Cross Country Missions/Crazy Runner 4 God

4 years ago I was the summer intern at my home church for the youth ministry position. My youth minister gave me task to take something I had a passion for and mesh it with God! That day I created Cross Country Missions. I combined my passion of running, missions, & God. I hosted my very first race to raise money for mission work. Since then I created fun, new, and exciting races the raise money for mission work! In 2012 I have already hosted the Yeti Set Run series and the Potter's House 5k. Still have the Annual Conference 5k, Bigfoot's Legend/1 Insane Trail Run, Backwards Mile, and a few others to go. And in 2013 I will be adding the Forrest Gump Challenge and creating the Cross Country Missions race series. You will receive the finishers medals from YSR, BFL, & FGC and also receive a special series medal for doing all three.

On top of hosting races I started to pick-up racing under the identity Crazy Runner 4 God in order to raise money for missions also. I created a jersey for myself to wear with the CCM logo... but it just wasn't enough. Sure, people noticed the jersey every now and then and commented how it was great and good job running for God. But I wanted to get God out there much better than that! So... why not run with a cross!

Thankfully for my very supportive running friends from Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners running organization I was able to run my very first race carrying a wooden cross! On April 28th, 2012 at the Frisco Highline Run I sat my cross on my shoulder and lined up at the start line to run 13.1 miles. Having no idea what I might be in store for running with a cross on my shoulder ( I had never ran with it before). I started out and felt great, tried to slow my pace a little but my legs just kept turning so I just kept going! I started out switching which shoulder the cross was on about every 800 meters... and then as the race continued that distance got smaller and smaller. Eventually every couple seconds I would switch. Because the length of the cross the weight pulls at me from behind so I had to hold the cross in a way so that the center of gravity from the cross would be more in line with mine. I ended up gripping the top portion of the vertical beam, bringing the horizontal beam in to my body and the bottom end of the vertical beam sticking more into the air. (Next race I am going to try and find the best way to hold it)
I ended up finishing 4th in my age division and 12th overall with a 1:38, my best time ever being a 1:21. The Lord is good, and if I practice this and run more and more races like this I will eventually be able to win some races and then I will get the publicity I am wanting to share my passion for Christ! 

It takes a lot of money to do all of the stuff I do with my missions. Gas money, race entry fees, running gear, and hosting the races for missions is even more expensive. I use my own money to do all if this, unless anyone feels led to sponsor me! So if you feel led to do so, you can make checks out to CROSS COUNTRY MISSIONS and mail it to:
PO Box 520
El Dorado Springs, MO 64744


or go to paypal.com click on SEND MONEY and send it to:

 crazyrunner4god@aol.com 

My goal is to run across the U.S.A. with-in the next 10 years and carry the cross for a certain amount everyday. To God Be the Glory!!!

Been Awhile...

Sorry about the long expanse of time I have not posted anything! My life has been being blessed more than ever and busier than ever! I have gotten engaged, I am about to graduate, and will be moving to Camp Galilee to work there! I had hopes to get a teaching job as well, but there is no open position as of now, but I don't care because all I want to do is work at camp and do work for GOD! So many ideas running through my head!

RUN TOTO RUN 50K

I ran my first ultra-marathon in February, 50k! This was one incredible experience! It was a record low of 20 degrees that morning and the course was mostly on bridal trails. Meaning that all of the mud with horse tracks in them was frozen solid and very uneven! This started out fun but turned into a disaster and foot/ankle killer. It was a 10 mile loop course totally over 31 miles. I started the race with my ipod and a water pack... but to my dismay the water in the tube had frozen and I could not drink from it! As I got into the twisty turny part of the course my headphones ripped out of my ipod and I though I had lost my ipod. I ditched my pack after the first lap which turns out still had my ipod in it! phew! As the second lap started I hung with a couple of people for awhile and chatted with them, but eventually couldn't keep up their pace and fell back. The aid stations were very cheerful and people were very excited to see me coming with my team beef jersey on. This is also the lap where my hand... went completely numb and I wanted to cry... but for some reason I couldn't. I may have whimpered a lot though. Eventually I got to an aid station that had hand warmers and I was able to warm up my hands by putting them in my gloves.

