Best of Philly Spotlight: Running Saved Kellen Matthews-Thompson’s Life. Now He’s Helping Others Do the Same
The Recovery Run Club founder turned to running during his recovery and has been pounding the pavement ever since — now with a supportive crew.
Recovery Run Club founder Kellen Matthews-Thompson / Photograph by Linette Messina
It’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday, and Kellen Matthews-Thompson is lacing up his sneakers for a run on the Ben Franklin Bridge, a group of 15 people gathered around him.
His Recovery Run Club, which he started in the spring of 2024, is a monthly all-paces, all-ages running group with a mission to connect people in early recovery — all types of recovery.
“It could be eating disorders, domestic violence, whatever kind of recovery you’re in,” he explains. “You’re welcome to come out and be around like-minded people that have faced some sort of adversity, and are using fitness and the running community to overcome their issues.”
He and his wife, Cass Matthews, who live in Germantown with their two-year-old daughter, typically attend all the runs. They are both successful Philly content creators. Cass, who is also a host for the Flyers, shares lifestyle tips and favorite spots, while Kellen shares his fitness and running journey and experience with addiction.
Before his own recovery, Matthews-Thompson says, he “was dealing with substance abuse disorder for about 14 years.” He started using prescription painkillers and later IV opioids in his mid- to late 20s, before he hit a low point and went to a treatment facility in Houston in 2017.
Everything changed when a doctor there hosted a group therapy session about how running affects the brain. That concept? The runner’s high.
“When he explained running endorphins and opioids in the same sentence, something clicked in my brain,” says Matthews-Thompson. It was the science behind it that struck him — according to the doctor, empirically, running would make him feel better later in the day. “You could rely on this feeling you’re going to get later,” he adds.
The next morning he walked outside to run a mile in the driveway. “The first mile was extremely hard, but I fell in love. I was extremely unhealthy at the time. I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and trying to get back on my feet. This was 25 days after I had stopped using. As you can imagine, my life was still in shambles.”
But with running, he says, “I could put effort in, and then I would get results immediately. I could rely on feeling good. And it wasn’t just a physical feel-good. It was an emotional and mental feel-good too — because I was able to tell people what I had accomplished. Now I had other people say, ‘Oh my God, that’s awesome,’ which also felt good. It gave me that feeling of accomplishment and people being proud of you.”
Running became something that, for Matthews-Thompson, went hand in hand with recovery. He maintained his sobriety and became devoted to the sport. In 2022, he won an ultramarathon, the 100-mile Loopy Looper 24-hour race at Cooper River Park in South Jersey, setting a new course record. In 2024 he ran one marathon per month to bring awareness to addiction, including the New York City Marathon, the Conquer the Canyon Marathon in Wellsboro, and the Philadelphia Marathon.
“The first year I was in recovery, I ran a mile every day,” he says. “Eventually my life evolved into what it is today: I’m a 2:43 marathoner, a 100-mile finisher, a running connoisseur.”
He started Recovery Run Club, which has start locations around the city (from the bridge to Lloyd Hall to Valley Green Inn), to share his journey with others it might help. The group typically sees anywhere from 10 to 40 participants. His goal is to keep it going and growing, with the hopes of getting more people — particularly those in early recovery who need support — involved. The pace and distance are set to be inclusive: a 5K loop, with the group meeting back where they started.
“I decided I wanted to get reinvolved with the community and give back a little bit,” he says. “Running has been such a vital part of my recovery that I decided I would try to share that with the rest of the world — or at least the rest of Philadelphia.”
>> Click here to return to Best of Philly 2025
Published as “Picture This: Meaningful Miles” in the August 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
