The dad who runs every marathon with his daughter out in front

Greg MacCurtain is a firefighter, which means he is the sort of person who runs toward the hard thing rather than away from it. The hard thing in his life is Leigh's Disease, a rare mitochondrial condition that shapes the life of his daughter Abby. She uses a wheelchair, is non-verbal, and is, by her family's own joyful description, all smiles the moment she is moving fast.

So Greg keeps her moving fast. It started with a triathlon when Abby was about five, and it became a tradition: as Team Abby Mac, father and daughter race together, Greg pushing her specially built running chair while she rides up front where the wind hits first. They have run the Boston Marathon side by side more than once, in some years Greg running the course twice over so that age rules could never be the reason Abby was left out.

Every mile carries a second purpose. The family raises money for mitochondrial disease research at Massachusetts General Hospital, funding the very work that might one day change conditions like Abby's. The running is love made visible, and it is also a wager on a future where children like her get more time.

Asked once why he does not simply run faster on his own, Greg gave the only answer that fits. They prefer to run together. That is the whole philosophy in four words. Not a dad doing a charity run despite his daughter, but a dad who cannot picture a finish line she is not part of.

There is a particular tenderness in choosing, every single race, to make the child who cannot run the one who crosses first. It says a great deal about how he sees her: not as a passenger, but as the point.

We celebrate Greg MacCurtain because he refuses to leave his daughter on the sidelines of anything, least of all the best parts.

Who is Greg MacCurtain?

Greg MacCurtain is one of the girl dads celebrated on girl.dad, based in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The short version: He makes sure the girl who cannot run is always first across the line.

What kind of story is this?

girl.dad files it under Sport, published 4 May 2026.