HEARTS AND SOLES 5K IN MEMORY OF HACKETTSTOWN MAN He had celebrated his fiftieth birthday last March. He was a veteran of several marathons and countless shorter races. He trained nearly every day and was the picture of health and fitness, and yet, last July, on an ordinary training run, Peter Boyden of Hackettstown suffered a fatal heart attack. Next Sunday, Boyden’s friends are holding a race in his memory at Duke Island Park to raise money for the American Heart Association. But the Hearts and Sole’s 5K is far more than a fund raiser. It is intended to continue Boyden’s spirit of helping and encouraging beginner runners, said race director Scott Brenner of Somerset. In the eulogy that Sneaker Factory member Dave Faherty gave at Boyden’s service, Faherty captured the essence of the man whose favorite Confusions saying was “It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop. |
Faherty painted a picture of a man who was warm and caring, “who was able to give support, kudos, and comfort as the situation warranted.”
Boyden was active on the AT&T running team and was also a member of the Sneaker Factory team. After Brenner left AT&T’s employ, Boyden took over as the company’s racing team captain.
Brenner said that within a week of Boyden’s death, he began to think about organizing a race in his friend’s memory.
“I talked to a couple of people just to see how insane the idea was,” said Brenner. “They told me, ‘Yes, it was,’ but they would help me do it.”
By October a committee of twenty people had committed to putting on a race. Without enough time for a 2007 event, they set the date for Sunday, April 6, 2008 at Duke Island Park in Bridgewater at 10:00 a.m.
Brenner is quick to point out that the theme of the race is not really about racing but about bringing non racers into the sport that Boyden loved.
“Peter was always encouraging people to run,” said Brenner. “He really didn’t emphasize speed. If you hang out with the Sneaker Factory people or some of the Raritan Valley runners [Brenner’s club], they can be quite intimidating.”
“We were going to try to attract the beginning runners, people who may have been running for years but who have never raced because they are intimidated,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons that we decided to keep the price ridiculously low and try to refer to it more like a run than a race.”
To that end there will be awards to only the top three men and women, with none going to age group racers. The entry fee is an unheard of five dollars and it will remain five dollars for race day entries. Donations will be gladly accepted as the committee members are underwriting the race. It was too late to find corporate sponsors this year.
“We are trying to kind of deemphasize the competitive nature of it,” said Brenner. “We’re trying to make it more of a fun run. We will have a clock and we will time people and post the results. But we are deemphasizing racing.”
More information can be found at www.heartsandsoles5k.org.
RACING SEASON BREAKS OPEN NEXT WEEKEND
Strange as it seems, with two USATF-NJ Championships over and done with by the end of the day today, with the Freehold St. Paddy’s ten miler completed, the racing season really opens up next weekend. In addition to the Hearts and Soles run, several competitive races can be found on the race calendar. I am an unabashed fan of the Indian Trails 15K that takes place in Middletown next Sunday.
If you love chugging up hills in order to fly down the other side, this one’s for you. It doesn’t hurt that it is a Category Three race in the New Balance Grand Prix, either. But whether you choose the 15K or one of the many shorter races available, enjoy your spring running and racing.
Originally published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey on Sunday, March 30, 2008
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2008
