Racing Hearts

As Pascack Valley senior runner John Edwards finished his mile race last spring, cross-country and track coach John Murtaugh came up to him and instead of saying “good job,” he said that everyone on the track team needs to get a girlfriend because it makes them a better runner.

In the summer of 2017, senior Kate Henderson and Edwards started talking during captains practices. After getting closer at both cross country practices and from being in the same honors U.S. II history class, they began dating Jan. 14 of 2018 when Edwards asked Henderson to junior prom.

“For me, I knew I liked [Henderson] once we started talking as friends,” Edwards said. “We shared the same perspective on a lot of things and both had the same goofy sense of humor.”

Henderson and Edwards run cross country, winter track, and spring track together and feel as if they work as each other’s motivators.

Edwards wants to hold himself “to the same standards as Kate” because he sees her putting in so much work and trying to become a better runner.

When Henderson found out Edwards was named athlete of the week, she was so proud and wouldn’t stop calling him “PV Athlete of the Week!” even after the week was over.

Henderson said that one of her favorite memories running with Edwards was when he received the wildcard into a race for the Bergen Meet of Champs this past cross country season. She made him a poster and was really proud of him for running really hard that day.

“[Henderson] came to the race to support me and brought a sign she made,” Edwards said. “One side said ‘run faster, I love sweaty hugs,’ and the other side said, ‘Broccoli boy, take this opportunity and run with it.’”

Edwards said that his favorite memory was when Henderson PR’ed by 6 seconds at Ocean Breeze during this winter track season.

“She was really happy, so naturally I was really happy too,” Edwards said.

At the beginning of their relationship, instead of going on dates, Henderson and Edwards went on what they called “adventures”.

Their adventures consisted of finding new places to eat, hikes, beach days, chasing the sunset, days in the city trying to figure out how to use the subway, longboard rides, and a concert in New York for Christmas.

For their first adventure, Edwards and Henderson decided to go ice skating at Fritz Dietl.

“John nearly fell on his face but wanted to prove to me that he was ‘capable’ of ice skating,” Henderson said. “It was the winter and after we ice skated we went for a walk and we froze our butts off on a bench nearby because we wanted to keep talking to each other.”

Edwards said that Henderson made a joke about him not being able to ice skate, so for the rest of the time he refused to hold her hand to prove to her that he was more than capable of ice skating without her help. He says looking back on that, it probably wasn’t the right move.

After some time, they eventually turned their adventures into official dates and on their one year anniversary, they went ice skating again at Wollman Rink in Central Park.

Both agreed that Henderson is a very competitive person, but it is something that Edwards said he really loves about her.

One day, Henderson and Edwards hope to run together in Norway where Edwards family goes in the summer to meet his grandparents and cousins.

“There are a ton of trails and the views can be absolutely stunning. I know [Henderson] would have an amazing time running there,” Edwards said.