MIAMI (WSVN) - A family prepares to run with purpose during a marathon, as they keep a beloved relative close at heart and mind.
“It feels unreal. Everyday that passes you just wish you weren’t in a nightmare,” said Martin Langesfeld.
For the Langesfelds, and for the other families of the Surfside collapse, it’s been a difficult seven months.
“It’s hard to realize that the last marathon we ran was going to be the last marathon Nikkie was going to be by our side,” said Langesfeld.
This weekend’s Miami Marathon will be another tough reminder. Nicole and her husband Luis died that June morning.
Nicole was an avid runner, running marathons with her brother Martin, and father, Pablo.
“Just knowing that we’re doing this in her honor and her name is what pushes us to the end,” said Langesfeld.
The Langesfelds will be sprinting to the finish line alongside the first responders who searched the rubble for weeks.
“We all became one family behind closed doors, and being able to do this by their sides means a lot not only to us, but for the whole community,” said Langesfeld.
The community, a group of strangers, would be unified by their grief and tragedy. Now, one of those families will run in honor of all 98 victims, and so many questions remain of what happened that early morning of Jun. 24.
“Wake up and realized that this a never ending nightmare, this is reality, and we need to fight forward with it, and keep fighting for the truth and for honor,” said Langesfeld.
A family and a community’s search for closure, and answers that will hopefully come sooner than later.
“We run for justice. We need to know what happened, and why it happened. we need to know,” said Langesfeld Sr.
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