A recent letter to my member of parliament. I’d encourage you to read it and consider contacting your federal representatives as well. If you’re really out of the loop you can find out who your MP is By using your postal-code.

Hello Linda Duncan.

I don’t know how intimately you understand the worldwide AIDS situation, it’s a complicated beast to say the least. Inarguably a huge contributing factor to the perpetuation of this issue is the fact that people don’t know any better than to keep spreading the disease either because they don’t know they’re infected or because they don’t know how to take simple steps to prevent transmission. Getting people started on treatment is intimately tied to education. Communities of people living with HIV/AIDS who are living as a result of ARV treatment change the societal outlook on the disease, instead of a silent killer amongst the culture treated individuals are given physical ability to stand up against it and confidence against the disease is created within the community. This is a step along the avenue to conquering the disease.

• 2.3 million children under the age of 15 are infected with HIV.
• Less than 15% of the 780,000 children who need treatment are on the necessary medicines.

I personally don’t think it’s particularly important to discuss how many people are going to die this year as a result of this problem. Anti-Retro-Viral treatment is not going to keep them alive forever. They do however, change the perspective of a community being wiped out by the disease, the question is a quality of life for the living. It’s about creating hope and inciting change.

You might be interested to know that I along with approximately 100 other students at the University of Alberta (the vast majority of whom I presume live in your riding) raised nearly $7000 at the end of last month to support the work of an organization called Dignitas International. (www.ualberta.ca/~dignitas) Our fundraising is basically going to be purchasing drugs and that’s it. Getting drugs moving is considered such an important part of this process that all we focused on this year as students was awareness and the purchasing of drugs. The International organization is putting a huge effort towards distribution and care system optimization (I’d be excited to provide more information about dignitas international if you’re interested) but drug movement is a huge deal, so much so that it’s all we focused on for this year’s fundraising event.

Here is where the situation involves our national government and therefor you!

In 2004 Canada responded to the urgent need for medicines in many developing countries by creating “Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime”, with the goal of getting more affordable, generic medicines to patients in the developing world. Unfortunately, the initiative was, and remains, seriously flawed. The bureaucratic burden associated with it has limited its use to one instance in the last 5 years.

The good news, though, is that CAMR can easily be simplified… without any additional spending. In testimony and submissions to Parliament, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and other organizations have outlined how CAMR can be streamlined by moving to the ‘one license solution’. Canada’s largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturer has made the commitment that, if CAMR is simplified, it will produce a lower-cost children’s version of a key AIDS drug for export to developing countries under CAMR. I request that you support the bill associated with this issue, a long term positive impact is directly linked to the passing of this bill.

I recognize that as a representative of this area you’d like to represent our interests but likely struggle a bit to know what people deem important. Consider the fact that there are 100 constituents who actively are making an effort to see AIDS drugs moving. I have a hard time imagining that you could even find 100 people who in principle are against the concept let alone making an active effort with their time and money to move in that direction. Please bring the situation with the CAMR to the attention of the New Democrats and request party support in the HOC. Bringing this issue beyond attention and towards action is critically important.

I look forward to hearing your response.

Josh Krabbe

As suggested last week these past 14 days were spent with a serious run focus. I only managed to get in the pool for one swim and only 3 hours on the bike this week. That’s a lot less than normal, especially since it was supposed to be build week 3 (biggest volume and intensity) with the triathlon club. I had to opt out of a few fun workouts as a result.

The run goal of making 84 km (two marathons) this week was threatened a bit by the outrageously cold temperatures on Monday and Tuesday and Tuesday’s runs were done inside which is monotonous and I feel like is a bit tougher on my knees than the outdoor variety. Highlights were a 1 hour 13 minute ten mile run on Saturday in slushy conditions and an 2 hour 57 minute long run today in falling snow on top of the nicely frozen slush from the previous night. This long run was the longest of my preparation and was 32.3 kms in length. I think I’ve got nutrition sorted and am very glad that there will be water stations along the way on race day as almost all of Edmonton’s public drinking fountains are shut off for the winter and it’s tricky to rink enough on these long runs. I’m also doing 100 calories of shot bloks every 40 minutes along the way and am implementing that strategy on all of my runs longer than 10 miles during training.

