Route into NYC passes Princeton
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Next Wednesday, a very tired and likely very sore, but also satisfied, Jeremy Boyd is planning on running into Princeton.
Boyd hasn’t been to the area much. He scouted it on a drive last month, but the last time he came near it was to take a train from Princeton Junction to New York City.
Boyd, a married father of a 3- and 6-year-old who lives in Holly Springs, N.C., outside of Raleigh, will start his four-day, 240-mile Run to Never Forget from the Pentagon north to the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City as a tribute to “honor and support the victims, first responders, the military and their families affected by 9/11.”
”That’s why I’m doing it,” said Boyd in his final days of preparation. “People were starting to forget. It was more of, ‘We don’t need too forget this, it’s not just one day.’ It’s a constant reminder. I’ve gotten a lot of thanks for thinking about it and not letting it go.”
It’s been years since Boyd passed through Princeton Junction after 9/11 to catch a train to visit a friend who worked near Ground Zero. Those memories and the recollections of others still stick with him.
”My first time, I went up was after Sept. 11,” Boyd said. “He worked close to the Towers. He went up on the roof and watched the second plane come in. He said it was so odd. The first time that the subway was open, half the people weren’t there. It was a pretty chilling thing. The first time I went to Ground Zero was with my mom and brother. That was a pretty crazy experience.”
Boyd is raising awareness and collecting donations as he runs to remember the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. Donations can be made through his website, runtoneverforget.org, to two organizations that he selected. Tuesday’s Children is a group dedicated to supporting the families of all victims of 9/11. Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides college scholarships to children of Special Operations personnel killed in duty. Boyd does not want people to forget the impact that 9/11 has had.
”That’s the only reason I’m doing it,” Boyd said. “This is it. This is all the reasoning. We’ll be stopping the last day and doing a moment of silence during all those times — when the planes hit, when the Towers fell. That’s the driving force and that’s what’s going to keep me going for sure.”
Boyd will leave the Pentagon at 6 a.m. Monday. He plans to run approximately 62 miles to Joppatowne, Md., on that first day. He will be up at 6 a.m. Tuesday to run about 68 miles to Chester, Pa. On Wednesday, it’s another 61 miles to Princeton as he passes at the end through Trenton, past Notre Dame High School and through Lawrence on the Princeton Pike.
”I think Day 3 will be my hardest,” said Boyd, who anticipates arriving in Princeton at 6 p.m. Wednesday. “Day 2 is my longest in terms of miles and time. Day 3 will honestly be my worst day. Day 4 will be all right since I’ll know I’m almost there. I’m stopping in Elizabeth for a flag ceremony. They’re going to do some press and PR on it. It’ll take my mind off how bad I hurt. I think I’ll feel the worst when I get to Princeton.”
Boyd will leave Princeton at 6 a.m. on Sept. 11 and head north through New Jersey to end at Ground Zero in the evening. He is counting on a support crew and the support of the towns that he runs through to make the trip easier. He is encouraging anyone who wants to join him for as little or much as they want to join forces on the run.
”That would make time go by much faster,” Boyd said. “Not only that, but also the cause. It shows that we all haven’t forgotten, not just me. Anyone can come out. I’d love to have some company.”
Boyd will spend Wednesday night at the Princeton Volunteer Fire Company. He is staying at a different firehouse each night of his run.
”They’ve been awesome,” Boyd said. “Them being on the front lines of it and understanding it and understanding why.”
Boyd ran a 50-miler in June, but this will be the farthest he has run at any one time, and certainly in this narrow a stretch as he will put in nearly 60 miles for each of four straight days. He only picked up running a few years ago, but the 36-year-old who coaches other runners now has been hooked.
”It hasn’t been that long,” he said. “Only a few years ago, I ran my first half marathon 2011. I liked it but didn’t want to take the time to train. I did another one and didn’t train again. A friend talked me into the Marine Corps Marathon. A friend got me into it. That’s what got me started to run. Then my interest in trail running sparked quickly. Then I started running and running.”
Boyd dreamed up the plan to help remember 9/11 two years ago, but it wasn’t until last October when he got the support of his wife that he started to plan out the logistics of the run. This year seemed like the ideal time to try to attempt this long of a run.
”I’m trying to do the Western States 100,” Boyd said. “I was going to run the Umstead 100 down here in North Carolina. I figured I’d be training for that and roll into this. My son was starting kindergarten this year so I knew life would get more hectic.
”This was the year I could put in the effort and train and do all this. My wife gave the OK in October.”
Boyd figured out the route he would take, then drove it last month to scout some of the cities that the Delaware native was less familiar with. After getting over a serious injury, he has been training all summer toward his Run to Never Forget.
”It’s been hot, but it’s gone pretty well,” Boyd said. “I’m not running that much now. I have a training group (Wednesday), and I’ll run with them. Training went well. I was injured early on in the winter time. I just rode a spin bike for hours and hours in the gym to keep up endurance. You train and train for this and it’s going to hurt. There’s no way around the pain.
”It started from there. The crazy planning didn’t get going until I was over my injury. I didn’t go too crazy with my planning. I ran a 50-miler in June and I felt great. That was my ‘OK, it’s a go.’”
Training has put him in position to test his limits for a worthwhile cause. He has prepared as much as he can.
”I do a lot of long back-to-back runs,” Boyd said. “I’ll run 35 miles and then I’ll run 25 miles the next day. I was scared to hurt myself, to over-train, so I went with the mentality I’d rather under-train than over-train and be healthy. I did a lot of cross training. I spent two hours on the elliptical one time. I topped out at 103 miles in one week. I did other things, I rowed, biked. It’s so mental. I feel like I’ll be ready.”
Boyd is happy to see awareness increasing for his run and for the cause that he is promoting. He would like to see more funds donated for those affected by 9/11 and to those helping to prevent another similar attack, and he is expecting that support to pick up with the start of his run as more attention is given to his run once it begins.
”Now it’s a rat race,” Boyd said. “I’m sleeping a few hours a night, still trying to run a little bit, keep my legs moving, work and push it as much as I can. I’m hoping once it gets going, it’ll take off more. I think it will. I just have to get to that point. I just have to start running.”
Then the trick will be to continue it steadily over four days as Jeremy Boyd runs from the Pentagon through Princeton on his way to the World Trade Center Memorial, which he expects to reach at 6 p.m. on Sept. 11. It’s the most ambitious thing that he has done, which is why the more support, the better he expects to feel about it.
Said Boyd: “There’s no comparison to this.”