APD's Matt Harmatuk runs 28 miles at Austin Marathon for 28 years of service

SWAT and Air Force Security Forces officer Matt Harmatuk’s 28 miles for 28 years retirement run has been five months in the making.

Over the fall, Harmatuk and his wife, Ali, struggled with brainstorming how he wanted to leave the Austin Police Department. He knew that he didn’t want a retirement party — Harmatuk doesn’t think that people are always excited about eating cake in an outdated company breakroom while watching a photo slide show.

Instead, Harmatuk opted to run an adjusted Austin Marathon, which he has run every year since the late 90s.

Sunday morning, Harmatuk took off from his office for a 1.8-mile warm-up with his friends and APD colleagues.

Before they began, Chief of Staff Robin Henderson surprised him with a hug so tight that he was worried it could break his back. Many of his colleagues shared the same sentiments, telling stories about sliding down the headquarters building on a faulty repel line as they rounded that street.

The warm-up ended close to the starting point of the marathon at 7th and Congress, bringing his mileage to a perfect 28 miles to symbolize his near-three-decade career serving Austin.

“This speaks to both me and people that know me,” Harmatuk said. “I think the symbolism of crossing the finish line and being done is more meaningful.”

For Harmatuk, running is a necessary positive coping mechanism. As part of the SWAT team, he responds to any high-risk situations that may arise, including active gunmen, hostage rescues and barricaded suspect extractions. Whether it's taking casual runs around Lady Bird Lake or participating in marathons with friend David Garza, running is a fun hobby that gives him an escape from daily stressors.

This was especially true after he was deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11. On Wednesdays, he would take run groups along a route he took in the mornings (that may or may not have had a minefield to the right). The group grew rapidly, and Harmatuk himself began announcing marathons hosted by the military at the base.

“It was bringing people together,” Harmatuk said. “It was cool to get people out of that work mode and show them some positive things to do.”

Unfortunately, Harmatuk’s happy place has been invaded by "work mode" before. On April 15, 2013, he and Garza were at the Boston Marathon running for Champions for Children, a fund benefitting the Boston Children's Hospital. On mile 25, Garcia took a video of them “walking like a bunch of losers” and admiring the surrounding architecture.

Eight minutes later, two homemade pressure cooker bombs were detonated near the finish line, killing three people and injuring hundreds of others. They were a quarter mile away.

During the chaos, Harmatuk snapped into action and removed a few of the charity runners’ wives out of danger, including one that was near the finish line during the explosion. She spotted him coming down the stretch, and Harmatuk was able to bring her to safety.

“Dell Diamond (and the Round Rock Express) hosted us (after),” Harmaruk said. “They had a Boston Strong finish sign and we autographed it. Apparently our autographs are worth ten grand because they donated the money to Boston Strong.”

Harmatuk’s heroics extend past his active duty work. Harmatuk helped jump-start the Austin Police Superheroes program, where APD officers dress up in donated movie-grade costumes and scale down the Dell Children’s hospital to fight supervillains and take pictures with the kids.

Harmatuk, of course, is Superman.

“I’m too big to be Spider-Man,” Harmatuk said with a smile. “I went to Lucy (in Disguise with Diamonds) to pick up the costumes and they pulled it out and said, ‘You have to be Superman!’ But now it feels natural, and it’s been an honor to play him.”

The Superheroes program has evolved from a small event to a large production, using APD helicopters to fly into Dell Children’s and producing two short films on the superhero-supervillain brawl.

Harmatuk has consequently become a local celebrity with the kids and their parents. Once, he was pulled to the side while teaching a boxing class to take a picture with a Superman superfan that recognized him out of costume.

“What you can't capture on film or what you can't capture in writing is the effect and the impact we've had on those kids,” Harmatuk said.

While Harmatuk wasn’t dressed up as Superman during his run (more kids can’t know his secret identity), he was praised like a superhero for all five hours of his run. Instead of blowing through the race, he soaked up every moment, stopping to say “hi” to the friends and police officers supporting him and allowing his running group to take a bathroom break or two. Henderson even jumped into the race late into the 25th mile in full uniform to cross the finish line and close out Harmatuk's career.

“That was awesome,” Harmaruk said. “All of my brothers and sisters in blue knew what today was. It was cool to see them out there doing their thing and stop what they were doing and be excited for me.”

Despite retiring, Harmatuk doesn’t intend on removing himself from the Austin community nor losing his identity. He still plans on helping with Austin Police Superheroes and other nonprofits, acting in and producing movies and TV shows and, of course, running more marathons.

“I’m still the same man I was the day I showed up,” Harmatuk said. “I've just got more knowledge and experience. I think I've stayed true to myself.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin police officer runs 28 miles for 28 years of service