Ronnie Goodman’s life story may not be the kind that dreams are made of — drug addiction, prison sentences, homelessness — but it’s certainly the kind that Oscar-contenders are made of. Released just in time for the second half of the San Francisco Marathon is Heist‘s Every Runner Has A Reason, a brief and touching portrait of The City By The Bay’s most unexpected marathoner.

At first glance, Ronnie Goodman resembles your typical runner: fit physique, athletic apparel, ear buds. Watching his spandex-clad legs pistoning on the concrete, he looks like any one of the 25,000 runners training for San Francisco’s twenty-six-mile-long run. But — as if often the case — looks can be deceiving. Because, you see, Ronnie Goodman is fifty-three years old and homeless.

“When people see me,” Goodman says, “they just see a runner. They don’t see me as a person that’s homeless.” After learning about Goodman through an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle, director Jordan deBree and the creative team at Heist sought out the middle-aged marathoner. Goodman’s checkered past includes drug abuse (“cocaine, crack-cocaine, heroin, meth”) and several stints in prison — including a six-year stay for burglary. While he was behind bars, Goodman dreamed of the outside world and vowed a better life for himself. Upon his release, he took art classes at the City College of San Francisco and began working odd jobs to pay the bills. Life was looking up until, three years ago, he could no longer pay rent and found himself out on the street. A talented artist in his own right, Goodman now sells his paintings to pay for his (expensive) running gear, but those proceeds are not enough to pay for housing, too, especially in a city as expensive as San Francisco.

“Nothing could be worse than what I’ve been through. I feel like I’ve been to Hell and back maybe four times.”

If prison was Goodman’s Hell, then the act of running is his road out of Perdition. “I might run for two hours,” Goodman says, “and I’m a free person for those two hours.” DP James Niebuhr (using a RED Epic strapped into a Steadicam rig), lenses Goodman with absolute elegance as the runner glides under the red paper lanterns of Chinatown, the stone skyscrapers of the Financial District, or the sandy trails along the bay shore. The graceful slow-motion photography packs an emotional punch, heroic images of back-lit Goodman contrasted by the runner pushing a hand dolly — stacked with his only belongings — under the 101 freeway.

On July 27th, Ronnie Goodman will run the second half of the San Francisco Marathon, raising funds for charity in the process. If you’d like to support Ronnie, you can do so directly through Hospitality House.