CAPITOL HILL — You can see strange sights on Capitol Hill, especially when Congress is in session, but this might take the cake – hundreds of men and women running around with hardly a thing on.
“We’re out here in this freezing cold weather in our underwear,” says Cassia Denton of D.C., who looked fit in powder-blue sports bra and boy shorts.
This Valentine’s weekend has brought the 5th annual Cupid’s Undie Run. D.C.’s event is one of 30 being held in cities across the United States and three in Australia.
The runs are expected to raise $2.6 million this year to combat childhood tumors according to Bobby Gill, co-founder of the Cupid’s Undie Run.
“It’s a one-mile run, in your underwear, around Capitol Hill,” Gill says.
“It’s a brief run,” Gill puns, “but it all goes to a great cause,” he says.
“This is all about supporting the Children’s Tumor Foundation in their fight against neurofibromatosis – this is a really rough cancer that affects the nervous system of small children,” Denton adds.
Participants could be seen sporting a variety of colorful Victoria’s Secret, Fruit of the Loom and Jockey underwear, none of which managed to ward off goose bumps as temperatures dipped to 36 degrees and a light snow fell.
“Being outside in the cold in underwear; it’s a little bit of suffering but it doesn’t even come close to what kids with cancer suffer,” says Mark Webb, of Manchester, N.H. who wore bright pink bikini briefs.
Running around in underwear outdoors in the middle of winter? “Why not, it’s so fun, prance around the city, freezing cold, support a good cause, it’s great,” says Karen Bonney of Washington D.C.
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