Nicole Thomason's Blog: Lace Up For RAINN Virtual 5K

Since April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month I figured it’d be a good time to write about the upcoming ‘Lace Up For RAINN Virtual 5K’ that I’ll be participating in. If you’re unfamiliar with RAINN, it’s an organization that raises awareness about sexual violence and they offer support for survivors as well. With all the stigma, shame and feelings of guilt that are often associated with sexual violence I think it’s an important topic to bring awareness to. For more information about RAINN and ways you can help, please visit www.rainn.org.

I signed up both Roger and myself to run this thing as a team. The best part is that you don’t have to be in any particular location to participate – it’s a virtual 5K race! If you live in or near the Washington, DC area there is a 5K happening there. That race is scheduled for May 21, 2016 at 9:00 am local time. If you plan on being a virtual runner (or walker) you’re free to complete yours anytime on May 21st! If you’d like to register, please click here. Registration does include a race t-shirt and bib that are scheduled to be mailed in plenty of time for the run.

The RAINN organization is close to my heart and I love that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Their slogan for their campaign this year is, “Prevention is possible.” I’ve brought up the topic of sexual abuse on this blog several times in the past so if you’d like to read more you can check out this post, this post and this post. I’m pretty open, honest and real around these parts. :)

Interested in how you can help bring public awareness to the interwebs?

By using the hashtag #LaceUp4, you can stay connected to other participants, share why you are lacing up for RAINN, and spread the word via social media. Feel free to share your training, your planned route, and your race day photos and prep by tweeting at our twitter account, @RAINN01, or at our Instagram @RAINN01.

===> Click here to learn more about Sexual Assault Awareness Month. You will also find tools that you can use including posters, images to share online, the option to add a teal ribbon to your Facebook profile picture, coloring pages and more.

If you’re still reading this it shows that you have an amazing heart and compassion for sexual violence survivors. I hope you will do something, even if just a little something, to help bring more awareness to those around you. If you hate running and don’t wanna run, just share a provided photo instead. ;)

Thank you for reading,

Sexual Assault Awareness Month - April