One Step at a Time

PC: Alessandro Citterio; Riccardo Luppi

He didn’t start running to race. He started because everything else stopped.

In early 2020, Tom Ferstl was preparing to leave Germany for New Zealand—to continue his studies and move into a new chapter of life. Then the pandemic hit. The borders closed. The world locked down. He stayed behind with no plan, no structure, and too much stillness. So he started running.

This film, directed by Alessandro Citterio, doesn’t try to elevate the drama. It just tells the truth: that hardship reshapes us. And for some of us, that reshaping begins in motion. Step by step, through the pain cave, through doubt, toward something that doesn’t always have a name—but feels like clarity.

That story resonates. Trail running found me the same way: not through a plan, but through a hard season of my life. When the bottom dropped out, I needed something that could hold me upright. Not just to cope—but to rebuild. And like him, I haven’t stopped since.

There’s a line in the film that lingers: “Reaching the mountaintop gives me goosebumps… it’s kind of an addiction. And once I reach it, I’m already thinking about the next peaks to conquer.” I know that feeling. It’s how I got here—and why I’m still going.