U-Haul® Public Relations intern Kailash Garcia-Delaney experienced his first Pat’s Run on April 12 in Tempe, Ariz., one of many Team Members to do so as part of the Company’s ongoing sponsorship of the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Tillman Scholars program.
Here is Kailash’s firsthand account of the event, which honors the Arizona State University legend and national hero. Tillman’s love of country and call to serve remains a point of pride and reason for remembrance more than two decades after his death by friendly fire on April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan.
My First Pat’s Run
The Saturday morning sun had just started to climb as a throng of some 30,000 people jostled into their assigned corrals near the starting line of the 21st annual Pat’s Run in Tempe. With temperatures expected to reach nearly 100 degrees, there was an air of expectancy and an eagerness to begin the 4.2-mile run.
As a first-time participant and only a sporadic runner, I was unsure what to expect. Would I be taking a leisurely 4.2-mile stroll alongside snowbirding grandparents holding teetering toddlers’ sweaty outstretched palms? Or would I be cartoonishly stampeded at the starting line by humanoid roadrunners, left for dead in a pile of umber Sonoran sand?
Meep! Meep!
Upon arrival, I was pleased to see a diverse crowd of all ages, ranging from white-haired couples in matching army green Tillman “42” T-shirts to dozing babies in strollers pushed along by their beaming parents. Everyone seemed to be represented — participants of all backgrounds, ages and athletic abilities.
Corrals were released with three-minute intervals, and when it came time for my corral to be released, I half-braced for hundreds of arch-supported sneakers to make perfect heel-strike patterns over my trampled body. But no such instance came.
Instead, everyone politely began moving forward. Some eased into a comfortable jog. Others just continued to walk, speaking animatedly with accompanying friends and family.
I jogged the entire 4.2 miles, often drafting behind someone to avoid overexposure to desert winds. This is a technique learned from logging hundreds of hours on Wii Sports as a teenager disinclined to real physical activity.
After a small incline from N. College Avenue up to E. Curry Road, I got to appreciate some of the beauty and red rocks of Papago Park as well as take in the view of downtown Tempe from the higher elevation before descending toward Tempe Town Lake.
Fatigue set in as we made our way up the hill from Tempe Town Lake to the Mill Avenue bridge. This stretch converted many joggers into walkers and brought many walkers to a standstill, finding shelter in the shade of the Red Mountain Freeway overhead.
A bit out of breath but continuing to jog, I was feeling proud of my speed just as I looked to my right and made eye contact with a toddler in a stroller. The kid waved at me with a half-eaten banana about the time that his six-foot-something father Mario Karted™ that stroller up the hill, leaving me in his dust.
When I reached the Desert Financial® Arena, a display of golden balloons spelled out “Pats Run” and signaled the finish line was near.
I finished in 37 minutes … better than I had expected. We were treated to refreshing drinks and our Tillman Run medals. After that some people headed home, while others joined the nearby Tillman tailgate party.
Reflecting on the run, the pervading sense of camaraderie and purpose was undeniable. According to my running app, I beat my lifetime record for a one-mile, two-mile, 1K and 5K run, spurred on by the sense of community one feels from running with a group.
Pat’s Run is a prime example of how, in the face of great loss, people can come together to honor memories and continue the positive impact on the world that Tillman undoubtedly made — and would have continued to make had he not left this life too soon.
Who was Pat Tillman?
Tillman was many things: an ASU Sun Devil, football player, husband, son and soldier.
After the Sept. 11 attacks on American soil, Tillman made national news by enlisting to serve two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army Special Operations. He left his well-paying NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals, with whom he spent four seasons, to fulfill a burning patriotic desire. Less than two years after joining the Army, he tragically lost his life.
Pat’s Run raises money for the Pat Tillman Foundation and its Tillman Scholars program to honor the memory of Tillman. It does this by identifying active military members and veterans, along with their spouses, and empowering them with academic scholarships, lifelong leadership development opportunities, and a diverse, global community of high-performing mentors and peers.
The U-Haul Partnership
U-Haul, founded by a WWII Navy veteran and his wife, has aligning values and a common admiration for our veterans that make a partnership with the Pat Tillman Foundation a no-brainer. Since 2010, U-Haul has assisted the nonprofit in many ways. One of those ways is providing in-kind donations for Tillman Scholars who move for school, military placement, work, or other circumstances, enabling them to reach their destination through the use of one-way U-Haul trucks and trailers or U-Box portable moving containers.
As a Corral Row Sponsor of Pat’s Run, U-Haul also provides trucks, self-storage and moving supplies to help event coordinators with the set-up and tear-down process. In addition, U-Haul pays the entrance fees for all team members who wish to participate.
Read about past Pat’s Run events and our involvement by clicking here.
