Purple Stride 5K & Atlanta Half Marathon

Catching up on races from last year...

 PurpleStride Atlanta 5K, November, 2016, Atlanta, GA

My son organizes this race for us each year as it supports research for pancreatic cancer research and support.  Pancreatic cancer impacted our family, my dad suffered from it.  I'm proud of my son for doing this each year.

We gathered at Centennial Olympic Park in a sea of purple (t-shirts, hats, balloons, streamers,...) to do this race.  As always - a great cause!!!

Atlanta Half Marathon, November, 2016, Atlanta, GA

It has become somewhat of a Thanksgiving Day morning tradition.  After doing this race six times and blogging about it, there really is not too much more to write about.  I do like seeing Atlanta this way and suspect I will probably continue doing this race as long I am in the Atlanta area for Thanksgiving.  The absolute best, best, best thing about this race - since calorie consumption will be significant later in the day - you sort get the feeling you are getting ahead and justifying the overeating that will take place by burning a significant number of calories before the feasting even begins!  :)

If I'm going to do this race in November, need to sign up soon as they do have a tiered pricing scheme:

$65 through 5/30/17
$70 through 7/31/17
$75 through 8/31/17
$80 through 9/30/17
$85 through 11/15/17
$90 at number pick-up

sigh...

2015 Purplestride 5K

Pancreatic Cancer: Know It. Fight It. End It.

It is estimated that more than 48,900 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and more than 40,000 will die from the disease. It is the fourth leading cause of cancer death, with a five-year relative survival rate of just 7%. Pancreatic cancer has the lowest five-year relative survival rate of any major cancer.

Historically, pancreatic cancer research has been underfunded. Only approximately 2 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) budget is allocated to this leading killer. We know from the relatively high survival rates associated with breast cancer and HIV/AIDS that federal research funding levels matter in the fight to find new cures and directly relate to improved survival rates.

Your donations will help to change these dismal statistics by funding research grants, advocacy efforts, patient support, and awareness activities coordinated by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Click here (PDF) to download a pancreatic cancer fact sheet with more information.

Source: http://www.kintera.org/


My son, once again in remembrance and honor of his grandfather, my father, put together a team to help raise awareness and support for pancreatic cancer.  So last Saturday morning Mary, Raney, Daniel, Doug, and I met down at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta for the annual PurpleStride 5K.

It was a great day, a bit cool early but a bright sun on a cloudless sky made for a great outing.  There were options on the 5K - you could run it, you could walk it, you could do it timed, or you could do it untimed.  It really was not about the 5K race, it was about coming together with people who have all been impacted in one way or another, by pancreatic cancer.

2014 Purplestride 5K, for Dad

Got a text from my son Daniel a few days before the race "Interested in doing a 5K in Atlanta on Saturday".  It was late in the evening, well for me anyway, told him to send me the link and I'd check it out in  the morning.


Little did I know the link http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1104342  would take me down a road with so many thoughts about my Dad.  The Atlanta PurpleStride 5K was a fundraising race hosted by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network which is a network of people dedicated to working together to advance research, support patients and create hope for those affected by pancreatic cancer.  You see,  in 2007 my Dad died, he had pancreatic cancer.


What a great cause.


We gathered early on a cold Saturday morning in Centennial Olympic Park to a sea of purple  ~ PurpleStride 5K ~  11/15/2014.

Daniel listening to the PCAN speakers

Pancreatic cancer is such a tough disease.  The stats on it are scary.  We heard from survivors and from relatives of those who were taken by pancreatic cancer.  The emcee was Carol Sbarge, a local WSB-TV News Anchor.  She told a personal story how her father lost his battle with pancreatic cancer and her mother from another type of cancer all within a year just as they were getting very close to retirement.  It's just sad.  It's unfair.  Her words really hit pretty hard.  We just never really know what is going to happen, or when.


Again, this race and fundraising was a way to fight back at this disease.


The 5K was a low key event much more about fighting the disease than about racing.  We started near Centennial Olympic Park and made our way north near Georgia Tech.  We could tell there was a big game that day (vs. Clemson I think) as many were already tailgating as we made our way through the area.

It was a good race.  For me, I did something in this race that I had not done in a long time, I mixed in some running with my walking.  It's been two years since hurting my knee and giving up running.  It felt good to run again.  I had no negative effects with the knee afterwards.  Who knows, maybe I'll do more of these 5Ks and interject some running.  We'll see.


This was a good cause.  At last count the amount raised from this event -  $303,828.  That's great!


Afterwards, Daniel, Raney, and I headed over to Goldberg's Bagel for a little post race celebration breakfast.  Great bagels there.  Daniel mentioned something about possibly making this an annual event in memory of his Grandpa, my Dad.