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Today's News & Record is a little more colorful than usual. Those pink-tinted pages are a gentle reminder of today's Pink Out and its goal of promoting breast cancer awareness.

You can help make Greensboro pretty in pink by attending Pink Out at Center City Park downtown, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and 5 to 8 p.m.

On Saturday morning, the Women's Only Run, starting and ending on Green Valley Road in front of Women's Hospital, is expected to attract more than 2,000 runners and walkers. The annual 5K event is also designed to highlight the breast cancer fight.

Last year, it raised $76,000 for the hospital's mammography fund. Important because women often put off routine screening when they don't have health insurance or can't afford a co-pay. By helping them defray the expense, more lives can be saved.

Early detection gives women more treatment options and increases their chances for survival. And medical studies credit screening with reducing breast cancer mortality rates.

The battle, however, can be long and arduous. Kay Yow, longtime N.C. State women's basketball coach, succumbed in January after valiantly fighting the disease for more than 20 years.

The Gibsonville native's never-quit approach to life and coaching serves as an inspiration for all of us -- particularly women enduring what she had so courageously confronted head-on for so many years.

Other events focusing attention on detecting and treating breast cancer will be held during October elsewhere in the Triad, state and nation.

Yet pink power is more than just a day in the park, decorated downtown business windows and a brisk Saturday morning run-walk.

After all of the hoopla ends, the message must continue throughout the year that fighting cancer begins with a checkup and a check.

For today, enjoy the splash of pink.