I’m feeling good albeit tired and experiencing some muscle soreness. I’ve got one run left that I would consider to be a tough one this Wednesday and then it’s really taper time as nothing left is too difficult before things get really tough between 10 and 11:30 am on April 4; the race starts at 8 am. I will be shooting for 3:20.

This is not running weather:

The beginning of March marks a few things in my training. 8 months since the start of the Sea to Sea Bike tour. One month until my first marathon, 5 months until my main race of this season (Ironman Calgary 70.3) and 18 months until Ironman Canada 2010 (Penticton).

The past 8 months have been quite successful in terms of keeping the volume in. Since my shoulder allowed me to basically do whatever I wanted again I haven’t let my 7 day rolling average drop below 1 hour per day except for a few down weeks during periodization in the fall and just prior to Christmas when I sprained my neck. I my pseudo-taper (partly planned – partly lazy) coming into the Birkebeiner I hardly got below 10hrs/wk in comparison.

This weekend is 4 weeks away from the marathon I’ll be running in the Yakima River Canyon in Washington state. I’ll have run 70 kms this week by the end of the weekend and expect to run 84 (two marathons) next week. I will continue with the sustained run volume through half of the next week and then begin a 2.5 week taper. My long runs still planned are a 28 and a 32 km each weekend and will also be aiming to run a 10 mile and 12 mile run at sub 7:40min/mile pace. Those 4 key runs remaining actually constitute a good portion of the run volume I have to fit in and based on how they go I will be deciding upon what my planned marathon pace will be come race morning. I’ve been training with the hope of trying for 3:20 which is a 7:38 min/mile pace. I will have to decide if I feel prepared to tackle that before race morning. When the gun goes I need to know if I’ll be aiming for 3:20 or aiming for 3:30 I cannot decide mid-way and so that’s what some of the focus with these runs is for, determining what I will decide to bite off. Of course I’m hoping that I feel confident through these runs and can do the 10 and 12 mile runs at this pace but if I end up with a bit of a reality check I am ready to have my reality checked.

A plot of the last 8 months rolling average is available here if you’re interested.

TNIV – Luke 14:1-24 – The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. ²There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. ³Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” ⁴But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. ⁵Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” ⁶And they had nothing to say. ⁷When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” ¹²Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed are those who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” ¹⁶Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ ²¹“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ²²“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ ²³“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

Today’s parable has lots of things in it that are possible to pick up and run with. The story of a banquet host with guests and a celebration is an allegory at least at some level, and so I found it at least somewhat simple to generate a lot of thoughts about it… of course talking all morning isn’t what I want to do now what I think anyone else wants me to do. More importantly though I think it’s dangerous to decide from the outset that a story is an allegory and then take it a bit too far. I’m going to take the risk and be a bit dangerous, let’s hope it isn’t too a stretch too far.

That being said I do to think it’s quite clear that Christ is telling a story of what a feast in the Kingdom of God is like. In the first half of the reading, like we have seen so many times this semester Jesus is talking with the religious establishment of the day. He’s jumped into parable telling when talking to the Pharisees as they allow him to comment about the very people he’s dining with as he tells the story. These people are the ones who expect invitations dinner with God and we see that presumptuous attitude of the man who says “Blessed is the Man who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God.” and so Jesus begins…

The invitation process that Jesus describes seems to come in two parts, the first is an announcement of the party and the second is the actual invitation. It seems odd in some ways, but it’s actually quite a reasonable way to do things, the event is announced and preparations are made… the process for something good takes some effort and some time. The process continues until final details are presented at which the planner’s role is just about ready to move into “carry out the plans” mode and that’s where things fall apart.

In November I started planning a ski trip for reading week. Booking of the backcountry shelter is permitted up to three months in advance and I wanted to book the whole place so I needed to recruit interest early on in the process. Emails went out and I accumulated 13 people to sleep in a 12 person cabin. The plan was to squish a bit or in the odd chance someone backed out we’d be back to 12. I wasn’t about to start eating for every meal but the big plans were laid, the money was paid and the anticipation for something great began. There had been a last minute trip with only three people the winter before and I wanted to offer that experience up to other friends this year.

