A couple of weeks ago I asked the runners on the Electric Highway to share their story.They sent me their stories and I blogged about them. Then we all started sharing the links through Facebook and Twitter. It was a cool exercise in spreading running virally through the twin powers of storytelling and social media.

I was surprised by how much our team's stories of running stirred my soul. Reading about the power of running to transform in multifaceted ways seemed oddly...normal. That's right, normal. Like that's exactly what running is supposed to do.

Things like uniting people around a cause such as alleviating poverty in third world countries. Or uniting around finding a cure for a disease that's maligning the ones we love.

Things like getting someone off the couch and onto the road, teaching them healthy habits and disciplines that can last a lifetime and even pour over into their families.

Things like pushing people to lose 20, 40, 50, or 100 pounds over a few years. Healthy people simply mean a healthier future for humanity.

It's shockingly normal to see running leading to these accomplishments because, as I read the stories, it's as if running was lying there all along--it was just waiting to be picked up. It's as if the solutions to the problems that plague us the most are within a fingertip's reach. Something as primitive as getting on our two feet and going is all it takes to help us pick up our problems and dive headlong into solutions.

When we run, we start to participate. Running can become for us both a way of life and a means to an end, propelling us towards something that wasn't possible when we didn't appreciate the power it provides.

What better way to start tangling with the power of running than signing up for the Nike+ Human Race 10K? Sign up here to run with my team, Electric Highway. Or start by following us on Twitter and Facebook.