Though they don't know it yet in Pink Nation, Sunday is when they will find meaning in the phrase "Cowboy Up."

For those who unfamiliar with Pink Nation, it's the nickname of the team of the runners training with Blair Just, one of the coaches of the Sports Backers Marathon Training Team. Other teams are Blue Team or Green Team. Only the Pink group has decided they are a "nation" and they are, of course, plenty loud and proud and clad in pink. And for those who think pink apparel is best suited to cute baby girls, Just cites rodeo riders who wear pink to support breast cancer research and says, "It takes a tough man to wear pink."

But then back to the significance of Sunday for the Pink Nation runners. It starts with the certainty that running a marathon is far from a fashion show.

The group is preparing for the SunTrust Richmond Marathon – and has been since June 1 – but Sunday's nine-mile training run will be the first of many runs that will become progressively longer as the marathon date of Nov. 15 draws near. Nine miles out of 26 does not sound like much, but it's a serious commitment for folks who are only now pushing themselves beyond the six-mile range.

"Last thing before every long run, Blair pulls us in, offers an inspirational quote, and sends us off with a 'unisoned' mantra," says Roy "Grumps" Miller, 56.  "I don't remember them all, but sure do remember, and enjoy 'Cowboy Up.'" 

And what then does it mean to "Cowboy Up"? 

According to Just, who grew up in Alamogordo, New Mexico where rodeo is discussed at the country club and Lane Frost (a bull rider famous for living tough and dying young) is a household name, "Cowboy Up" means "to suck it up in times of adversity, when the prospect of what you are about to do is so daunting that the best you can hope for is to simply live through it."

Tough stuff for runners, but the Pink Nation eats it up.

"Has the "Cowboy Up" mantra ever gotten me through some tough miles?" Miller asks rhetorically. "You bet. At about mile 22 of last year's SunTrust Richmond Marathon, [which was] my first – legs cramped, body drained – I looked up and asked my parents for some strength, and then I looked on my wrist at the pink band the coaches had given each of us.  Don't know if I actually read it, or could have at that point, but I sure knew what it said – 'Cowboy Up'!"

Of the 98 runners that started the Marathon Training Team program with Just, most will make it all 26 miles to cross the finish line. And undoubtedly somewhere along that journey, they will each form their own definition of "Cowboy Up."

Mike McCormick, the communications director for the Sports Backers, moved to Richmond a year ago from Washington, D.C., where he spent four years working for the White House Press Office. He is a former national champion whitewater kayaker and father of two.