Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent – the period of time leading up to Easter Sunday. It symbolises the 40 days and nights Jesus spent alone in the desert after his baptism and before his ministry. For this reason, people give up something, or change their behaviour during Lent. In order to reflect on the meaning of Easter.  Traditionally, people give up chocolate. Some more original ideas I have seen are: giving up Facebook and giving up haircuts.

The pastor at my church (crazy) Dan proposed something more radical – living on benefits for 6 weeks. In effect, giving up money. That means living on job seekers allowance, which for me is £63.40 a week. I’ll be starting on Sunday 21 February for 6 weeks, ending on Easter Sunday!

Why?

• Money for the poor in Greenwich – the money saved from living on benefits will go towards a poor council estate in Greenwich.
• Reflect on how fortunate we are – we are in the top 1% income bracket of the the world. We should feel like we have enough
• Deep religious reasons  – which I don’t know about – yet.

Ground rules

• Rent and council tax are excluded - because that would be paid for if you are on benefits. It would also wipe out my budget many times over.
• Travelcards for work is excluded – because you wouldn’t have need for a travelcard if you weren’t working.
• All other expenses are fair game – water, electricity, television, food, beer and widgets. All of them have to be covered by £63.40 a week.

Are we being annoying goody two-shoe Christians?

Absolutely not. However, I realise that there are criticisms and issues which I be discussing in future blog posts.

Track my progress

As an accountant, I’ll be maintaining an online spreadsheet of my budget and actual spending. Benefits in Lent Link.

I’ve estimated that I have to slash my weekly spend in half. I’ll be blogging about my experience. It’s going to be a struggle. But I will enjoy producing the spreadsheet, doing variance analysis and fancy pie charts.

The blog is now in its normal state of autumnal neglect. There are no big events but a series of smaller reflections.

One working knee
Is all I have. I’ve been told to lay off the training for six weeks. I tried to cycle with one leg and found out it doesn’t really work at all. Struggled.

One year on
From living in London, from stating my job and from joining the church. I see the same faces and get to build relationships. Stable.

Playing guitar in church
I’ve been playing the guitar for about 10 years. I got to play at church last Sunday despite not learning any more chords in the past 5 years. Actually, I have learnt the strange John Mayer chords that require huge hands and ridiculous dexterity to play. However, they are obscure enough to be nameless. Anyway, all you need for church is D. Simple.

It went well. I lost feeling (or blood circulation) to my right hand but carried on playing. 80% of the chords were hit on time, and the ones I missed are inaudible to the human ear anyway.

What could disrupt this current peace and stability? Exam results on Friday. Sadness?

Race day performance depends on two things:

• Not getting injured – unfortunately, my ankle got buggered playing netball. It was actually football, but I refuse to blame her.
• A good night’s sleep – I only managed 4 hours

Actually, the vital factor is the training that you must do beforehand. 12 hours sleep does not substitute hard miles run. I felt like I hadn’t done enough, but my version of preparation would be five dry runs of the actual route a year before the race.

So I set off to the o2 Arena for the start of the race with Johnnie (my running partner). I had a weak ankle and the feeling of workday tiredness. It was a gloriously sunny day. Perfect for a picnic but not ideal for a run. The race was well organised. It was a relief to find that there was somewhere to put my stuff and that I wouldn’t have to carry around my wallet, oyster, keys and phone. It also started on time.

I did a steady 9.5 minute per mile pace for the first few miles. My ankle hurt a bit but Johnnie and I soon hit a rhythm. It was hot and stopping for water was tricky. You had to virtually stop and wait to grab a cup off the table because the stewards were so busy. At the halfway stage, we were looking good and on track for a 2 hour (plus a bit) finish.

There were some killer hills at the 7/8 mile stage. Fortunately, training on "death hill" in Greenwich Park meant that we coped well. We soon hit the familiar training spot of Blackheath and Greenwich park. Alas, Johnnie got tired and graciously told me to go on ahead. Then I developed a horrible pain in my right knee. For the last three miles I pathetically hobbled towards the finish line. My theory that the pain would go away after 20 seconds was completely wrong.

I waddled over the finish line at 2 hours and 13 minutes. I finished 5,627th out of 9,065. The pain was worthwhile and I hope it has done a lot of good for Steven. Now, I’m determined to go back and beat the two hour mark.

I’m now on a post-run recovery regime of beer, pain killers, glucosamine, ice packs and rest.