Running History  ›  John Stanton's start.

A two-kilometer fun run with his young sons in 1981 was the catalyst that made then out-of-shape, overweight John Stanton realize he had to change his lifestyle. Then a food industry executive who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, Stanton began running secretly before dawn because he felt self-conscious about having his neighbours see “this chubby little guy” who could only run from lamppost to lamppost before having to take a walk break.

and now...Jason and his Dad along with brother John Jr.  have opened 80 Running Room stores in Canada. See below a brief story. It all started with the 2k FUN Run September 27th 1981 and now look.

In 1984 Stanton opened a store and meeting place for runners in an 8x10 foot room of an old house shared with a hairdressing shop in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Twenty years later, the Running Room he founded is one of North America’s largest chains of specialty running stores. In late 2004, to be more inclusive, his company launched the Walking Room - a mirror of the Running Room concept. The store caters specifically to the needs of walkers.

John Stanton has run more than 60 marathons, hundreds of road races, and numerous triathlons, including the Canadian Ironman and the Hawaiian World Championship Ironman competition. His pre-dawn runs would ultimately become John Stanton’s 10:1 run/walk combination that has helped well over a half million Canadians do everything from learn to run to complete marathons, upright and smiling.

Thousands of people have lost weight, improved their health and fitness levels and truly changed their lives as a result of one man who was determined to change his own life by losing weight and getting fit. John is now very active in working alongside cities like Abbotsford, British Columbia, Edmonton, Alberta, Toronto, Ontario and Moncton, New Brunswick who have asked him and the Running Room to be part of community-wide fitness and weight awareness initiatives.

http://www.runningroom.com