Prayers for Two Late Runners

It’s common for religious communities within the Church to pray for their dead, and likewise, it has been a goal of mine to make Running Catholic an engine of grace for deceased runners. Runners obviously do not constitute anything like a religious order, such as the Dominicans, but we do make up a community of sorts, and so it’s worthwhile to lift each other up in prayer, especially for those who have left this life for the next.

To that end, there are two runners I want to remember in prayer today, one who has passed away after a long, beautiful life, and one taken from us all too young.

The first is Ed Burke of Northern California, whose “long run,” to quote this recently posted online obituary, “came to an end Oct. 14, 2009, three months short of his 92nd birthday.” He is described as the “son of Irish immigrants, devout Catholic, devoted family man, World War II veteran” and “anything but ordinary.” He was also a marathoner: “While his contemporaries were enjoying retirement on the golf course or on a bench outside a neighborhood coffee shop, he was running marathons and leaving competitors a third his age far behind.” His PR: 3:16 — at the age of 62!

Here he is approaching the finish line of the 1979 Pacific Sun Marathon. Godspeed, Mr. Burke.

And then, on a very tragic note, there’s the story of Chelsea King, the 17-year-old girl who was murdered while on a run in San Diego a few weeks ago. Below is a picture from a vigil on her behalf at St. Michael Catholic Church on March 2.

Let’s pray for the soul of Chelsea, the consolation of her family, and the conversion of her killer.

May the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.