by Alex Bentley

Picture perfect weather, smiles galore, and lots and lots of pink -- just what you hope for at the Race for the Cure.

The 2009 Dallas Komen Race for the Cure at NorthPark Center drew its usual 20,000 or so participants Saturday morning. They were greeted with picture perfect weather, smiles galore, and tons and tons of pink.

In fact, the only thing that seemed to be missing was the level of sponsorship from past years. This is purely anecdotal as I have no confirmed statistics, but the number of booths hawking their free samples was significantly lower, at least after the race. Due to a lack of planning our DART travel schedule, my wife and I arrived to the race just as it was about to start, and thus we were not able to make our rounds until after we finished.

Even if the number of booths was lower, that's hardly cause for disappointment, as their presence is just a bonus for racers. Everybody that was there was friendly, accommodating, and provided exactly the right type of atmosphere you'd expect at a charity event like the Race for the Cure. Below are a sampling of pictures from the race.