At the age of forty-five, unfit and overweight, Clark Berge, a professed Franciscan friar, took up running. In his younger life he had struggled with alcoholism and with his sexual identity. Running became cathartic not just for his body, but for making peace with the lingering shame of a troubled past, facing unresolved questions and coming to a fuller acceptance of who he was. As the elected leader of a worldwide religious community, the opportunity to run in widely differing urban and wild places -the English countryside, wide South African and Australian landscapes, busy cities and remote Pacific islands - opened up larger spiritual insights into the nature of religious life, social activism, contemplation, life on the margins, solitude and community, fear and fortitude, simplicity and living in harmony with creation, and coming in last in his first marathon. This unique memoir of running and religion explores Christian spirituality with a disarming honesty and depth.
At the age of forty-five, unfit and overweight, Clark Berge, a professed Franciscan friar, took up running. In his younger life he had struggled with alcoholism and with his sexual identity. Running became cathartic not just for his body, but for making peace with the lingering shame of a troubled past, facing unresolved questions and coming to a fuller acceptance of who he was. As the elected leader of a worldwide religious community, the opportunity to run in widely differing urban and wild places -the English countryside, wide South African and Australian landscapes, busy cities and remote Pacific islands - opened up larger spiritual insights into the nature of religious life, social activism, contemplation, life on the margins, solitude and community, fear and fortitude, simplicity and living in harmony with creation, and coming in last in his first marathon. This unique memoir of running and religion explores Christian spirituality with a disarming honesty and depth.
