meg menzies 7 years later

​Seven years ago today, I was sitting in our local library when I received this text message:

“Meg Menzies was just hit by a car while she was running. She died.”

I didn’t know Meg. I was friends with her husband, Scott. I'd worked with him on different projects in his role as a local law enforcement officer. But I knew a lot of people who did know Meg. And with shattered hearts, they began telling stories about a woman who, to me, sounded quite ordinary.

She loved God, she treasured her family - especially her three young children - and she had a passion for running. But as the stories continued, as one after another they continued to build on each other, I discovered something remarkable in her story. In a culture that is fixated on luring us away from the ordinary - from the sanctuary of God to busy cities that never sleep, from the quiet embrace of our children to the pursuit of fame and fortune, from a commitment to wellness to the endless chase of unhealthy pleasures - Meg was never lured away.

Less than a week after her death, it became clear to me I wasn’t the only one who’d found extraordinary in her story. On January 19, 2014, the Saturday after Meg died, over 100,000 people from all around the world responded to a social media request to “Run for Meg.” Complete strangers were so moved by Meg’s story that they grabbed their families and friends and hit the streets to run. Many did so for the first time, or at least the first time in a long time.

I was one of those first time in a long time runners. I ran eight miles that morning. The last time I'd come close to running that far I was in high school. Which was at least 8 miles in my past....

I've been running ever since.

It's funny, though, over the past seven years, I've begun running toward things instead of away from them. I've processed a lot of what I've hated about my past in a way that's left me with hope and love for the future.

Seven years ago today, a shoe memorial was spontaneously erected where Meg died. I remember putting my first pair of shoes on that memorial after that first run. As I stood there, looking at the hundreds of other shoes hanging there, I was overwhelmed by how one ordinary woman's life could bring so many people together in that one rural spot in our community.

In September of 2019, I went to Honduras to distribute shoes with Soles4Souls. As I knelt down and put a new pair of shoes on a little girl's feet - her smile as big as the whole country of Honduras - I was overwhelmed by how one ordinary woman's life could send me so far from home, to a place where my heart overflowed with love for a people I never imagined loving.

In September of 2020, I completed the 35-mile Georgia Jewel. I'd tried it twice before and couldn't finish. As I crossed that finish line alone - in darkness after 13 1/2 hours on my feet - 7 years of a running journey flashing before my eyes - I was overwhelmed by how one ordinary woman's life had helped me find a strength in me I never knew existed. I was overwhelmed by how a woman I never knew introduced me to a ME I never knew.

I took those shoes I wore in Georgia to hang them on the shoe memorial a few weeks later. As I stood there staring at that memorial, I could hear Meg say, those shoes don't belong here. You know where those shoes need to go.

I lifted the trunk of my car and placed those shoes in a bag of ordinary shoes I'd been collecting from ordinary people to donate to Soles4Souls. I could hear Meg saying, we are all quite ordinary, you know, but our stories don't have to be.

Our stories can be of extraordinary hope that never lets go. Our stories can be of a love so powerful that it never gives up.

Seven years ago a beautiful life ended. But, in response, thousands of lives have found new beginnings. Seven years ago, a little corner in Hanover County Virginia turned to ashes. But today, the beauty from those ashes continues to rise all over the world.

Meg's story continues to be a hope that never lets go. It continues to be a love that never gives up.