Letting it Flow

49 Days until the Warrior Dash.  I’ve got seven weeks to be able to run 3.2 miles and get over, around, and under eleven obstacles.  It stills seems like a good idea, but 48 days from now I’ll probably be thinking otherwise.  So I’m training for this event which bills itself as “America’s Most Insane Race“.  I’ve followed my wife’s lead and joined the local YMCA, but I’m not convinced the treadmill and dumbbells effectively simulate mud crawling under barbed wire, climbing cargo nets, and trudging through waist-deep water.  And what really doesn’t make sense…is that we’re paying to humiliate ourselves participate in this madness.

By “we” I’m referring to the long-time friend who talked me into signing up and the three Sunday School buddies who I persuaded to do the same (So we won’t be partaking of the event’s free booze at the race’s conclusion…but we will be sporting our free viking hats!).

Just 49 days…seven weeks…to drop some pounds, build some stamina, and to hone my mud-crawling technique.  Only 49 days left to become a fit Christian, which leads me to Part 2 of this post…the shameless self-promotion. 

One of my very short stories is in the current issue of Fit Christian magazine.  So I want to say thanks to editor Angela Perez for using my story, “Among the Big Boys,” in the magazine’s March/April on-line edition (Page 11).  It’s always a cool feeling (and I say this without any humility whatsoever) to see one’s own name and words in print.  But seriously, teens constantly face situations like the one my high-school narrator encounters, and too often the easiest solution is simply to join in.  So I do pray that the words of that story may find a young person and strike a nerve, give strength, or perhaps even start a youth group discussion on ways to get out of bad situations.

Yep…bad situations…like the one I’ll be crawling through in 49 days.