Steps of hope
Photos by Tom Rivers
A group of runners and walkers head up Route 98 near Watt Farms Country Market on Wednesday, two days after bombs killed three people in Boston and wounded nearly 200 others.
About 30 runners and walkers gathered for a 2.62-mile trek tonight along Route 98 in Gaines between the Five Corners and just south of Route 104, where the state Department of Transportation has closed the road due to a culvert project.
Jack Burris of Albion organized the “Boston Marathon HOPE Run/Walk,” which was exactly one-tenth of the marathon distance.
Tabitha Sauls of Albion was among the group that laced up her sneakers. She and five of her friends decorated fluorescent pink shirts in memory of the victims at the Boston Marathon bombing. And then they walked up 98 and back.
“I’m thinking of the people who lost loved ones,” she said. “I’ve suffered a loss. I know exactly how they feel.”
Two participants, Jerome and Teresa Pawlak, bottom, have a son, Kevin, who finished the Boston Marathon on Monday. Mr. Pawlak attended the race to watch his son, who crossed the finish line about two hours before the bombs went off.