Slow Runner got its start with Michael Flynn's writing and playing in high school. He played in a few bands but was mostly just having fun. He went to college and majored in English and Improving His Music and Writing. After college, Michael went to Boston for music school. He won 2nd place in a John Lennon songwriting contest. Also in Boston, he met fellow bandmate Josh Kaler. Josh and Michael moved to Charleston, SC, where they met local Danny Cassady, who joined Slow Runner on bass. Dave Middleton soon joined in on guitar and the rest is history.

Quoth Slow Runner on their Myspace profile, "this is what we hope our music sounds like: interesting, lyrical pop music shot out into space, bouncing around the satellites and getting mixed in with all their beeping and blipping. like if r2-d2 had an aching heart and a love for the noisiest beatles songs. ideally, if you took out the depressing lyrics and substituted in educational stuff about sharing with others and the states and capitals, you could sit down at a piano and have a classroom of kids singing along within minutes. thats the idea anyway. weird sounds get added later. and then we get to play live and see if we can make every heart in the room burst with pent-up feelings. its a good job."