They started emerging from the darkness well before 4 a.m., in pairs or clusters of friends. Some carried candles. Some carried signs.

“Running for Liza.”

“Walking for Liza.”

“Finish Liza’s Run.”

They kept coming, despite the early hour, and despite the events of the last week. They kept coming despite the fear.

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By a few minutes after 4 a.m., more than a thousand had gathered. Women, mostly. One man wore a skirt.

Danielle Heineman, the woman who had the idea for the run, told me earlier in the week she expected “more than 100 people.”

By the time Heineman picked up a microphone to address the throng, there were many multiples of that.

“We’re just going to run in honor of Liza,” she said. “To show that in Memphis women have the right to run at four in the morning or at 12 at night.”

They had a moment of silence. Then another of the organizers, Charlie Hayden, said a final few words.

Run honoring Eliza Fletcher set for Friday morning

“I know Memphis needs this,” she said. “I know we’re stronger together and none of us are alone in whatever we’re grieving this morning. Set your watches, turn your lights on, get your GPS, get your buddies. If you didn’t come with one, make one. And for God sake, if you see a law enforcement officer, thank them.”

Long pause.

“Let’s go!”

And then they were off. Off to finish a run that Eliza Fletcher couldn’t, off to begin to reclaim Memphis from the darkness of the past week.

Exactly one week after Fletcher was abducted and killed during her morning run, throngs of Memphians honored her and their city by running an 8.2-mile loop that stretched down Central Avenue.

Eliza Fletcher funeral set for Saturday

But it wasn’t just the runners who were out there. There were thousands more, lining the streets. There were dozens of police officers, exhausted as they must be. There were men on bicycles, helping to keep watch.

“We can’t let fear overwhelm us,” said LaShawn Hampton, who woke up early to run. “I love Memphis. I grew up here. This is my home.”

Hampton wrestled with whether to come to the event, especially after waking up Friday to a grim video that has been circulating on social media.

The video was of two men, threatening to shoot more Memphians. The Memphis police labeled it as a “terroristic threat.”

“I thought about staying away,” Hampton said. “I decided I couldn’t let that stop me from being here.”

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So Hampton ran along with all the others. Another runner, Erica McCarrens, carried yellow roses that she dropped along the way.

“Just to honor Eliza,” she said.

OK, but did McCarrens feel safe?

She smiled and pointed to a police helicopter, hovering overhead.

Photo gallery: Thousands gather to ‘finish Liza’s run’

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“That’s my husband up there.”

We shouldn’t need personal police helicopters, of course. We shouldn’t need runs to honor a junior kindergarten teacher carried from our streets.

But we sure do need each other. And we need the spirit that connected everyone at Friday’s event. A spirit of resilience, and determination, and hope.

No, one run will not change the trajectory of the city. It will require much more than that.

It will require a hard, honest assessment of the pandemic of violence. It will require a willingness to do the things that have to be done. It will require more from our leaders and more from our citizenry.

It will require a level of competence and vision that — let’s be honest about it — we have lacked.

“We’re just going to run in honor of Liza. To show that in Memphis women have the right to run at four in the morning or at 12 at night.”

Danielle Heineman
Let’s Finish Liza’s Run organizer

Friday’s run doesn’t change any of that. But it was a beginning, just the same. It was Memphians honoring Eliza with their courage and determination. It was inspiring and it was heartbreaking, too.

The route ran to the end of Central, to the place where Eliza had been taken a week before. There were bouquets of flowers. There were candles and balloons. As the runners approached the spot, they stopped and prayed and added their lights to the growing collection. Some openly sobbed.

Eliza Fletcher grew up in Memphis. After moving away, she moved back. She taught kids in this city. She had two kids of her own. She believed enough in Memphis to lace on her shoes and go running at 4:20 a.m.

That belief was misplaced, it turns out. Her death has shaken this town. But maybe Eliza’s final legacy will be inspiring Memphians to make their city as good as Eliza believed it to be?

That should be the goal for all of us. It should define what comes next.

Memphis has finished Eliza’s run, emphatically. Now it must begin the harder work ahead.

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