by James Whitely - SGN Staff Writer

Gay 1K
May 15
Cal Anderson Park

Ever wanted to dress up in bright pretty colors, don some sweet sunglasses and a neon sweatband, and run down Broadway with a big group of similarly dressed runners and hot rugby players, showing off how proud you are to be who you are? And maybe then hit up an awesome happy hour at Purr cocktail lounge with the aforementioned group of runners and rugby players, all the while raising money for an awesome LGBT organization like the Lambert House. Well, you missed your chance, because that happened last weekend, and it rocked.

Gay 1K runners met at the northwest corner of Cal Anderson Park on Saturday, May 15. Runners ran through the park and down Broadway, proceeding east on Pike to Purr Cocktail Lounge on 11th Ave.

"The Gay 1K was an idea I came up with last year essentially as something fun to do with my friends and to poke a little fun at the idea of long-distance running, which many of us are not physically equipped to do," said Shauna Hill, creator of the Gay 1K. "About 10 of us ran from Volunteer Park down to Smith on 15th for happy hour, and it was during that happy hour that we came up with the idea of turning it into a Queer visibility event and fundraiser."

With just a $10 suggested donation, the Gay 1K raised nearly $300 for Lambert House in about 20 minutes - and that included the warm-up stretches.

"[Purr] was selected both for its status as a Queer business and for its proximity to Cal Anderson [Park], because 1K is not very far! The idea was to create a route that is visible to the Queer urban center and to support Queer businesses while having fun and raising money."

The Gay 1K had only 26 runners in all, which is unfortunate because this event had the potential to be massive. Quake Rugby, who is sponsored partly by Purr, came out to show their support (and their chests) for the run in the sun.

"Next year & there will be a committee of supporters working on wider advertising and sponsorship so that we can grow bigger," Hill told SGN. She'd like to see 100 next year, I'd like to shut down Broadway and see 1,000."

The Gay 1K is truly a fun-run rich in pride. If you ran the Gay 1K, then you know what I'm talking about. If not, you'll just have to wait until next year to see.

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