MASON, Ohio — Two Mason Middle School students started their summer with one goal: to make their cross-country team in the fall. It’s turned into a journey being followed by thousands online.
The first video recorded by rising eighth graders Javlon and Anish was simple. A phone handoff explaining their goal: to run two miles in 18 minutes by the fall.
Their motivation to document their progress online was driven by a call to action from experienced runners.
“We don’t want to get injured,” he said. "If we made a channel, experienced runners would comment and give us tips about how not to cramp a lot and to keep going.”
That first video went viral, with 2.8 million views and counting in just three weeks.
Every video since has racked up tens of thousands of views, and more than 42,000 people are following the progress of “The Zooming Demons” on Instagram.
Watch our run with The Zooming Demons:
"We think of zooming as, like, we're traveling fast. And demon — the second definition for demon is obsession of something, and like, we're basically obsessed with running fast, traveling fast," Anish said.
"We were shocked and surprised," Javlon said about seeing their viewer numbers climb.
The Zooming Demons run three laps around their neighborhood and have a full training plan equipped with short runs, endurance runs and weightlifting days.
The biggest challenge so far has been cramps.
“They’ve been killing me,” Javlon said.
But commenters on their Instagram have helped.
“Pickle juice, bananas, they have a lot of potassium in them, and … drinking water regularly throughout the day,” Javlon said. “And when I've been doing those, they've been actually helping.”
While Javlon and Anish chase miles on the clock, Javlon's sisters, Nozanin and Kamola, chase views by shooting, editing and promoting the Demons' content.
"Long story short, she's … the brains of the channel," Javlon said about his sister Nozanin.
"They're the stars," Nozanin replied with a laugh.
The young runners believe their content resonates with people who share a similar goal of getting better every day, whether it be through running or being active.
"The support from our fans has been motivating us and is so crazy," Javlon said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
