Faster Pastors

In exactly one week, I'll be approaching the ½-way point of a 36-leg relay ~ a running event through the mountains in Colorado. I'm excited about participating in the Ragnar Colorado Relay; I think it'll be a fascinating experience.

The way it works is this: running the thirty-six legs of the relay is shared between twelve people. You can do the math, but it works out to each person running three legs of varying distances … if you're interested, I'll be running third (the third, fifteenth, and twenty-seventh legs at 8.9, 5.0, and 4.4 miles).

I'm stoked for this event for a few reasons. First of all, I'm on a team with eleven other ELCA Lutheran pastors. I don't know about you, but when I think “Lutheran Pastor”, I don't usually think of someone who's capable of running 10 to 20 miles in the space of 30 hours. But we found a dozen of us to team up and do this together.

In addition, I'm stoked because our team, the Faster Pastors, is raising money to be given to the ELCA Malaria Campaign (you should donate …). Malaria is a deadly disease that can be prevented fairly easily through the use of medicated bed nets. These cost about $10 each (you should donate …). There are also anti-malarial drugs to treat the disease once it's been contracted. Delivery and administration of these drugs (of course) takes money. You really should donate.

Finally, I'm stoked about this event because I'll have bragging rights. Sure, the personal bragging rights are pretty nice. But what's more important is that we who have run this event will have better leverage in our congregations to encourage healthier eating on Sunday mornings and at potluck suppers. We'll more readily be able to encourage people to exercise and to keep their bodies fit. It's disingenuous to give someone else instructions or advise that you're not willing to take yourself.

If you feel inclined to make a contribution (you really should …), you can do that here: 

And you should probably give more than $0.02