On May 1, 2020, during the height of the first COVID-19 lockdown, Mike and his friend Al Dalton decided to run 5 kilometers every day for a month. Together but apart. It was an attempt to exert some control over their suddenly chaotic lives, and also to reconnect in their friendship. Throughout the month they recorded a video diary, before and after each of their runs as a way to motivate, encourage, and check in with each other. The videos were personal, introspective, and never truly intended to be seen by anybody other than the two of them.

Exactly one year later, they released the videos day-by-day on an Instagram account set up specially for the project, so that others could follow along with their journey a year after it took place, and a year into a global pandemic. The aim of the project was to serve as a daily window into the very recent past in order to entertain, distract, and possibly inspire others to reach out and connect with those around them.

Part time-capsule, part confessional documentary, part glimpse into their friendship, Running And Talking captures a small moment of time where two men put their bodies under intense exertion, in an attempt to briefly distract themselves from the existential terror surrounding them during a worldwide emergency.

A link to the Instagram account can be found here: Running and Talking