Perry Edinger was sitting with a few other guys who knew Pat Tillman, kicking around ideas of how to honor the football player-turned-soldier who died in Afghanistan last April.
They all knew Tillman wouldn't have wanted anything in his honor. But they also knew that Tillman's story was inspiring and that people were looking for an outlet.
"Golf tournaments are good," said Edinger, a Chandler resident. "But Pat wasn't about that."
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Tillman was into more physically challenging activities - lifting weights, running, biking, swimming.
"Or going up to Sedona and jumping the rocks up on the creek," Edinger said. "But we couldn't quite encourage the public to be doing that."
And so Pat's Run was born, and Edinger, with his runner's background, became the event's driving force. On April 16, the race will come to life nearly a year after Tillman's death.
Edinger met Tillman at Arizona State University, where Edinger was the head athletic trainer and Tillman a standout linebacker.
Edinger said he was drawn to the independent-minded Tillman, who walked away from a $3.6 million offer from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army in May 2002.
"That always kind of attracted me that there was another person who didn't mind being their own person, who didn't care what people said," Edinger said. "Then on top of that, he was just a good person."
After Tillman's rookie season with the Cardinals, he sought out Edinger to help train him for a marathon. Tillman ran it in 3 hours, 48 minutes, easily beating his goal of 4 hours.
"He just picked 4 hours out because he just saw a bunch of people break 4 hours so he said, 'Well, I could break 4 hours,' " Edinger said.
Pat's Run will have some Tillman-related themes. The race will be 4.2 miles, with a kid's race of .42 miles. The distances were inspired by the No. 42 Tillman wore during his days at ASU.
The race will conclude at the 42-yard line of Sun Devil Stadium, a perfect location because of the ASU football team's spring game at 2:30 that afternoon.
http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilb ... 23Z12.html
All race proceeds will benefit the Pat Tillman Foundation. For more info or to register for the race, click here:
http://www.pattillmanfoundation.net/
