How the Running Community Supports One of Its Own

This is a guest post by Meredith Reccoppa, 9x Marathoner and 3x Boston Qualifier.

In October 2015, I suddenly lost my beautiful sister; my best friend. My sister was a runner herself. She never raced, but loved nothing more than running the beautiful trails or her favorite loop around town. We ran together and logged many miles, always laughing so hard on our runs. I miss that so much!

In November, a month after she passed away, I started #MilesforMelissa on Instagram and invited the running community to take part. It was a way to keep my sister’s love of running alive through logging miles in her memory. Continuing to run has been instrumental in the healing process and #MilesforMelissa was a way to keep me motivated during this difficult time.

Since starting, we’ve logged over 3,289 miles (from Nov to Feb). The running community is truly amazing! Many runners gathered in groups and have dedicated their races to my sister. I am completely humbled by the number of people from all over the world that have joined us and showed their support.

Today, every mile I log is in memory of my sister. For this month, #MilesforMelissa will take place from March 26–29. My sister may no longer be here to run beside me, but I know she will forever be running beside me in spirit.