Five days after the Boston Marathon tragedy, students at the University of Michigan were set to take action to honor the victims of the bombing — and they hit the ground running.
Organizer of the event, Jimmy Schneidewind reached out to a few local running stores, posted flyers, and used social media venues to promote the run. He estimates nearly 200 people participated. One of which was president of the Ann Arbor track club, Mitchell Garner.
Before the race, Schneidewind addressed participants while he spoke about the strength of the close-knit running community.
"It's important to demonstrate publicly it wont divide us," he said. "It will make us stronger."
Garner, who has run in the Boston Marathon seven times, looks back on his experiences with fondness.
"Finishing the Boson Marathon is like you're on cloud nine." he says. He and his friends are confident this year's events will not deter anyone from attending next year. He also says the run in Ann Arbor was an opportunity to show resilience and strength.
The course route started on the University of Michigan Diag and headed toward State Street, turned on to North University Avenue, continued down to South University Avenue, and then circled back to the Diag. Each lap was equivalent to about one mile and most participants completed three laps. The miles are recorded and updated to a website keeping track of all international runs in honor of the Boston Marathon. The site is managed by U-M alumni Jake Steinerman.
All participants combined in the Ann Arbor race logged a total of 493 miles.
Schneidewind says they were glad to be able to generate good will in the wake of a horrific event.
AnnArbor.com photographer Daniel Brenner was at the run to capture these images.