By the third lap I wasn't sure how I was going to make it 10 more miles. So as I came around past the start/finish I spotted my girlfriend(fiance now) and shouted out for her to run the last lap with me! She replied she was wearing flipflops and I told her to change into her shoes. She joined up with me and we headed out! about 2-3 miles in she asked how far the loop was... and I told her it was about 10 miles... Sorry. ooops... she didn't know it was that long! She hasn't ran more than a 5k! EVER! She replied, I love you. We ran that last 10 miles together! The course by that point had been turned into solid mud. What an experience! I have one amazing woman in my life!



Since then I have run several other races, including a 5k in a parking garage, duathlon, and several half marathons. I also hosted the Potter's House 5k race to raise money for the Christian coffee house which is a college campus ministry creating a fun and safe alternative community that students can hang out at instead of getting drunk.

I have re-amped Cross Country Missions to a 3 race Series in 2013. Consisting of the Yeti Set Run races, Bigfoot's Legend, and the Forrest Gump Challenge. Each race you receive a finishers medal, and if you complete all three you receive a series medal! Once I am stationed at Camp I will have alot of time to work on making the trails better and the races better. I have also decided to raise money to purchase an IPICO timing mat/software. This means the events would become chip timed and much better overall.

Mission Miles

It has been awhile since I have been able to get on and blog. I have been super busy organizing and hosting the Yeti Set Run race series. For the year of 2012 I have been running at least 1 mile every day in an attempt to raise money for missions.

Though one mile a day sounds simple, sometimes it can be tough. After running the marathon in December while I was sick left me off and on being sick for about a month! It was very difficult to continue running through this, especially when I knew if I stopped running I would get better quicker. I have been so dedicated to this task that one night I ran a mile in my living room. My girlfriend and I had watched a scary movie and I did not want to go outside, so we ran back and forth in the living room till we reached 1 mile. Which meant taking two steps and then turning around, take 2 steps, turn around, and so on. The treadmil has been my bittersweet friend over this past month, but the Lord has been providing some amazing beautiful weather this winter. Last night I did not even have to bundle up to go outside. Aaamazing.

If you want to donate as little as 1 quarter (only 25 cents) per a day I run a mile. That will only come to $91.50!! How simple is that!

Run for the Ranch

Wow... So I am really delayed in writing about the Run for the Ranch marathon back in December. Prior to the marathon I ended up getting some kind of virus that made it very hard to eat the proper diet leading up the a marathon. My meals were way too light and almost non-existent on race day. The race was in the afternoon so I had to deal with eating on race day, which consisted of some peanut butter and honey toast which I struggled greatly in eating. I had to wash it down with water, my body did not want to eat.

The time leading up to the race was long and drug out and I wasn't feeling any better. I slurped on a gel packet about an hour before the race. I chatted with all of my friends and lined up for the start (sizing up the competition, as usual). When the race started I went out nice and easy to conserve my energy, I was looking for 7 minute miles. When I looked at my watch and saw it was longer than 7 minutes and still had not seen the mile marker I sped up. But slowed my pace once I realized that there were no mile markers on the course. I felt pretty good for the first few miles. It was a beautiful day!

People said I was still looking and my time was still close to my goal as I was approaching the 13.1 miles. But on the inside I was hurting alot! It wasn't that my muscles were tired or that I couldn't breathe. It was simply that I was sick and hadn't eating enough food. It was probably around mile six when i first started feeling faint and pale. Obviously I was still able to push for a bit longer to keep up a good pace, but it finally caught up to me and slowed me down alot! I tried to drink and consume gels every chance I got. But even this substance could not save me.

