In January 2025 I decided I needed to do something to improve my health. I had seen a photo of a friends wedding in Weymouth and asked ‘who is that fat ******* on the left’ whilst coming to the horrific realisation that it was me. I was an incredible 125kg which classified as obese. I joined Beginners 2 Runners who are a great encouraging club that takes beginners, like me, and helps them to run 5K over a period of weeks. Many in my family were sceptical of my commitment, which encouraged me even more to reach this goal.

The first evening I could only run 3 minutes before stopping. It didn’t help that it was snowing! Each run hurt incredibly but I continued due to the great encouragement of others. To cut a long story short, I was running 5k after 10 weeks. I now run 5k three times a week and a few Sundays ago ran the London Winter 10k in an hour and 5 minutes (as shown in the super-proud pic!) Today I weigh 93kg and feel a lot happier and healthier.

Obviously none of this has come easy. It’s been painful and flipping hard work. Ive needed the encouragement of others in the club and I have needed to want to achieve the target myself which saw me running in snow, ice, hail, rain, heat, storms …. anything creation can throw at us! It’s taken commitment, a stubborn refusal to give up, a desire to progressively move one step further and an understanding that , if it is a competition, then the only person I am racing against is myself. B2R measures this in going just one step further next time.

Today’s Celtic Lent reading focusses on the green martyrdom I spoke of yesterday. It asks the question ‘what spiritual practices are you going to commit to? Like my running, successfully adopting a spiritual practice or two requires commitment, a stubborn refusal to give up, a genuine desire to want to see success.

Too often, in my personal and humble opinion, is that Christianity can be expressed as light and fluffy celebrating the victory and love of Jesus ….. and that is part of it. Also, though, to develop a strong relationship with our creator, to hear the creator speak into our lives, and to allow the creator to take some (or total!) control then we also need to adopt spiritual disciplines that will train us and allow us to stand before God and hear what God has to say.

What spiritual disciplines am I going to adopt?
For me that will be contemplative meditation, which I sometimes pair with my running, and silent retreats. These work for me when I am determined to practice them.
What works for you … I’d love to hear in the comments?