By Bill Bradley, contributing editor
Editor's note: This is one of five capsules looking at people who are involved in Pat's Run, the 4.2-mile run to honor late Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, who died in 2004 by friendly fire while serving as an Army Ranger. The 10th annual Pat's Run is scheduled for Saturday, April 26, ending at the 42-yard line of Arizona State's Sun Devil Stadium. There also will be 34 shadow runs around the country.
Name: Alex Garwood
Age: 42
Occupation: Founding board member of the Pat Tillman Foundation; a sales person for a data storage company; also brother-in-law of late Pat Tillman.
Years running: "Running is a loose term. I've run 11 and 23/24ths marathons. Many of those I've run for Team Tillman."
How long participating in Pat's Run: "I've run every Pat's Run and some I try to run pretty fast. My wife will run it tomorrow with our son. Some of my other sons will probably walk it. That's one of the beauties of Pat's Run: If you want to run fast, you can. If want to be a weekend warrior, do it. If you want to walk it, you can. That's one of the reasons I think it resonates so well."
Why Pat's Run is important: "Because it's Pat, that's why it really matters. But it's also this labor of love that his friends and family started 10 years ago and built something from nothing. It was a powerful example of doing something positive. Over the years it's evolved and it still has its neat feeling of welcoming. It's honoring Pat and honoring those who had the conviction to serve. It brings all that together. And then at the same time it's still growing."
What Pat Tillman's legacy means: "It means something different everyone one. That's the challenging thing about Pat and his own legacy. He fought for himself and he challenged himself to develop and thought process and do what he believed was right, ultimately making that amazing sacrifice. Being around him, he helped you figure that out on your own. I think a big part of his legacy is people choosing to do the right thing and ... we all get to define what his legacy is for ourselves. ... The reason we are talking is because Pat Tillman lived."
How does this run help the foundation: "This part of it is very, very powerful. It's for the Tillman Military Scholars. This race raises lots of money for them and we're able to invest in our future. We're able to invest in these Tillman Scholars who have their own stories overcoming and perseverance and stepping forward. Now they're coming back and using that education such that they can give back. They're becoming doctors. They're becoming lawyers and advocates for veterans' affairs. They're becoming psychologists helping with PTSD. They've already stepped up. And part of Pat's legacy through this foundation is that we're able to help those men and women do just that."
What would Pat have thought about this run:"I sure wish that we could ask him. I wish that on Saturday we could go up on the top of 'A' Mountain and look back at the race or go to the top of Sun Devil Stadium and stand there with Pat and say, 'Check it out, man.' And I would love to be able to ask him that question. I get that we can't and that's part of why this is bittersweet. There will be 30,000 people here on Saturday, people flying in from all 50 states, people coming to celebrate his life. How awesome would it be to look at him and say, 'See what you've done? See what you're doing? And what do you think?' The best part of being able to ask him that question is that he would still be here."
