In the summer of 2008, Nike approached Melcher Media with a challenge—and an opportunity. On August 31, 2008, the sporting giant would hold the first-ever Nike+ Human Race, a worldwide 10K event that would attract close to a million people and occur simultaneously in twenty-five cities around the world. Our mission? Create a compelling way to commemorate this experience for the runners and give them a lasting memento that would forever remind them what it was like to be a part of this powerful, collective experience.

On an incredibly tight schedule, we hired a 200-person team of editors, filmmakers, photographers, reporters, writers, designers, coders, and illustrators in cities from Los Angeles to Quito to Rome to Seoul to Melbourne. We coordinated with them to produce a stunning, large-scale book that documented “the day the world stopped to run.” In addition to unforgettable stories from runners around the globe, contributions included images by world-famous photographers Michael Grecco, Phil Cote, and Quinn Rooney, and text pieces by several noted running personalities.

In order to allow participants to personalize their copies of the book, we also set up cameras at each race in North America that took pictures of every runner crossing the the finish line. We then created a Nike+ Human Race website where, in addition to viewing photos, videos, and maps of the races, participants could search for photos of themselves, which were coded to their bib numbers. We sent a customized e-mail blast to each participant, inviting them to visit the website and giving them the opportunity to create a custom version of the book with their own race-day image on the dust jacket.

Available at Amazon.