Dallas

Dallas Marathon Image Captures Brothers' Bond

Thousands of runners crossed the finish line at the Metro PCS Dallas Marathon on Sunday, but there was one picture that captured everyone’s heart.

Photographer Gerry “G.J.” McCarthy with The Dallas Morning News was at the finish line just as brothers Trace and Judson Greer, from Melissa, were crossing.

His picture shows Trace, who’d just crossed the finish line, with Judson in his arms.

“At the beginning I was feeling pretty good and then about halfway through, when I started struggling, talking to Trace. I thought maybe I went too fast, not sure I could do it. He just kept me going the whole way and I probably couldn’t have done it without him,” said Judson.

Judson Greer is in the sixth grade at Melissa Middle School, and Trace Greer is a senior at Melissa High School.

Both boys are competitive runners, but they had never run a race together.

They decided to sign up for the Dallas half-marathon before Trace headed off to college.

“The race ended up starting and he took off and I was like, alright. You want to run at that pace? Let’s do it!” said older brother Trace, describing Judson.

Trace said Judson was averaging 6:45 per mile and at the end was nearly down to 6:20.

“Coming down that final shoot I’m yelling my head off. He’s just running as hard as he could and it was crazy!” Trace said.

The two sprinted across the finish line and that’s when Judson began to stumble.

“I ran up to him and I hugged him and he was going, he was falling. And it was like, here you go,” said Trace.

Trace then, without thinking, picked up his younger brother.

“Basically at the end, after I’d just sprinted, I couldn’t really hold myself up and I wasn’t feeling very good. So he scooped me up and walked away,” said Judson.

Both boys love that the image captured by McCarthy is now a hit on the Internet. But, more so, they’re thankful to run together.

“I’m really glad he chose to run with me and stay with me. I was afraid he would bolt off. But he stayed with me all the way and pushed me through to the end. So I’m really glad as a senior we could get one last run together,” said Judson.

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