I can across the 13.1 behind my mark and from there everything went down hill. My face was as white as a ghost and it took everything I could to keep moving forward. In the beginning of the race I was cheering people on and having conversations, however, as the race progressed my ability to talk and sound enthusiastic was dramatically decreased.

As I was rounding the corner to the finish line, I mustered all I could and hit a "dead" sprint. From where that came.. I do not know! haha. When I crossed the finish line I was wobbling every which way and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. Alexis was trying to get me to come to her so I could lean on her but I was just not able to get to her. Her and my mom had to walk me inside. I was sicker than sick and paler than pale. I was finally starving but if I would have eaten right then I would have puked!

Lesson Learned from this race: running a marathon while sick and not eating... bad idea!

This race left me very sick! In fact I only ran twice between the race and New Years. I am still somewhat sick but unable to stay away from running, especially due to my Mission Miles (at least 1 mile everyday)

Cross Country Missions

For anyone reading this that doesn't know me, my name is Raymond Varner and I have 3 big passions, God, Running, and Missions. I am the director of a small organization called Cross Country Missions where I host races (Yeti Set Run is coming up in January) to raise money for mission work. I also run... ALOT.

I started this blog to record my efforts to raise money for missions as I trained for a 100 mile race in 2012. As part of my training for the 100 mile race I am running in the Run For the Ranch Marathon on Sunday the 18th. If anyone feels led to donate money, 100% of this money is going to be put towards the 2011-2012 mission of Joplin Relief!! The same thing applies for the Yeti Set Run races in January.

The Goal is to raise $5,000 for Joplin Relief by the end of 2012!!!

If you feel led to donate you can mail $$ to:
Cross Country Missions
1315 East Thoman Street
Springfield Mo 65803

OR use paypal at:
crosscountrymissions.org

Too Long

It has been far too long since my last blog entry. Over this time I have completed some very successful 20 and 10 mile training runs around Springfield. Each time choosing a different route even though before I started the run I had planned on running a certain route, I ended up changing that route with in the first few miles of the run. In the middle of November at about 12am I went out for a 20 mile run with nothing but my shoes, shorts and a water pack. It was beautiful weather and I wasn't hindered by any traffic due to every normal person being in bed. However, my next couple 20 milers were a bit more chilly. I ran along I-44 for awhile and that was a super chilly run! I couldn't find my running beanie so I took the only thing I could find (one of those knitted beanies with the strings that have fluff balls on the ends). At first the strings were under my pack so they weren't bouncing around but eventually they worked their way loose and I ended up tying them around my chin.

I went on a road trip with my amazing girlfriend to Columbia where we dressed up as Hillbillies for the XCX costume mud run at Truck Stop Missouri.


I ran the Springfield Turkey Trot 5k hoping to get in the 16's but I got way to excited at the start and went out at a 5 minute mile and suffered in the end. I didn't even get a PR on this run. I did place 24th out of about 8,000 people.

Idle Hands...

When I sit in front of the computer at work I always find my self searching the web for new and exciting races. When I started this blog I said I was beginning my training for the Ozark Trail 100 mile endurance run, however, after some recent information regarding this course I have decided against participating in this event (at least for my first 100 miler, maybe in the future I will give it a try).

So I began my search for a new 100 mile race that was around the same time that i could run in its place. I have been extremely satisfied with the Pumpkin Holler 100 in OK, though they have not set a specific date yet. This is my number one pick at the moment! BUT... my hands have been moving on the keyboard way too much and I have been searching down more and more races i want to do as well as thinking about how I would like to host an ultra-marathon in honor of Forrest Gump! haha.

24 Hours the Hardway

Pigtails Challenge

Leadville 100

Boulder 100

Arkansas Traveler

Because a lot of these are around the same time of the month, I am thinking that every year I will go try one. Essential go on a 100 mile run test drive of the courses and after i try out a few I can go back and do the ones I like again and again.