N.J. man running 196 miles in 3 days to inspire kindness

Where they will run

The Kindness Run will start around 5:30 a.m. Friday morning at the Cape May Lighthouse and head up into Atlantic County, using highways, side roads, back roads and trails.

Pinney said they hope to arrive in the Tabernacle area around midnight, where they will nap for a few hours before proceeding up Route 206.

Most of Saturday will be spent running in Burlington and Mercer Counties. The trio will probably travel into Somerset County in the evening before taking a break in the Chester or Mount Olive area.

The runners plan to leave early Sunday morning and spend all day into the early evening running through Sussex County, before finishing up at High Point State Park.

“We expect to go about 75, 80 miles the first day,” Pinney said. “Rest for a couple of hours, then do another 75 miles, and hopefully on Sunday, which will be the third day, we’ll have about 40 miles left, but it’s a hard 40 miles because it’s more uphill.”

Pinney first learned about Dylan’s Wings of Change in 2019 at a New Jersey School Boards Association convention, where Dylan’s father, Ian Hockley, was a keynote speaker. He said he was inspired by the work they were doing and decided to support the organization. Pinney organized the first New Jersey donation run in 2022. He said the goal of this year’s run is to raise $10,000.

“I was really taken that he had taken a negative tragedy, losing his child in such a horrific manner,” Pinney said. “And turning it into such a positive thing. That touched me, and I don’t know if I could have done that.”