Pink Ribbon

This morning Nicki and I did a 5K run out in Gilbert, AZ that we found out about online. The proceeds were going to benefit a Valley organization that helps out single moms battling cancer. Both of our moms are breast cancer survivors so we felt it was completely appropriate to participate.

The infamous pink fire truck was on display at the race, which I had not seen since last summer when I was working for Governor Napolitano. The fire truck made a stop at the Capitol in July 2008 and the Governor, also a breast cancer survivor was one of the first (if not the very first) to sign the truck. As you can see in my photos, there are now thousands of signatures from people all across the U.S.

Here's some background on the effort: A member of the Glendale Fire Department organized a Pink Ribbon Tour to encourage fire and police department members, local leaders and community members to to show support (and wear pink) for those battling breast cancer. The tour included a custom-painted pink fire engine complete with an enormous sculpted metal breast cancer ribbon.

The official tour began August 24, 2008 and stopped in 32 cities across the United States. Each scheduled stop served as an opportunity for the Pink Ribbon Tour to partner with the local Komen affiliate in that city. Together, the goal is to raise support and awareness for breast cancer research, education and treatment services. The brains behind the effort, David Graybill, likes to point out the significance of a male-dominated field (police and fire departments), supporting a female-dominated disease.

The race was interesting. We were under the impression it was a run, but it was actually a walk. We figured we'd run anyway, and broke away from the crowd. When we had been running for about 20 minutes, around the time we should have been finishing mile two, the race volunteer nearby told us we had finished the race. We paused, and contemplated packing it in, even though there was no chance in hell we had just completed a 5K, but then Nicki had the bright(?) idea that we could run the whole course again. So we did. And then I was really tired.

This morning was a cool experience that made it easy to help out a fabulous cause. There were probably only 200 people or so participating, unlike the Race for the Cure which brings in about 30,000 people per city, but it was just as rewarding.