Seattle Rock and Roll - Wear Blue Mile

I might have mentioned it but....this race is a first for me--my first RnR and my first race with Wear Blue. Since this is one of their two yearly 'big' events, there will be a very large presence, both runners and volunteers. As there was last year, there will be a Wear Blue Mile. WB volunteers will be manning the water station on this stretch, as well as creating a very significant and moving memorial along the roadside. It will include flags, posters with fallen soldiers lining the side of the road and a lot of very proud WB members in Blue cheering on those of us running.

2011 Wear Blue Mile

Honoring the fallen

This is not a race that I will be running for me or for a specific time goal. This is about so much more than me. I am running this race for our fallen brothers and sisters who've made the ultimate sacrifice. I've been trying to find a good story that truly captures what this organization is all about for a while now and came across this one today. Even though I know the story of how WB was created, it still moved me to tears. In the face of a huge unimaginable loss, one mom poured her grief into running and created a very supportive and healing community for herself. And I am honored that I get to be a part of it. 

"Donning their blue shirts, the group – made up of service members, family, and community members – forms a circle and calls out the names of the fallen – not out of sorrow but out of appreciation. “It’s a way of saying, ‘You can’t run, you can’t live, but we can and we’re going to make the most of this day, in honor of your sacrifice,’” says Lisa.

And for participating service members who are still healing from the losses they sustained during deployment, this circle of remembrance is also a chance to realize that the community members standing next to them appreciates the sacrifice the American military makes, that their families make."

For this race, I think it's only appropriate that I run in honor of all the soldiers from the 1-17 Infantry Battalion of the (then) 5^th Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Ft. Lewis. The Battalion and Brigade lost 41 soldiers during the yearlong deployment, and saw over 200 soldiers severely injured; twenty-three of those casualties came from 1-17. The names of these soldiers are listed on the back of my shirt and I will be proudly running for each and every one of them. Those names will follow in their own post. 

2 more days!