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Around Mile 12 of the Marine Corps Marathon, Jack Munley, a lieutenant with EVMS Police & Public Safety, felt a sudden shot of pain in his hamstring. He faced a decision: quit the race or push through the pain.

For Lt. Munley, however, there really was no choice. He kept running.

That’s because Lt. Munley was participating in the Oct. 30 race in honor of his cousin, Brian Flood. Mr. Flood, a lifelong athlete and frequent marathon runner, passed away suddenly several months before the Marine Corps Marathon. He was 44 years old.

“Brian was such a wonderful guy — just a remarkable person,” says Lt. Munley. “He was excited for the marathon, but also had mentioned to his mom and other family members that he thought it might be his last race.”

Not long after Mr. Flood’s death, Lt. Munley reached out to race organizers to see if he could take his cousin’s place and run the marathon in his honor. They agreed.

“That left me about 12 weeks to train, which is not very much time — especially when you’re 52 and not in marathon shape,” says Lt. Munley, an experienced runner himself, albeit one who had not participated in a marathon for several years. “But I felt compelled to run the race for Brian. He would have done it for me.”

Despite the injury at Mile 12 — and feelings of overwhelm, exhaustion and more pain by Mile 21— Lt. Munley, clad in a T-shirt bearing his cousin’s likeness, finished the marathon.

“My time was terrible,” he says with a laugh. “That wasn’t the point though. Throughout the marathon, people kept asking me, ‘Who’s that on your shirt? What’s his story?’ I got to tell them about Brian. I got to help keep his memory alive."

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