JR Alford Greenway

2500 Pedrick Rd, Tallahassee, FL

Art by Ryen Goebel

• 7:00 am - Registration Opens
• 8:00 am - 1 Mile Fun Run / Scenic Walk
• 8:30 am - 5K Run / Walk

• 7:00 am - 10 am – Memory Lane
• 7:00 am - 10 am – Mental Health Fair
• All parking onsite with Attendants

Looking forward to her final year of high school, Brook Bowers was already a state finalist swimmer, top of her class academically, an accomplished musician and the most popular kid in her class. Pretty, smart, fun and athletic. She looked forward to a bright future as she fell in love for the first time.

On a wintry Wisconsin day her world imploded. She found her boyfriend dead in his parents’ home. He died by suicide.

Could anyone ever understand the depth of her pain?

The denial and utter devastation of losing her first love to suicide, the voices in her head, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, medications, cognitive behavioral therapy, cutting herself, emergency rooms, high school graduation in a drug-induced stupor shunned by friends, dialectical behavior therapy, new medications, electro-convulsion therapy, six months in “the hospital” where her weight doubled on new meds, fighting her way to a college degree,  chumming with social workers in the psych ward because they had seen her so many times that they were like buddies, deploring that she hurt her parents, eye-movement-desensitization-and-reprocessing therapy, job after job that she shined for a day and couldn’t hold for a month, leaving a woman she loved because “she deserved better,” losing her friends to addiction and suicide, single and living with her parents at age 30.

Fifteen years bravely striving for normalcy, repeatedly returning to unbearable pain.

In 2012, at the age of 31, Brook died by suicide. Hopelessness killed her. Despite the continued best efforts of her family, friends and mental health care team, she could no longer endure the pain of her mental health condition.

Stories like Brook’s are seldom told. Most are covered up with platitudes in hushed tones. The stark truth is that suicide is an impactful, pervasive challenge in modern society affecting both victims and survivors of suicide loss.

Brook’s family and friends have embraced this challenge. Since 2015, the Bluebird Run and Walk for Brookie B – for suicide awareness and prevention – has honored the legacies of our loved ones lost to suicide. We have gathered every Labor Day to support each other through this touching community event. We hope you will join us.

When you come to the Bluebird Run and Walk for Brookie B, don’t miss Memory Lane!

Memory Lane was created in remembrance of those who have died by suicide and in recognition of the resilient survivors, including family and friends who volunteer, run and walk at the Bluebird event.

Created by the LOSS (Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors) Team of the Big Bend, Memory Lane remembers and honors all of the loved ones we have lost to suicide. You are invited to join other suicide loss survivors in providing photographs, memories and tributes to your lost loved one, and/or written words of encouragement, hope and healing for survivors. These items will be mounted with clips on specially made frames at the Bluebird event. Paper decorations and other art supplies will also be available to create a memory while you visit.

We encourage everyone who has lost a loved one to be involved. You can participate in any of these ways:

1. Send memorials in advance *, and they will be mounted before you arrive
2. Bring material to the event and mount it yourself
3. Create a memorial at the event with provided art supplies
4. Simply visit Memory Lane and experience hope

Memory Lane is a truly touching, hopeful and healing memorial. Please join us.

*  Either send by USPS or email (jpg format preferred):

NAMI Tallahassee               bill@bluebirdrun.com
PO Box 14842
Tallahassee, FL  32317

Art by Ryen Goebel

Art by Ryen Goebel

A recent Bluebird participant wrote this:

“I appreciate what you are doing for our community. It was through this race, just a few short years ago, that I met the right people to get my daughter into the right facilities to help her. I believe it saved her life. Really. She is not completely out of the woods yet, but she is happier, has her own apartment, in college and…a boyfriend! I truly did not think I would ever see these things happen. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!”

This personal experience came from a fun family event known as Bluebird that started at dawn on Labor Day with live music, watermelon, sno-cones, and the opportunity to run or walk some of the most beautiful trails in Tallahassee. Surprising? Not to us.

You see, among the many features of this extraordinary community event called Bluebird is a Mental Health Fair where local mental health service providers offer free information and resources. You can expect to see providers like the Apalachee Center, HCA Florida Capital Hospital, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Florida Therapy, 2-1-1 Big Bend, Better Living Solutions, Lee’s Place, Capital City Psychiatry, NAMI Tallahassee, and others with tables of information and caring, compassionate attendants. No pressure. No sign up required. Just swing by and see if maybe you can learn something and find help for someone you love.

Did you know that Leon County Parks has designated and marked a permanent Bluebird Trail At JR Alford Greenway based on our annual 5K run/walk? We are literally on the map. They made a small adjustment at the start to accommodate their regular mowing patterns and added a small jog a little past our one-mile mark.  So, the official county Bluebird Trail is either 3.3 miles or 3.5 miles, depending on which sign you believe. Although it will not be a measured 5K, it is marked and available during all daylight hours. So get out there and enjoy!