Bill Crosby is a pastor at Cavalier Evangelical Free Church
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Conversation With Bill Crosby

The Gagner’s pastor at Cavalier Evangelical Free Church, Bill Crosby, broke the Guinness World Record’s fastest half marathon while wearing full football by more than three minutes.

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Bill Crosby is a pastor at Cavalier Evangelical Free Church and also owns a bike shop called Bill’s Bikes and Stuff. Crosby is a 2003 UND graduate and attended Providence Theological Seminary for four years in Manitoba. Crosby is married to his wife Laurel and they have four children. We interviewed him two weeks before he broke the world record.

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Bison Illustrated: How did your friendship with Kyle Gagner begin?
Bill Crosby: “When you get to know Kyle, it’s not hard to become friends with him. We’ve shared mutual interests in terms of mountain biking and running. He and I ran the 2011 Fargo half marathon. It was his first and that was my third half marathon. We have been running partners since 2011.”

BI: How did you get into the running lifestyle?
BC: “I ran cross country because my brothers were in it in high school, but I wasn’t all gung-ho about it. When I was in college, I was just running to get in shape and my girlfriend—who became my wife—kind of inspired me to run my first half marathon in 2003. When I moved to Cavalier here, she again wanted to run this half marathon thing again, so we did a relay down in St. Cloud in 2009, and she kept on going. The next year, we did the half marathon in Fargo together. It’s all been prompted by my wife (Laurel).

Bill Crosby is a pastor at Cavalier Evangelical Free Church

“It just became something to get you motivated to run and when Kyle started running with me, you have to run to keep up with him. When he came along, we became good partners and good for accountability and we kept on running.”

BI: What’s the biggest adjustment you’re going to have to make with the football stuff on you?
BC: “I’m a heavy runner. I’m a little over 200 pounds usually, so I’m kind of a heavy guy so I need air movement to cool me off. I am drenched with sweat when I get done with a run, so airflow and the pads prevent that. It weighs anywhere from 12 to 14 pounds and that has been my biggest adjustment, trying to adjust for the weight of the equipment.”

BI: The world record requires you to wear everything basically except for cleats. Do you smell like a locker room?
BC: “Of course, all the gear I have is previously used, so there was still some sweat from the last guy in the uniform and pads, how much is me and how much is the previous guy, I don’t know. After every run, I have to wash the gear.

Bill Crosby is a pastor at Cavalier Evangelical Free Church

“So for the last three weeks, I’ve been running in various forms, sometimes I won’t wear the jersey, but most of the time, I’m wearing full pads and full uniform that I will be in September 23. Every long run, I do it in full pads as if I was running the full race. Every speed workout I do, I run in full pads as if I was in the race. But some of the easy and recovery stuff, I’ll maybe not wear the knee high socks or something like that.”

BI: What advice has Levi given you?
BC: “Go faster.”

 

Conversation With Bill Crosby
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