Purple Reign

A week ago this past Saturday, we were privileged to participate in Columbus' first PurpleStride event. It was a walk/ride/gathering to raise awareness of, and raise money for research on, pancreatic cancer.

A new park area on the riverfront was thronged with runners, walkers, friends, and relatives - and survivors.  There were very few survivors at the designated tent, and fewer still running or walking. That, regrettably, is the nature of the disease.  Our two daughters, and our grand-daughter, ran the 5k; one of our sons and I walked. I was there to celebrate; the others were there to commemorate a survivor - me.

Unfortunately, the color selected to represent the effort is a deep purple, and I could not help but think of the diminutive musical artist formerly known as Prince.  Purple T-shirts, purple balloon arches, purple ribbons, purple bags - I suppose that is what happens when the other diseases choose first.  All the good colors have been taken.

Even though we looked from above as if we had been subjected to a grape attack, I will take purple and cheerfully live with.  Hey, I would cheerfully live with chartreuse if the option is living.

But, I did begin to muse about the logistics of the affair.  How does one prepare and execute for a once a year - and first-time - event?  How difficult is it to maintain working relationships for providers of sporadic services?  How can continuous improvement be built into processes that are over before opportunities for correction can be analyzed?

I continue to stand in awe of people who lead, plan, and manage project supply chains and event logistics.  They live - successfully - in a different universe from those of us who are focused on continuous flow and replenishment in supply chain execution.