Newton Marathoner, Father Errol Yudelman Remembered In Run

NEWTON, MA —Long-time Newton resident and international marathoner Errol Yudelman died suddenly last month at the age of 61. But to those who loved him most he was alive and running alongside them Saturday as they ran the Boston Marathon route in his name — laughing along with them as they joked about his iconic short race shorts and shared memories.

"I really feel as though he's running with us [today]," said his wife Marlene Yudelman.

If you knew Yudelman, you knew he loved running. He ran well over 100 marathons in his lifetime, including several ultra marathons. And he loved the Boston Marathon. He once ran 14 marathons in 12 months, to put him at 99 marathons in 2017 so that Boston would be his 100th.

His work friends said he didn't brag about his running accomplishments, but if you opened the door and showed interest in running, he'd run you right through it and cheer you along the journey.

When the pandemic struck last March, it didn't slow Yudelman's desire to hit the pavement. He started a pandemic-related running streak on March 20 and made a point of getting in at least four miles a day —though often a lot more— every day until Feb. 9, when he died, a little more than a month away from completing four miles every day for a year. Meticulously logging it on his GPS watch. That day he had run 10 miles.

His family was looking at his GPS watch after he died, thinking about how the activity that he tracked for years would just stop.

But his memory wouldn't.

"We were thinking about his watch and the fact that it wasn't going to be active, and that sparked it," said his daughter Beth.

"The day after it happened we were like, we're going to keep it going," said his daughter Hayley.

The day after he died, his youngest daughter Micaela ran four miles, knowing that's what her father would do. For the next two days until the rest of the family could make their way to Newton from across the country, she continued his running streak.

And then the rest of them joined and logged those miles on his GPS watch.

They don't know what he would have done to celebrate the final day of the running streak, but it felt like a proper way to honor the man who loved the Boston Marathon course and ran the race 20 times in the past 40 years.

"It just made sense to do the Boston Marathon on the last day, he made that happen in a way just through his dedication and love of running," Hayley said. "It means a lot to be able to keep his legacy alive — and run with him still, in a way."

So, on the day he would have hit 365 days of running, his wife and three daughters and their significant others, friends and colleagues laced up and ran the Boston Marathon route from Hopkinton to Boston. His GPS watch came, too.

They set it up as a relay with six stops along the route and opened it up to anyone who wanted to join in. The created special bibs with "365 Go Errol" written on them draped in the colors from the South African flag, honoring the place where he was born.

The runners took off from Hopkinton at 7 a.m. and were encouraged by cars honking and passers by waving. There were about 80 people cheering at the stop on Heart Break hill on Commonwealth Avenue. Runners, friends and family stopped and chatted and shared memories — as Yudelman was known to do. It was about 11:15 a.m. by the time the runners, a group of a couple dozen, made it to Coolidge Corner in Brookline.

Brian Sedor worked with Yudelman for the past decade and though he doesn't consider himself a runner, joined for the final two miles from Coolidge Corner to the finish line.

Sedor and other friends described Yudelman as a kind soul, welcoming and easy to talk with and be around. He was the kind of runner who would circle back around to run with someone at their own pace if he saw them while out for a run.

"There's no better way to honor him," said Sedor. "It feels right."