With the Woodstock 5K set for Saturday, this is the fourth and final installment in a weekly series of features on local runners who will participate in the race.

Today: The Beechams.

Matthew Beecham and his brothers will have more than a goal to finish pushing them through heat and hills in Saturday's Woodstock 5K.

They'll have the $80 pairs of Asics running shoes their dad bought them.

They'll have memories of races and training runs with their dad, who registered himself and his sons with the Anniston Runners Club about two months ago.

The Beecham brothers will also have their dad's encouraging words.

"He always wants me to go out (and do) what my heart tells me to do and do the best I can so I can make something of myself one of these days," Matthew said.

The Beecham boys will not have their dad running with them in Saturday's race. James Beecham, 49, died June 30 when his logging truck collided with a dump truck near Hokes Bluff.

A blue-collar White Plains man who derived child-like joy from running, James won't get to finish what he started with his three sons.

Matthew, 17, and twin brothers Brian and Bradley, 23, remain registered for the Woodstock. They have missed the ARC training runs since the accident, but all three sons said they plan to run the race.

They have a simple goal.

"Just finish," Matthew said.

The Beechams joined the ARC in May and began building up to Woodstock, the race that will determine the Road Runners Club of America's 5K champions for 2009.

The race will draw elite runners, including two with personal-best 5K times of less than 14 minutes.

Not that James felt discouraged. Before taking a June 4 training run with Matthew on the Woodstock course, he told The Star he thought anything was possible.

Then again, he had a more realistic goal.

"Well, I'll just go out there and do my best and just hope to finish," he said. "That's all anybody can do."

James had run informally for years. Frank Beecham, James' dad, laughs when telling how his son pushed the pace of hunting trips.

James often ran anywhere he needed to go, within a reasonable distance.

"If he was talking to you, he'd say, 'Well, I've got to run,'" Frank said. "He'd take off, get gone. He wouldn't say, 'I've got to go, see you later.' He'd say, 'I've got to run.'

"… He told me, 'As long as I'm able, I will run.'"

James started running with his sons long before they joined the runners club. Matthew recalled running hills with his dad as far back as Pee Wee Football days.

When Matthew tired, James served up his brand of enthusiasm.

"There was never a dull moment running with him," Matthew said. "Every time when I start lagging behind, he said, 'You better catch up. I'm going to beat you this time.'"

James picked up the pace with the runners club and delighted in it.

Rev. Jesse Barksdale, a longtime family friend who eulogized James, saw him in Piedmont about two weeks prior to the accident and said James beamed about the club and running with his sons. James seemed excited about running five miles per day.

"I told him, if I'm running five miles, there'd better be something chasing me," Barksdale said.

Club president Dennis Dunn said James "ran like a kid."

"James immediately stood out to me at the Lions 5K Run for Sight because he ran with joy on his face," Dunn said. "After the race, James was walking around, introducing himself and talking about his passion for running.

"His enthusiasm was contagious and reminded many of us about the joy of running when we were young."

James brought more than a kid-like enthusiasm to club outings. He usually brought at least one of his kids for training.

He sought advice from club members on buying running shoes. Described by Barksdale as ever the odd-jobs seeker, James scraped together money to buy Asics for him and his sons.

"They seemed very supportive of one another and quickly touched many of the other runners in the club," Dunn said. "They seemed to have special bond between them.

"They did not meet a stranger. Within five minutes, you felt like you had known them for months. After the June Runners Club meeting, Brian and Bradley came up to ask more questions about running. They are very curious about cross training and learning more about shoes, running and nutrition."

Just a month ago, James and his sons ran in the Haley's Twilight Run 5K at McClellan. Matthew led the way, finishing 38th of 217 runners with a time of 24 minutes and 38 seconds.

James finished just five places and 26 seconds behind Matthew. Brian finished 67th and Bradley 105th.

Three days later, James was hauling a load on U.S. Highway 278 near Hokes Bluff. He rounded a curve just before encountering an intersection and struck a dump truck that had slowed to turn.

According to an account in the Gadsden Times, part of James' load surged forward and crushed the truck's cab. The Hokes Bluff Fire Department could not extract James with cutting tools, so the dump truck's owner provided a track hoe to remove the logs.

James' sons got the news from their grandfather, and Matthew called the news "very painful."

"I started out crying about it," he said. "I nearly like to hit the ground, when I heard it."

Since the accident, Matthew has lived in Oxford with an uncle, Christopher Beecham, and said he plans to run for Oxford High School's cross country team this fall.

Brian and Bradley moved next door to the White Plains home they shared with their dad and live with Frank. This as Frank settles his son's affairs, all the while tending to his own wife after her knee surgery.

Brian said he misses his dad "a lot."

As for Bradley, "I wake up every morning, every day thinking of him."

Matthew said he has trouble sleeping. He lies awake, thinking about his dad and the good times.

The earliest occasion Matthew recalls was attending a Harlem Globetrotters game with his dad and brothers. They also watched wrestling together on most Monday nights.

Many other occasions involve running.

"I think, all of them," Matthew said.

Running medals were displayed at James' funeral, and Frank said the family buried James in his running shoes. Barksdale's sermon centered on the apostle Paul's race of life, with racing to Heaven as the ultimate Christian goal.

The race of life continues for James' sons. Brian and Bradley said they haven't trained much lately, but Matthew runs five or six laps around the Oxford Lake Park track almost daily.

As for Woodstock, it's all about finishing.

"That's all it is," Matthew said, "and just pretend he's right there with me."