Hundreds of people gathered in Holly Springs, North Carolina, last night to run and walk in honor of local runner Derek Davis, 37, who died April 27 after being hit by a car while running one week earlier on the day of the Boston Marathon.

Davis, a father of four children between the ages of 3 and 11, was running with his wife, Amanda, around 6:30 a.m. on April 20, when he was struck by a car while crossing the street at a crosswalk. The driver of the car, 18-year-old Roberto Solis-Reyes, a student at the local high school, is facing charges that include running a red light and operating a motor vehicle with a permit but not being accompanied by a licensed driver.

Amanda Davis and Solis-Reyes’ 17-year-old passenger did not suffer physical injuries.

When news of Davis’ death spread, the Holly Springs Run Club decided to dedicate its regular Thursday night run to him by running to the site where he was hit, where a shoe memorial has since formed. They initially expected about 40 runners, but wound up getting an estimated crowd of 400.

“We had no rain today except the bucket loads dumped on us during the hour of the run,” family friend Josh Brammer told Runner’s World Newswire of the memorial run. “It was like taking a shower! Everyone was drenched, but we were gifted with a double rainbow at the end of the run.”

Members of Davis’ family were unable to attend the run as a visitation was scheduled at the same time, but after the run, Brammer stopped by the visitation to see Amanda Davis.

“After we told her about the rain, she said, ‘That was all Derek, because he loved to run in the rain,’" Brammer said.

Holly Springs Run Club founder Mark Campbell says that, on Tuesday morning, club member Kimberly Henry left a pair of running shoes tied to a pole near where Davis was hit, and by that evening, the pole was covered. The following day, the pole across the street was covered with shoes. A local news crew filmed one runner who donated the shoes he was running in before running home in just his socks—a fitting tribute to a man who was fond of running in Vibrams.

Davis’ family stopped by the memorial to leave some of his things, including a pair of Vibrams he ran in, with a message from his wife that read, “Thank you for the best 14+ years of my life. I love you. Love, Amanda.”

A GoFundMe page established to help support Amanda Davis and her four children has raised more than $38,000 in three days.

Davis, a software developer, was an avid runner who was highly active in his church. Last October he ran 17:28, which he referred to as a post-high school PR, to win a local 5K. In November, he ran 2:58:39 and finished 12th at the Thunder Road Marathon in Charlotte. The time qualified him for the Boston Marathon, which he had been planning to run for the first time in 2016.

Brammer says that Davis accomplished the above with a titanium rod in his femur, after breaking it during a trail run the year before. “He was only on crutches for a couple of weeks before he was back running. ‘Run through the pain’ was one of his mottos,” Brammer says.

Bob Savino, who regularly joined Davis for lunchtime runs at work in recent months, says of Davis, “I would describe him as possibly one of the world’s nicest people. He always had a smile on his face and always asked about everybody else.”

Brad Ferguson, a regular running partner of Davis, says Davis could always find the positive in any situation, and that he was also hilarious.

“It was a running joke that he was always getting us lost. He was always up for trying a new ‘route’ that would end us up in the back of some guy’s farm…I recall missing a run one morning and Andrew [another running partner] later told me jokingly, ‘Derek accidentally got us lost again!’ and Derek chimed in, ‘No, no. I successfully got us lost again!’”

Ferguson attended last night’s memorial run and said he got teary at the end while thinking that Davis wouldn’t be able to enjoy a run like that again.

“I was corrected later that evening at his visitation at the funeral home when his mother-in-law said, ‘I am sure he was running with you,’” Ferguson said.

Or, as a family member recently joked according to Southwest Wake News, Davis “would miss his own funeral to go on [Thursday’s] run.”

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