In Honor of Grant Trueman
By Keith Teeter
This weekend, the Portsmouth Christian Academy Cross Country team did something special: we named our course The Trueman Way, in honor of Grant Trueman – an athlete, teammate, and friend who passed away this summer after a courageous battle with cancer.
But the name means more than remembering Grant. It represents the way he lived.
Grant loved running, but he loved the team more. He loved encouraging others, working hard, and simply being around people who shared his passion for the sport.
When he first joined our team, he told me about his cancer. What struck me wasn’t fear, it was courage. Grant refused to be defined by his diagnosis. If anything, it deepened his drive to live fully and keep moving forward.
He wanted to run. He wanted to work. He wanted to be part of the team. And he wanted to make the most of every opportunity he had.
Grant was not always our fastest runner, but if you watched him, you understood that times never told his story. His determination did.
Grant was one of the hardest workers on our team, pushing through workouts with an intensity that sometimes made him sick — and even then, his instinct was to keep going. We often had to remind him that rest was ok and needed. Near the end, when he could no longer run with us, he rode an e-bike alongside the team instead. More than once he came straight from chemo treatments in Boston (treatment backpack still on his shoulders) to watch his teammates race. Sometimes, just a day or two after treatment, he raced himself. His drive, determination, and grit were unbelievable.
That was Grant: Faith. Courage. Conviction. Compassion. Perseverance.
During his freshman year, Grant gave me a book by Ryan Hall called “Run the Mile You’re In“. Its message is simple: don’t worry about everything still ahead of you — focus on the mile you’re running right now. Asked how he got through hard moments, Hall’s answer was essentially, “I’m just running the mile I’m in.” Grant understood that. But he understood something even deeper.
In one of our first conversations about his cancer, Grant told me what carried him through the hardest moments: he fixed his eyes on the finish. For Grant, that meant far more than crossing a finish line. His faith in Jesus Christ was evident in how he lived. This life was not his finish line. His eyes were fixed on something greater, and that gave him a clarity of purpose that never wavered.
Even when things got difficult, Grant kept pressing on.
Even when his body told him to stop, his spirit told him to keep moving.
Even when the road was hard, his eyes remained on the finish.
That is why we named our course The Trueman Way. For the runner Grant was, and for the person he was. He had faith. He had courage. He had conviction. He had compassion. And he had an extraordinary perseverance.
He always had a smile, no matter the challenge in front of him. He welcomed new runners onto the team and made sure everyone felt like they belonged. His life showed us that no obstacle is too large to overcome, and his love for the team and the running community was contagious.
Grant understood that running was never just about times. It was about the people beside you. It was about encouraging the runner who was struggling. It was about getting back up when you fell, and pressing forward when the finish line felt far away.
This weekend, as athletes ran our course, we were reminded of Grant again and again. Runners pushing through fatigue, encouraging one another, discovering they were capable of more than they thought. And we couldn’t help but think: that’s the Trueman Way.
The PCA Eagles Nest Invitational is a race we hope will keep growing, and we want Grant’s story to grow with it. We want athletes from across New Hampshire to experience this course. 5K of waterfront and meadow views on the seacoast Grant called home. It’s challenging enough to test you, and beautiful enough to remind you why you love this sport.
Most of all, we want runners to Come Run the Trueman Way.
But when you leave, we hope you take something with you that has nothing to do with your time on the clock. Remember Grant. Fix your eyes on the finish. And when the road ahead feels too long, remember, you don’t have to run the whole race at once. Just run the mile you’re in.
Have faith when things are difficult. Courage when you’re afraid. Conviction about what matters. Compassion for the people running beside you. And perseverance when the course gets hard.
Grant showed us that you don’t have to be the fastest person on the course to leave the biggest impact — and that the greatest race we run isn’t measured by a stopwatch. It’s measured by how we live.
So, New Hampshire: Come run the Trueman Way. And more importantly, Live the Trueman Way.
Fix your eyes on the finish. Keep pressing forward. Make every mile count.
Hope to see you out there on the course.
If you want to donate to fund research and the eradication of cancer there are many ways to do that. This coming weekend on September 20th there is a race/walk in Boston to support this as well. Grant’s surgeon welcomes the NH running community to come join their team at this link:
https://fundraise.massgeneralbrigham.org/team/821221
In Honor of Grant Trueman.
