About this blog

I ran my first marathon over 10 years ago and will be running my 7^th in April (the 2014 Boston Marathon). For those of you who don’t know, marathon training usually takes a minimum of four months so I’ve already begun. As I began looking ahead I realized the marathon is on the Monday after Easter. Last year I ran the Cleveland marathon on Pentecost Sunday, and I wonder now what I did last year—am I the only religious geek out there who notices these things? Maybe.

At any rate, I did notice, and it did strike me, particularly given last year’s events. And as I set out on another journey of marathon training, with its ups and downs and lessons to be had, I couldn’t help pondering that my journey would reach its end close on the heels of my Lenten journey and that although, on the one hand, I run these alone, I run them knowing there are thousands of people out there running these journeys too and why not share this journey.

And that’s how the idea for this blog came about. Except that I then realized although I’ve started my marathon training, we’re only at the beginning of Advent and Lent doesn’t start until March—seemed odd to ask people to think about Lent and Easter when we’ve only begun the Advent-Christmas cycle. And yet, as I was recently reminded, Advent is a mini-Lent, and Christmas does point to Easter. The Lucan infancy narrative in particular is loaded with a preview of what is to come. How can we ignore Lent and Easter at Christmas when it is the Easter story that gives meaning to the birth of Christ?

So now you know how this blog came about. As for what it is about and what you can expect to find here, let me say that the more I’ve immersed myself into running the more I find myself noticing connections between running and the spiritual life and find myself looking for a way to explore these further, and, why not, share them with others who might find them helpful too. You don’t have to be either a runner or Catholic to read or benefit from the entries, but, I imagine only those interested in their spiritual life would be drawn to this type of blog.

If you're still reading, you might be wondering about the blog title. Being the religious geek that I am, I came across this passage in the New Testament which seemed too perfect for me: "I do not run aimlessly … No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” 

That all said, thank you for stopping by, and if I might ask a favor, say a prayer for the unknown person who will land on this page at some future date and know someone prayed for you before you got here.

If you find my spiritual writing interesting, check out my book Saints Off thePedestal: Real Saints For Real People.