Running for Lives in a Nation of Gun Violence

Kaitlyn McQuown didn’t grow up running. In fact, she kind of hated it.

“I did 6th-grade cross country because my best friend at the time was doing it,” she said. “I dropped it immediately.”

Now, more than a decade later, the 2017 UC Santa Barbara graduate is training for the 2025 New York City Marathon with Team Sandy Hook Promise, dedicating each of her 26 miles to one of the 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Sandy Hook was nowhere near her geographically — McQuown grew up in Manhattan Beach — but like millions of others, she watched the aftermath unfold on national television. It stuck with her.

But it was the Isla Vista killings in 2014, during her freshman year at UCSB, that changed everything. 

“I returned to a different I.V. than I had left the night before, which was strange,” McQuown said. “I was reading about everything on the news while I was sitting at the dining hall … we were a part of something that was a big national story while living it out.”

That day in 2014 became known as the Isla Vista Massacre, where a 22-year-old former Santa Barbara City College student stabbed three students to death, injured seven people with his car, and shot and wounded seven others before killing himself.

McQuown had been out of town that night, just for one night. Friends had close calls. Her roommate, who was in a sorority that had been targeted, was only gone because her boyfriend happened to be visiting — a rare thing. It shook her to her core. 

“It destroyed this idea that we live in a perfect little paradise where nothing bad ever happens,” she said, describing Isla Vista — the small, unincorporated city next to the university, made up primarily of its students.

In 2023, McQuown applied — and was selected — to run with Sandy Hook Promise, the nonprofit founded by families of the victims to prevent gun violence through education and early intervention. It was her first marathon ever, and it left a mark. “That day was truly one of the best in my life,” she said.

She’s now in her second year of a master’s in public policy at the University of Southern California, and said that first marathon helped push her toward advocacy — and grad school.

“It means a lot to me to combine this physical thing that I now love — running — with a cause that I really care about.”

Two shootings, less than two hours apart, took place Wednesday afternoon in neighboring states Utah and Colorado.

In Utah, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking on a college campus. Roughly 400 miles away in Colorado, a student opened fire at Evergreen High School, critically injuring two classmates before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The attacks reveal a harsh truth that McQuown wishes to highlight: Gun violence has become a routine part of American life, whether it be at schools, workplaces, or out in the streets. 

“As I’ve been training,” McQuown said, “I’ve been thinking in the back of my head: I am certain that there will be another shooting — because that’s how frequently these things happen.”

McQuown didn’t run last year, worried about juggling school and training. But this year, she’s more grounded, more confident — and more committed.

“I don’t hesitate as much to talk about this to everyone and anyone, to send emails about the cause,” she said.

Not only is she pushing herself physically, but this is also a very big emotional push in the name of outreach and awareness. She’s dedicating each mile to a different Sandy Hook victim, sharing their stories on social media through short videos.

“It’s very, very emotionally heavy,” McQuown said. “Every single day, I’m crying, reading their obituaries. It’s a hard thing to look at.”

She’s also using the platform to talk about data, policy, and prevention — both what’s working, and what still needs to be done. She brings up California’s red flag law, passed after the Isla Vista shooting, as a tangible example of change.

“That probably has saved many lives, but many don’t know about it,” she said.

Sandy Hook Promise is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Their goal is to enhance school safety through K-12 education, warning sign recognition, anonymous tip lines, and programs that help build emotional connection among students. Their programs have been credited with preventing 18 planned school shootings.

“Many people say it’s just a gun problem or just a culture problem. But what the Sandy Hook Promise does is very holistic and attacks the issue from every possible angle,” McQuown said.

The 2025 N.Y.C. Marathon takes place on November 2, and McQuown will be there — mile by mile, name by name, running not just to remember, but to push for something better.

You can follow her journey or sponsor a mile at kaitontherun.com.