Thousands of runners rally around US to 'Finish Eliza's Run'

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Catie Grusin didn't know Eliza Fletcher, but she woke up at 3:20 a.m. and put on a pink top before attending a vigil and running event honoring the slain kindergarten teacher who was kidnapped during a pre-dawn jog in Memphis, Tennessee.

Thousands of people like Grusin, in cities across the U.S., finished Eliza’s run on Friday morning.

Holding a candle in the early-morning Memphis darkness, Grusin gathered with others and sang “This Little Light of Mine" — the tune associated with Fletcher, who softly sang it to her students in a video posted on the internet. Grusin then stood along Central Avenue to cheer on hundreds of runners as they set out to complete the 8-mile (13-kilometer) run Fletcher started exactly one week earlier.

Grusin didn't participate in the 4:20 a.m. run but felt compelled to do something in the wake of a tragedy that hit home with runners across the nation.