely. And then the more you act on that, the better you'll feel about that. And it might not solve all your problems, definitely hasn't solved all of mine, but it just, it changes your whole outlook on life and Then you realize of all the potential that you have and the things that you can do,

and you start to do those things, and it completely changes your life,

you know, do more good things, I guess I would do.

Melissa: To summarize,

that's great.

Well, thank you so much, Ben. This has been a great interview and I've loved learning more about what has motivated you to do your motivational running. Do you just want to end with giving us where others can find you if they want to learn more about you?

Ben: Yeah, I mean, some people have found me at my house. I'm okay with that as long as you don't, you know, aren't scary. But I. I'm on Instagram and that's where I put pretty much everything that I do.

I have been on other platforms like YouTube and TikTok and things like that, but I don't really have time to focus on a lot, and so I focus pretty much everything onto my Instagram.

So if you want to track me down, I post there pretty regularly. I'll put out reels sometimes. But I have a lot of really cool things planned that I want to spread this movement and I want to get people involved that want to run.

People involved that don't want to run want to just, you know, be uplifted or do uplifting things for others. I have all kinds of cool things that will be coming down the pipe here over the next year.

So go to my Instagram. It's. It's runner guy with a sign and you can see any updates there or other things that I post.

Melissa: That's great. I'll put links to that in the show notes and as a runner, I will be following along to see some of those great things you have coming out. So thanks again, Ben, for this interview.

Ben: Thank you. I totally enjoyed it. Melissa, thank you so much.

Melissa: That was my interview with at Runner guy with a sign Ben Line.

And as I said at the beginning of this episode, I originally aired this episode back at the end of 2023.

And so I just wanted to give an update that Ben has indeed continued to do a lot of great and inspiring things with his idea and motivational running. One of those he did this last summer where they lined up and had almost a mile of people standing shoulder to shoulder holding up signs of encouragement and hope.

And I think they were trying to break some kind of record with that, but that was a really inspiring event.

He's also got a Facebook group called the Signs Up Club if you want to join him with motivational running in your own community and he also even has a YouTube video showing you how to make your own sign as well.

So lots of good things that he continues to do. Go check him out on Instagram Unnerguy with a sign.

And I also want to give the reminder that if you enjoyed this episode or found inspiration and encouragement in it, please share it with a friend or family member.

Or you can also leave this podcast a nice review or five star rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

And as always this week, I hope that you can find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire or make a difference.