BOSTON — Ten years after the Boston Marathon bombing, friends of Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy who was killed that day, are gearing up to run the marathon in his honor on Monday — a day that has always been very difficult for them.
“Martin was a dear friend of mine, one of my best friends growing up, and to be able to cross that finish line for him and his family is going to mean a lot,” said 19-year-old Theo Stanley, a member of the Martin Richard Foundation’s MR8 Tribute Team.
“I truly do not know how I’m going to feel because I don’t think I will have ever felt that feeling before,” he told the Boston Herald a few days before race day. “I live every day with him in my mind, and I try to do right by him. It’s going to be really impactful to cross that finish line.”
Fifty runners on the MR8 Tribute Team are taking on the Boston Marathon course to commemorate the Dorchester boy’s life and his love for community, friends and family.
The team is promoting Martin’s lasting legacy of fairness and his message, “No More Hurting People, Peace.”
“Promoting the ideals at the center of who Martin was, and that he was a very caring person,” said Stanley, who grew up two blocks down from Martin in Dorchester. “He really wanted to see everyone succeed in life, and that’s what the organization is all about.”
Ever since 2013, Marathon Monday has never been an easy day for Stanley.
“That entire weekend hasn’t been easy for me or any of my friends since,” he added.
Liley Damatin, 20, is also a member of the MR8 Tribute Team. She went to kindergarten with Martin’s brother Henry, and they’ve been friends ever since.
When they were younger, they would always talk about running the Boston Marathon.
“Then especially after 2013, it became something I was going to do, like not just talk about it for the rest of my life,” Damatin said.
She’s not exactly sure what will be going through her mind on Monday.
“I run 6 miles and I get teary-eyed thinking about it,” Damatin said, adding that they’ll be “carrying Martin’s message of peace.”
Since 2014, more than 1,000 runners have raced more than 23,000 miles and raised more than $6 million to further the Martin Richard Foundation’s grant-making to fund direct service, community-based organizations that address social equity in the areas of youth development, adaptive and inclusive efforts and community building.
The foundation’s mission is focused on the community and deepening impact by investing in positive change for the future of young people and their families.
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