New film follows Black St. Louisans who’ve run a marathon in every U.S. state and all 7...

The marathon hat trick is a goal that some committed distance runners aim for but few have achieved.

The hat trick includes running at least 100 marathons, a marathon in all 50 U.S. states and a marathon on all seven continents. Fewer than 60 runners have completed the feat, and only three of them are Black. Of those three, two are from St. Louis and even attended the same elementary school.

Their story is now a film, “We Are Distance Runners: The Marathon Hat Trick,” that screens Wednesday evening as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival.

Tony Reed, who directed the documentary short, is also one of the runners in the film. Along with St. Louis native and fellow Clark Elementary School graduate Lisa Davis, they buck the myth that Black Americans don’t run long races.

“I always saw running as representing freedom and not setting limits on myself,” Reed told St. Louis on the Air. He started running in 1976 after having been diagnosed with prediabetes. Since then, he’s run an average of three miles per day. In 2004, he co-founded the National Black Marathoners Association, of which he currently serves as executive director.

It was while traveling the country to run marathons that he met Davis, an ultra runner and Marine veteran from St. Louis. Their parallel life stories and love for running drove Reed to direct the documentary.