Frank Fumich, Erin Hurley and Matt Nelson in Boston. Photo courtesy Frank Fumich.

The Arlington man who began a run to Boston last Monday to deliver money he helped raise for Marathon bombing victims completed the journey Saturday, with the help from his team and a very special guest.

Along with marathoner Matt Nelson, a support team and police escorts in every state he traveled through, Frank Fumich made the 450-mile trip on foot relatively unscathed. Fumich and Nelson originally traded off running duties every six hours. But after some setbacks, they enlisted other members of their team to run as well.

“I’m feeling the obvious physical exhaustion you’d expect, but I didn’t injure myself and all things considered I’m feeling fairly well. Mentally my mind is still in a haze and finding it hard to focus on much at the moment,” Fumich told DCist. “But [I’m] just absolutely thrilled and totally in shock and awe about how well it all came off, how so many people got into it and responded both financially and just in sending positive messages, and how everything just came together for an absolutely perfect ending.”

Fumich originally wanted to raise $26,200 for the family of Martin Richard, an eight-year-old boy from the Dorchester section of Boston who was killed in the bombings, by running three marathons in a row. After exceeding that goal, Fumich raised it to $78,600, added bombing victim Jeff Bauman as a beneficiary, and decided to run to Boston to deliver the money. In the end, the campaign raised over $81,000.

Hurley’s medal. Photo courtesy Frank Fumich.

The men were joined for the last 19 miles of the trip by Erin Hurley, the girlfriend of Bauman, who lost both of his legs in the bombing. A photograph of Bauman’s rescue by a man in a cowboy hat remains one of the most searing images from the bombing.

“It was amazing to have Erin join us and really proved to me that Jeff and her and the family cared. For her to reach out to me, instead of the other way around, made us feel fantastic,” Fumich said. “And to hear of her experience while we were running up to the finish line and to know that with us finally she’ll cross the line was just magical. I mean, you couldn’t have written a more perfect script really.”

Hurley, who was running the Boston Marathon the day of the bombing, told DCist she didn’t realize she would be finishing the journey with Fumich and Nelson. She simply wanted “to thank them for their gestures toward Jeff and for Martin’s family.”

“It was kind of a surprise and I was just happy to have a sense of completion,” Hurley told DCist. “I was grateful that I could do that.” During the run, Hurley said she was able to share with Fumich and Nelson where she stopped on the Boston Marathon route and where she first learned news that something had gone wrong.

Hurley also gave Fumich and Nelson her Boston Marathon medal as a token of her appreciation. “I just was really completely amazed with what they did,” Hurley said. “It was enough for them to even do one marathon. For them to do such a grand gesture, it really touched me and I really just wanted to do something to thank them.”

“They completed a marathon, too,” Hurley added.

Fumich and his team met with Bauman at a cookout at the home of Bauman’s aunt. He posted a photo of the meeting on his Facebook page with the caption, “Nothing needs to be said.”

Jeff Bauman meets Frank Fumich. Photo courtesy Frank Fumich.