MegsMiles 5k, remembrance run that brings 'glory out of the ashes,' is next month

HANOVER COUNTY, Va. -- Meg's Miles 5K, the annual run that celebrates the memory of a beloved Hanover mother, will take place next month.

The remembrance run will take place on Saturday, Jan. 18 at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville.

Meg Cross Menzies was in the process of training for the Boston Marathon when she was hit and killed by a drunk driver on Jan. 13, 2014, near the corner of Hickory Hill and East Patrick Henry roads.

In the wake of the tragedy, a movement called Meg's Miles, her friends started on Facebook to plan runs in remembrance of her, and spread her story overseas.

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More than a decade later, that mark that Menzies' passing made in the running world is still visible near and far.

“Over 100,000 people ran all over the world, from places like China, and Germany, and then all over the country," Pamela Cross, Meg's mother, said in an interview last year. “People didn’t know her, but yet they flew from California, Oregon and Pennsylvania and New England area and Arizona, to come and run for a lady they did not know. But God filled them and used that story to bring a group of people together. Now we all consider each other family. We’re not just friends on Facebook, we’re actually family."

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MegsMiles 5k honors Hanover mother remembered as 'great encourager'

WTVR CBS 6 Web Staff

Cross remembered her daughter as an "encourager."

"She would encourage people to do things and to step out and to try things that they hadn't done before," Cross said. "She loved Jesus, she loved her family, she loved people. And she was always, always trying to find ways to make things better for other people."

FULL INTERVIEW: Meg Menzies was 'great encourager,' her mother remembers

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Cross credited faith as the fuel for the thousands who laced up their running shoes in her daughter's honor.

“It’s really about God’s grace and God’s purpose that He would not let a tragedy without bringing glory out of the ashes and beauty out of the ashes, and I really truly believe that if God had not wanted it to continue, within three or four months it would’ve stopped. But it didn’t. It just kept going and it just built and built," Cross said.

Cross had this message for runners, cyclists and drivers: never drive drunk or distracted.

“Remember that we share the road with a lot of different people," Cross said.

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