WESTBROOK – Whenever Elizabeth Trask runs in a marathon, she knows her father is right there with her.

That is something that other runners know, too, and it gives them inspiration. Given that Trask, 24, has plans to run 50 marathons in 50 states through the course of the next decade, she is likely to be inspiring many across the country.

Those other runners know what motivates Trask because, for each race, she wears a shirt emblazoned with her father’s picture and the words “50 for Billy” and “Doin’ it for you dad.”

Her father, William “Billy” Trask, died suddenly after suffering a heart attack in 2006. He was 51 years old.

She is running a journey of more than 1,300 miles to remember him and to raise money for The Center for Grieving Children, a Portland-based nonprofit that provides support for grieving children, teenagers and families following loss.

Billy Trask’s death was a heart-wrenching moment in his daughter’s life. At the time, she was a 20-year-old student at the University of Southern Maine. She fell into a malaise afterward, even giving up on the activity she loved – running.

“Originally I put running on the back burner. I wish I hadn’t because I needed it,” she said.

Trask turned to the Center for Grieving Children in Portland for emotional support. She said she found others there who could relate to her pain and who showed her there was hope.

“It was such a welcoming place,” she said.

Anne Lynch, the executive director of the Center for Grieving Children, described it as “a place where hope can begin.” It runs on a peer support model facilitated by volunteers; she said any support Trask raises is significant because the center does not receive state or federal funding.

“She’s an amazing young woman and really has great aspirations on so many levels,” Lynch said. “I think it’s an unbelievable goal to have and a great way to honor her dad and her memories.”

Trask said the center gave her the strength to continue on – and get back to running. She ran track at Westbrook High School and continued through college after graduating high school in 2004.

Suzanne Ray, a seventh-grade math teacher at Westbrook Middle School, was one of Trask’s high school track and cross-country coaches. She said Trask was “everything you wanted” in a captain.

“She was one of those athletes you wanted to have a million of,” Ray said.

Ray described Trask as a hard worker, great leader and a model student-athlete. Her running improved throughout high school because of the work she put in, she said.

“She’s an inspiration. I’m proud of her,” she said.

Trask, who is now a second year law student at the Massachusetts School of Law, already has a busy schedule, but she has planned out how to work travel, training and races into her life. She said she is paying for the trips herself, but has friends around the country she could stay with to cut costs.

She hopes to run 12 marathons by the end of the year. She is looking forward to a trip to Alaska in June, in part because, she said, friends have told her, “It’s a lot like Maine.”

She is giving herself plenty of time to complete the 50 marathons, saying she would like to run the final one by the time she turns 35. She knows other things, such as studying for the bar exam next year, will slow her progress at times.

Most recently, she completed the ING Miami Marathon in Miami on Jan. 30. It was there that she met a man around her dad’s age who ran behind her, saw her shirt and told her after the race, “You don’t know this, but you’ve been motivating me the entire way.”

Trask said she hopes her goal motivates more people. She is not looking to set any records, win marathons or beat any set times. She is simply doing it for herself, her dad and the Center for Grieving Children.

“It’s not so much about the race anymore. It’s about the journey,” she said. “I’m hoping this is a way to inspire people to keep running.”

Westbrook High School graduate Elizabeth Trask is running 50 marathons in 50 states in memory of her father and to raise funds for the Center for Grieving Children in Portland. Courtesy photo