I’ve enjoyed running on-and-off since my early twenties as a form of exercise that has been really beneficial to my physical and mental health. I haven’t been able to run very long distances due to problems with anterior knee pain ‘runners knee’ and with my sciatic nerve. My furthest is 15 miles.  Since starting strength training I’ve been running around 30 miles a week relatively injury free.* Last year I beat my goal of running a sub 2 hour half marathon with the time of 1 hour 54s. 

Before I took monastic vows as a nun of Annwn one of the things I was concerned about was whether I would still be allowed to run and continue with my strength training. When I looked into rules about exercise in monastic traditions I found they differed widely. For example in Thailand the Buddhist monks are not allowed to ‘do weight lifting’ or ‘jog’ as it is ‘not proper’ (resulting in obesity)**. Contrastingly another Buddhist order, ‘the Marathon Monks of Mt Hiei’ in Japan, have to run distances between 18.6 miles a day for 100 days to 52 miles for 100 days over a seven year period.***

It is also notable that many monastic orders incorporate martial arts such as the Chinese Shaolin Monastery, the Hindu Naga Sadhus, and the monks of the Knights Templar during the Crusades.

The moment I thought about this question in relation to my patron God, Gwyn ap Nudd, who is a warrior and a huntsman, I knew I didn’t really need to ask as He has encouraged me to run and do Taekwondo (before my local club closed) and more recently to take up strength training. I often feel closer to Him when I am running through the woods than when doing more formal devotions. 

When I formulated the nine vows for the Monastery of Annwn I received the gnosis that one of them must be ‘to take care of our health’ and that could include exercise for those able to do it.

Over the past couple of years, when I am ‘in the zone’, I have found myself filled with energy that I can gift back to the Gods and the land in ad hoc prayers of thanksgiving as I have been running.

As a couple of examples this is one for my river Goddess, Belisama, as I run beside the Ribble – 

‘My beautiful river, my beautiful river, my beautiful river – joy – my beautiful river, my beautiful river, beautiful river.’

This is a fragment of a praise poem that I tend to change in accordance with where I’m running – 

‘I praise the land, the trees,
I praise the sound of running feet, 
I praise the skies, I praise the clouds, 
I praise the sound of feet so loud…’

When I’ve had bad days and am in no mood for words I’ve offered my perseverance and effort to my Gods. 

More recently I have begun using running as a form of prayer to bring myself closer to Gwyn reciting this ‘mantra’: 

‘My breath with Your breath,
my heart with Your heart,
my feet on Your path,
You and I as one.’ 

I am embracing running as a physical, mental, and spiritual practice that brings me into unity with my God.

*Except for my latest blip – I pulled my sciatic nerve in my left glute and had to cut down for a bit.
**https://inews.co.uk/news/world/obese-buddhist-monks-exercise-health-239763
***https://marathonhandbook.com/the-marathon-monks/