
Holly, Tracy, & Katie
The saying “It’s a family thing” really applies to this team!
Holly, Tracy, and Katie became connected to the Herren Project back in August of 2015 after losing Matt (Holly’s husband, Tracy’s brother and Katie’s uncle) to the disease of addiction. Matt LOVED basketball and knew and admired Chris Herren’s story of recovery. Getting Matt to hear Chris speak was something they were really hoping to arrange prior to his passing as part of his recovery process. While that didn’t end up happening, Holly’s research led them to learn about the Herren Project running group.
At the time that Matt died, Tracy and Holly were training for their very first marathon and decided to run that race to remember Matt and to benefit the work of the Herren Project. They crossed the finish line of the Baltimore Marathon, with tears in their eyes, carrying Matt’s memory the whole way. Running that race while raising awareness and providing a message of hope to families such as theirs was such an honor and established a bond between them and the Herren Project (now) Family (not a “running group”).
Another saying that applies to this team: “Let go of what you can’t control.”
Over the years since that first race in 2015, Holly and Tracy have run many marathons for Herren Project, though for various reasons, were never able to cross that finish line together again, like they did with marathon #1. Getting accepted to the NYC marathon team was to be their chance! Sadly, some health issues have prevented Holly from continuing to train for the marathon. So insert family to the rescue and Tracy’s daughter Katie will substitute for Holly, while Holly joins the masses of spectators cheering them on. Thank goodness Katie is young, in the Army and fit to begin with, because training for a marathon in 7 weeks is not easy! Regardless of who crosses that finish line (or what their finish time is), this trio is 100% together in their mission of supporting the great works of Herren Project to help shine a light on a dark problem providing help and hope to families suffering the effects of substance use.