OCEANSIDE — Think about it as simply “Church on the run.”
The St. Thomas More Run Club, established in August at St. Thomas More Parish, has about 15 members who meet two Saturday mornings each month. Representing diverse ages and skill levels, they share a passion for faith and fitness.
Because all skill levels are welcome, members split into groups based on how fast and how far they’d like to run. At the conclusion, they often will have breakfast together.
The club came about as the result of a casual conversation between parishioners Michael Thornbury, 29, and Jonathan Walther, 31, who quickly discovered a shared love of running.
Though a parish-based group, the club may not seem as overtly religious as a catechism class or a Holy Hour. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a spiritual component.
Thornbury said the club’s motto is “Running the race and keeping the faith,” inspired by a passage from St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy (4:7), in which the apostle drew a comparison between perseverance in the Christian life and running a race.
“(Races) are hard events where you can choose to quit, much like faith,” explained Thornbury. “This allows us to stay true and practice strength and conviction.”
Jericho Fabie, 36, runs the club’s social media. He noted the role of prayer in the club’s activities.
“We begin each run with a short prayer, asking for safety, strength and gratitude for the gift of community,” he said.
“Afterward,” he added, “we close with another prayer, giving thanks for the time together and the ability to move and grow in fellowship.”
The club’s coordinators reflected on how running has drawn them toward God.
Thornbury said that he encounters God in the “voluntary suffering” that running entails: “in choosing to do a hard thing when it is easy to stop, choosing to take the next step and having a group around to help push you forward and keeping your eyes toward Heaven.”
He said that running “clears my mind” and “provides an excellent time for prayer.”
For David Contreras Delgado, who helped to set up the run club as a parish ministry, running outdoors helps him “to recognize the beauty of God’s creation.”
“Whether it’s a beautiful sunrise, the escape of a trail, or beach views, I always find something to get lost in during my run,” the 23-year-old said.
Walther, who develops the club’s routes and leads its runs, said that “there’s a beauty and bond to putting your body through voluntary stress with others.”
For him, that sense of community is part and parcel of the club’s spiritual nature.
“Church is a people, not a place,” said Walther. “This is simply a ‘Church on the run.’”
Fabie said that there’s “something special” about the conversations that happen when running with others. Courtesy of the run club, he reconnected with a friend whom he hadn’t seen in more than 10 years.
“We ended up talking about our faith journeys while running,” he said. “It was meaningful and grounding — a reminder that God meets us in motion, in community.”
Follow the St. Thomas More Run Club on Instagram @stmrunclub for meeting dates and locations.
