850 Million Reasons To Run

850 Million Reasons To Run

We're so excited to announce our brand new audio docuseries, NYRR Set the Pace Presents: 850 Million Reasons to Run! This powerful five-part audio documentary shares the extraordinary story of Peter Kirk: entrepreneur, proud New Yorker, father of three, cancer survivor, stem cell transplant recipient, and marathoner. This special spin-off offers an intimate and deeply moving portrait of Peter’s journey—one that began with a sudden, life-threatening diagnosis and led to the finish line of the TCS New York City Marathon less than a year later. Told in Peter’s own voice, and with heartfelt insight from his wife Torun and his stem cell transplant donor Sam, the series charts a course through illness, hope, and the healing power of movement.

Episodes

June 6, 2025 20 mins

It all started with a devastating diagnosis in the fall of 2020. Multiple chemo treatments, a stem cell transplant and many marathon finish lines later,  Peter joins NYRR CEO Rob Simmelkjaer for a special LIVE  taping of 850 Million Reasons to Run.

Rob and Peter  dive into  the “memento mori” moment that reframed the meaning of Peter's life, turning a business leader into a global philanthropist with...

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What happens when the person who saves your life is someone you’ve never met?

A year after his transplant, Peter is finally allowed to contact the donor whose stem cells now run through his body and an eight‑page letter, dashed off at 38,000 feet, transforms into the meeting of two, forever connected humans.

How do you pay it forward after the unthinkable? What do we owe others when someone else's good deed changes a man, a f...

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May 30, 2025 21 mins

Ninety nine seconds—that’s all Peter’s lungs can manage on his first post-transplant run. But  the shock of those agonizing 200 meters ignites an out‑loud promise to himself: Peter pledges he will run the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon, just 12 weeks away.

Starting with small steps, Peter shrinks the city into single‑block laps, keeping the  memory of coughing up blood in reserve as inspiration to keep ...

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May 28, 2025 24 mins

A Tour de France postcard is all Peter clutches as he steps back through the hospital doors, determined to earn a permanent cure. He’s about to take on the most demanding stage yet, flanked by bossy nurses, amazed pulmonologists, his devoted cavapoo, and his wife, Torun—all rooting for him along this personal, indoor Tour.

(It will feel like the toughest climb—until he laces up for the 2022 TCS New York City Marat...

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May 23, 2025 27 mins

Meet Peter Kirk - a father, a New Yorker, and a runner - who found himself facing something far bigger than 26.2 miles. 

850 Million Reasons to Run is the true story of Peter's journey—not just to the start line of the TCS New York City Marathon, but back to life itself. It’s about what happens when everything changes in an instant… and how running became the thread that helped put it all back together.

Told...

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