No training? No problem.
The Greensburg Alliance Church in Hempfield held a race Saturday that was a twist on the traditional 5K — a .5K that required not even the equivalent of two laps around a regulation track.
The theme of the day was “All Gain and No Pain.”
“It’s a little bit of a twist on a common event that you see a lot,” student ministries pastor Rigel Holmes said.
About 70 people registered for the second annual event — a fundraiser for the 38 high school students from the church who are attending the LIFE 2019 Conference in Orlando in July. The triennial conference is the main national youth conference of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical Protestant denomination with about 500,000 members in the United States.
“With an event that big, it costs a decent amount of money, so we do a number of fundraisers to help out families throughout the year,” Holmes said. “This is probably one of the most fun fundraisers that we do.”
“We just wanted to do something that everybody could do, so we came up with a .5K,” said Pastor James “Lou” Llewellyn, lead pastor.
The race got off without a hitch at 10 a.m. despite a rainy start time. No personal times were kept, and participants were encouraged to take a break halfway through for doughnuts and coffee — a twist on the traditional hydration station.
The .5K route covered a level, grassy lawn on the church property and followed Baltzer Meyer Pike part of the way.
VIP participants didn’t even have to run the race. They paid $40 for a medal, T-shirt and someone to run for them.
Afterward, there were games and a barbecue with lemonade made by the teenagers of the church.
