'Lord of the Rings' Star Has Emotional Meeting with Richard Family at Boston Marathon

People from all over the world, including celebrities, ran in the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20 to pay respects to the victims, families and survivors of the 2013 Boylston Street tragedy.

Sean Astin, best known for his lead film roles in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Goonies,” ran on behalf of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old who perished in the blasts over two years ago.

On a post Astin published on the blog accompanying his #Run3rd Twitter campaign, the “Rudy” star said Dave McGillivray, race director of the Boston Marathon, invited him to join Team MR8.

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Astin, who has been a long-distance runner since the 1980s, started #Run3rd in January 2012 to “share runners’ dedications made on behalf of people’s loved ones, causes and ideas.”

After the race, Astin greeted Martin’s mother Denise and Jane Richard, his sister who lost a leg in the bombings.

Tuesday, Astin posted on his Facebook page about running the race and reflecting on what has happened in the two years since the bombings.

“This family, no fear, not a shred of perceptible anxiety, even if they privately had some,” he wrote. “They were enjoying themselves. What a lesson. What an incredible demonstration, not just of resilience and faith and goodness, but of grace and wisdom.”

See Astin’s post below:

Team MR8 has raised over $780,000 and donations are still being accepted as of Tuesday, April 21.

Sean Astin finished the race with a time of 4:49:53.