On Sunday, May 10, Max Davis completed something he never expected to: the first-ever “Washington Monumentathon.” The “marathon” consisted of 327.5 laps around the Washington Monument’s outer ring—roughly 0.08 miles per lap, a route Davis mapped out on Strava just days before.
The run was in honor of his younger brother, Beck, who died by suicide on May 10, 2023. The two not only loved running together, but, as Davis describes it, were also “extremely competitive.” Beck, he jokes, was the kind of person who “would’ve gone out and done two marathons in one day.”
Coming up on the third anniversary of Beck’s death, Davis wanted to find an unconventional way to both raise awareness around suicide loss and fundraise for the Beck Davis Survivors of Loss Foundation, which he and his mother started last November. At his mom’s encouragement, he posted an open invitation online asking strangers to join him for the “Washington Monumentathon.”
To his surprise, the video quickly took off. The only problem? Davis had moved to DC from Salt Lake City just three months earlier and barely knew anyone in the city.
So Davis wasn’t just nervous because he had barely trained for the marathon. He also assumed almost nobody would show up. “I was expecting like five to 10 people,” he says. Instead, when he arrived at the Monument at 7 AM, more than 20 strangers were waiting for him with signs, snacks, water, and encouragement.
His mother also flew in from Utah for the event and, to his surprise, his best friends boarded a 2 AM bus from New York to run alongside him.
Davis then spent the next four-and-a-half hours circling the monument with dozens of strangers who joined in to share stories about loved ones they had lost. At one point, even a park police officer on patrol stopped to run a lap with him.
By the end, 10 people had completed the entire 26.2 miles alongside Davis, while others ran smaller portions before stepping off to cheer from the sidelines. But for the final lap, everyone joined in together, surrounding Davis as they crossed the finish.
For Davis, the most surreal part of the experience was realizing that running—something he once shared with his brother—had become a way to connect with strangers and talk openly about Beck when it otherwise felt difficult to.
“This was all for my brother,” he says, pausing tearfully before adding, “but I think it was truly a healing experience for everyone that was there. It kind of showed me how lucky I am with the people that are out there. For me, it was very healing.”
Since Sunday, Davis has raised more than $3,000 for the Beck Davis Survivors of Loss Foundation, money he hopes will go toward resources for families impacted by suicide loss, including therapy, child loss retreats, financial assistance for time off work, and a future mentorship program.
Beyond the fundraising, Davis says the experience gave him something else entirely: community. In the days after the run, he created a group chat with many of the people who showed up that morning, hoping this won’t be the last time they run together.
For now, though, he admits the aftermath has mostly involved soreness. The morning after the marathon, Davis says he texted many of the runners asking how they were feeling.
“Most of them were like, ‘I can’t walk,’ ” he says, laughing. “We’re all in the same boat.”
Tristan Espinoza joined Washingtonian as an Editorial Fellow in 2026. A proud Osage Native from Dallas, Texas, he is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Nonfiction) at American University. He is a graduate of Columbia University and the London School of Economics. He lives in Mount Pleasant.
