Marathon runner racing 'For Paul'

SANDPOINT — Last November, Chris Jones decided to honor his longtime friend Paul Donaghue, who had recently passed away after a battle with lymphoma, by writing “For Paul” on his shirt while running in the New York City Marathon.

As he passed through the city’s boroughs and the million-plus spectators lining the streets, an unexpectedly powerful thing happened.

“It was amazing, over a million spectators and some of them picked up on it and yelled for Paul,” said Jones, an attorney from Kansas City. “It was pretty emotional. I had to turn on my iPod because I was getting too emotional.”

Jones, 39, plans to wear the same T-Shirt on Sunday when he runs in the half marathon as part of the Scenic Half in Sandpoint. The race is exactly one year to the day after Jones’s childhood friend passed away in Sandpoint.

Jones and six of his friends — each of whom were friends with Donaghue since junior high school — are in Sandpoint this weekend to honor their fallen friend. They’re staying at the Idaho Club, where Donaghue was a popular and accomplished chef, and plan to scatter some of his ashes on Lake Pend Oreille.

Jones and Donaghue were roommates at the University of Kansas, and the two remained close even when Donaghue moved to Sandpoint more than five years ago. Jones said Donaghue was an outdoor enthusiast, and often the first person on the chair lift while snowboarding at Schweitzer.

“He always found a way to make everything an adventure,” said Jones, who went skiing and hiking with Donaghue the few times he visited him in Sandpoint. “Whether it was squeezing in a quick run or a long mountain bike ride. In Sandpoint, he found a great place.”

Jones is the only one of the seven friends running on Sunday, noting the others think he’s crazy. It will not only serve as a way to honor a friend, but also as a training run, as Jones plans to run in his 12th marathon in October.

The back of his shirt says “imagine a world without cancer,” and he’s hoping to somehow raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in future runs.

“Paul didn’t seem like a person who would ever get sick. He was always on the go,” said Jones, who grew up close to Donaghue in a suburb of Kansas City. “I’m hoping to see some of the people that Paul was close to on Sunday.”