Twain Middle Schooler to Run in National Marathon in Honor of Sandy Hook Victims

In early January, Danielle Emhof — an eighth grader at Mark Twain Middle School — was inspired by two of her teachers, Lauren Arthur and Eric Henderson, who are scheduled to run in the National Marathon in D.C. Saturday morning.

Emhof's mother, Cathy said Danielle came up with the idea to run 1 mile in honor of each victim from the December school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"She emailed the race director of the National Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and they loved the idea," Cathy said in a recent email. "The race director and his operations team came up with a plan to help her execute her idea."

From there, Danielle put together a relay team of 26 kids to participate in the marathon and planned out the entire event which they named "26 Miles for 26 People." Each runner will wear a T-shirt that has one of the Sandy Hook victim's name on it.

The National Marathon will take place Saturday in D.C. The marathon and half marathon will start at 7:30 a.m.