This is where the excuses begin for the host though, the first is a landowner who has purchased a field – he must go look at it. Clearly in Jesus’ day the fact that this man owned a field puts him in an elite category, that is amongst the wealthy and I think Jesus is using this to tie those who are present with him at the table into the situation. Jesus presents another man who has 5 yoke of exen, enough farm equpment for five farms and a man who I think is representing the powerful in society. The third is a man who has just been married, something he obviously knew about in advance. I think his acceptance of the initial invitation was one made out of a desire to stay on the side of the invitee more than out of desire to come to the banquet. The excuses made are poor ones in general. The rich landowner probably had seen the land before he bought it and the man who had purchased the oxen probably had seen proof of their hardiness before fronting the cash. Jesus, by giving these examples seems to be suggesting that any reason not to take up the invitation to his banquet is a poor reason. Attending the banquet is really in the be best interests of all those who are invited but the Pharisees, and I think also us ourselves, are quick to ignore the fact that what Christ has for us is good.

So it went with the backcountry trip. The beginning of January rolled around and people got back to school and reasons started coming up why they wouldn’t be coming along. There were avalanches in Fernie over Christmas, people died, “I can’t come on the trip because I don’t have any avalanche experience,” some said. There was no avalanche danger on the route we had planned. “I am going downhill skiing on another weekend, I might be too busy” another said. “I don’t want to take the day off work anymore like I’d previously promised.” “I have a job interview”. “My wife has a job interview”. “I didn’t mean that I wanted to come when I said that I wanted to come”. My group of 13 skiers was disintegrating, sure one person had a job interview, but not a single other excuse held any water. Don’t these people know what they’re missing out on I thought to myself?

The banquet host feels the same way, saddened by the response of those around him. Don’t they know what they’re missing out on? The response is one Jesus describes as ‘angry’ but I think it’s more than that, it’s some rejection, it’s some pain and within it there is some love, there is still the desire to share in what is good. The owner sends out another invitation… new people… those that got missed on the first pass. The master gives up on the social scene he had been inviting from, he doesn’t invite more of the same but invites the people he didn’t invite before, the measure is one of ‘whoever is able to enjoy what is good’.

I also extended the invitation, friends of friends, a few more here and there and a few spots filled up on the trip. Not all the spots, but some and off we went. Beautiful weather, some real physical challenge on the climb, some banding together to chop wood, fetch water, boil soup and explore a frozen lake in the alpine. It was good and those that came enjoyed it.

The parable has a subsequent invitation where my story doesn’t. Perhaps Jesus is selling an opportunity that is better than a ski trip. His love is perfect where mine is limited ahd he goes to great lengths to have people experience the goodness of what is on offer. The master insists that these people come in… Why was there not the same insistence or persuasion with the original three? In my reading of this I understand that this insistence is not a bargaining with these people in the way I could argue with people to come skiing, or the servant could argue that a field could be viewed tomorrow or oxen would live to pull a plow on another day. This is the Master’s way of posing an invitation to the uninvitable. The vagrants and hobos from outside of town were on the outside of town for a reason. They weren’t allowed to be in town. We’ve got a Jewish culture that understands in and out the covenant that the community that lives within the walls is invite-able and those that live outside of the walls are uninvite-able. That they wouldn’t be able to accept an invitation to the banquet even if they had wanted to. This is a demonstration again of how sure he is that what he has on offer is good, and that our invitation is a ‘no-obstacles-invitation’. He has made the way clear for those on the fringes, or on the complete outside, of righteousness.

Reading the parable in this way isn’t about slamming our excuses for not jumping in with both feet. It is not meant to paint lines of where ‘good enough’ is. It is more of a lesson about Christ’s goodness and God’s desire for us to participate in Banquet style life with him. So much desire, that he has made a way possible where there is no other way.