Members of Charlottesville’s running community have come together to create a tribute to Philip Weber III, the jogger known as “Running Man” who was hit and killed on Ivy Road December 29.
Mark Lorenzoni, owner of the Ragged Mountain Running Shop, says the collection of running shoes represents more than just a sport.
“It represents the number of people that were touched by him,” he says. “There’s hardly any two that are the same.”
The colors of the shoes, he says, represent the rainbow of runners in the community—from fast, to slow, to marathoners, to ultrarunners, to weekend warriors.
After a Sunday morning group run on January 3, Lorenzoni says he and a group of athletes drove by the tribute to hang their own shoes. At that time, only about 20 pairs were strung on the tribute. Now, he says the number has at least tripled.
He says each pair of old shoes also represents the number of miles Running Man ran.
“They’re all worn out,” he says, “and that’s appropriate because each pair represents maybe four or five hundred miles.”
Lorenzoni says most pairs of shoes aren’t actually tied to the structure.
“Most are hanging onto one another, suspended by the weight of the other shoes,” he says. “That’s a sign of community right there.”