Bellevue office moves their assets
Two teams run, crawl and climb to benefit the fight against blood cancers
Participating in a foot race that benefits charity is one thing. Dragging yourself through mug in an Army crawl, scaling eight-foot walls and swinging through monkey bars, all while clinging to a prickly pineapple, is quite another.
In December, staff members of our Bellevue office participated in the fourth-annual 5K Winter Pineapple Classic, put on by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and held at Seattle’s Warren G. Magnuson Park. While none of our adventurous participants had heard of the race before, they all approached race day with an open mind—and a grass hula skirt.
Winter Pineapple Classic participants Tessa Rhone, John Pendergast, Dave Thompson, Emilie Olsen, Nikki Meyers, Lindsay Mayer, Meredith Russian.
“This is the first charity race I've run where runners finished muddy and with sore arms,” Staff Accountant Emilie Olson said. “It was a great experience and I’m hoping to get an even larger group to join me next year, now that we know what it is all about.”
While the event began in 2005 as a race with 750 participants that raised about $80,000, this year’s event boasted 5,000 adventurous runners and raised upwards of $445,000. The relatively short race was long on creativity, as many teams donned costumes and themed outfits, even though they were thoroughly dragged through the terrain.
“This race had the most enthusiastic runners I've ever seen in one of these charity events. Almost every runner team was dressed up in some sort of Hawaiian theme for the race,” Emilie said.
Our two four-person Bellevue teams (Move Your Assets and Shake Your Assets) raised funds before race day. All funds benefited The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which is dedicated to fighting blood cancers. Click to learn more about the Winter Pineapple Classic and for more photos of the race.
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