PENN TWP — Gary Boyd is one of 26.

The Penn Township resident is happy to be one, period.

Boyd, 62, will be running in the 33rd Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race Sunday. He is one of 26 individuals to participate in each of the first 32.

"I never planned that. It just kind of happened," Boyd said.

The 10K route runs from Frick Park to Point Park. The 26 men to run every Great Race have run a total of 198.4 miles in the event.

Their total distance covered is 5,158.4 miles — the equivalent of running a relay from Pittsburgh to San Francisco and back.

Boyd was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in July 2002. He underwent chemotherapy treatments in 2005.

He has been cancer-free for five years.

"I know I'm one of the lucky ones, being able to continue on," he said."I've had friends and family members over the years who haven't been so lucky. We all have.

"I run in memory of all of those people. Maybe that sounds corny, but it hits home for me."

Boyd nearly missed the second Great Race in 1978 when his wife Sandra gave birth to twins, Aaron and Chelsea, a few weeks before the race.

"I didn't want to miss the race and my wife understood," Boyd said. "My entire family has been supportive of this venture through the years.

"This race was huge for me when I was going through chemo. It increased my efforts to stay healthy and be ready and able to run come race day," he added.

Boyd's brother, Ed, of Saxonburg, along with his son, daughter and wife, have run with him from time to time over the years. His wife is running the 5K portion of the race this year.

There were 1,000 runners for the first Great Race. There are more than 13,000 registered runners this year with fewer than 1,000 openings remaining.

"That first race offered T-shirts to the first 500 finishers," Boyd said. "I got a T-shirt, but I couldn't tell you where I finished."

Boyd's personal-best time of 35 minutes, 40 seconds occurred at the 1980 Great Race.

"That's not an impressive time by anyone's standards, but posting a good time isn't why I'm there," he said. "I'm all about finishing. We've turned this event into a family celebration.

"We host an extended family picnic after the race each year, usually involving 20 to 30 people."

Since the last Great Race, three grandchildren have been added to his life. His son and daughter-in-law had twin boys and another son's wife had a baby girl.

"We refer to these 26 men as our Perfect Great Racers, since they've been with us since the first year, way back when race organizers used numbered Popsicle sticks to determine the order of finish," race director Mike Radley said in a prepared statement.

Boyd, who moved into the area Aug. 1, is the only Butler County resident among the 26 Perfect Great Racers.

All 26 signed the Wall of Champions at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum as part of The Great Race's 30th anniversary in 2007. Other signatures on the include Mario Lemieux, Ben Roethlisberger, Bill Mazeroski and Suzie McConnell Serio.

Registration fee for The Great Race is $25. Call 412-255-2493 or visit www.GreatRace.com for details.