This man turned his dramatic weight-loss experience into an app so you'll never have to run alone — linking "virtual running buddies" miles apart to help you get additional miles and motivation into your workout.

Arya Farzin weighed nearly 400 pounds in college — so much that he was embarrassed to leave his room. Determined to get in shape, he hit the gym and lost 80 pounds in four months — and a total of 200 by the time he got in peak condition.

He's kept that weight off for eight years, becoming a professional trainer in the process, but remembers how difficult it was to hit the gym and track without the motivation of others.

Farzin says conflicting schedules make it difficult for people to have routine exercise partners, so he set out to create the Heat Running app, letting you have virtual running buddies anytime, anywhere.

Once you open the app and choose the distance you plan to run, it connects you with other runners around the world.

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After ten people are connected, your run starts, and you're able to pace yourself against — or compete with — the others, even though they're running on different tracks or trails thousands of miles away.

"The ultimate goal is to help as many people as we can succeed," Frazin told TODAY.

(WATCH the video below from NBC's TODAY)

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