The dumbest thing I've done ...
was for a good cause, which I hope you'll support this year: The Covering House
Of all the stupid things I’ve done in my adventure life, by far the stupidest was bearcrawling a mile.
I did it for a good cause – to raise money for The Covering House, which fights sex trafficking, more on that in a minute, it’s the whole reason for this post – but that didn’t make it suck any less.
The point of the fund-raiser is for participants to cover as many miles as possible in one week – walking, biking, running, swimming, whatever. My friend Shane Russell (F3 Lube)—the big-hearted organizer of the event—promised during the fund-raiser two years ago he would bearcrawl a mile if participants hit a particular goal.
Participants hit that particular goal, and F3 men being F3 men, a bunch of us agreed to bearcrawl a mile with him. Not for the first or last time, our mouths wrote checks that our butts couldn’t cash.
I couldn’t make it to the park where everyone else was doing it, so I did it in my backyard in August in St. Louis, which was like bearcrawling on the surface of the sun, only it was more humid in my backyard. I’ve wiped the details from my memory, but as best as I can recall, at about the halfway point, I was capable of taking maybe 10 bearcrawl steps, after which I had to catch my breath for a minute. By the end, I was spending far more time not bearcrawling then I was bearcrawling.
I kept distance using Strava. The tracker made it look like I bearcrawled through my neighbor’s living room about a dozen times.
The Covering House fund-raiser is here again. I asked Lube to share details so you can get involved. The miles you cover will make a difference.
It’s entirely up to you if you bearcrawl a mile. YOLO.
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Good morning! I’m excited to announce the 3rd Annual F3 St. Louis event benefiting The Covering House, coming August 21-27! Here’s the event site, where you can find details and register: www.runsignup.com/tch
Thanks to more than 850 participants, we logged more than 25,000 miles together during the 1st two years of this event. And we’ve raised more than $160,000 to help push back the darkness of child sex-trafficking in the St. Louis area. Our partners at The Covering House need our help again this year.
Most important, we need to continue raising awareness about child sex-trafficking in the St. Louis area. Our event site has been visited almost 60,000 times in the last 2 years. Most people are surprised to learn that the average age of victims assisted by The Covering House is 12-14. This is just one of the mind-blowing statistics that fuels our desire to continue helping TCH and their mission.
This weeklong virtual event is open to all people… men, women, children… runners, cyclists, swimmers, walkers, ruckers… of any age! Participants have ranged from ages 5-95, from more than 30 different states. We hope to log enough miles together to circle the globe with 24,901 miles. Please consider joining us, whether you enjoy walking, running, cycling… whatever miles you can do!
If you’d like to form a team, we are offering discount codes for companies or organizations. I’d be happy to help you set that up! You can reach me at f3.stl.tch@gmail.com.
If you’d like to help fundraise to make an even bigger impact, that would be great! The biggest fundraiser will once again take home a bottle of Pappy’s (10yr Rip Van Winkle).
We are also raffling off a 2nd bottle of Pappy’s. You can buy a $25 raffle ticket here: https://e.givesmart.com/events/rml/
Check out this promotional video for a quick glimpse into The Covering House, F3 STL and the event:
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out! And if we hit a goal of 600 participants and $100K, I’ve committed to bear-crawling a mile. We need your help getting there!
If you have any interest in becoming a corporate sponsor, please let me know.
Thanks for taking the time to consider supporting The Covering House!