It is a cold wet morning in Glasgow. The sort of morning that makes most people want to stay indoors and keep warm.
But in a car park in Kinning Park, in the Govan area of the city, an enthusiastic band of runners are gathering for their weekly jog.
Jog On is a running club with a difference. Set up and run to support people in recovery from addiction and those rebuilding their lives after prison, it has gone from strength to strength since it started in February.
It offers more than exercise. It is a safe, supportive space where people can get together, chat and share their goals.
The group is the brainchild of Colin Thomas, an elite running coach who has trained some of the world’s best athletes – including 2025 London Marathon winner Sebastian Sawe.
He’s swapped training in Kenya for Kinning Park, with a weekly group for people supported by Turning Point Scotland.
And as the group prepares itself for the session with cans of fizzy juice and Penguin biscuits, it might be a world away from the race preparation of elite athletes – but the positivity and enthusiasm are infectious.
It all came about when Colin had a chance meeting with a young woman who lost her mother to a drug overdose.
“She told me all about her mum, who had been a runner with Springburn Harriers. She said that if she hadn’t stopped running, she would never have got into drugs and she would still be alive.
“It just stayed with me. I thought there was something there that I could do, and it just went from there”.
The group is a partnership between jogscotland, Turning Point Scotland and Colin, who is known as “the Marathon Guy” in running circles. It had its first session in February and has since had more than 150 people come along to run, chat and let off steam together.
It is a simple idea, but one that is having huge results for people trying to recover from addiction and who have been in prison.
Volunteer coach Stuart Lawlor
The link between exercise and mental health is well documented – and it is an approach that has seen initiatives like Scotland’s first prison parkrun have huge impacts on people trying to turn their lives around.
Nobody knows that more than Stuart Lawlor, one of the first participants, who sought help from Turning Point when he started struggling with alcohol.
Now he volunteers as a coach every week – and is training for a run leadership qualification.
“I was always interested in fitness,” he says. “I’ve always worked out. I’ve been doing this for nine months now and gradually getting fitter.
“I came into Turning Point on a six-week programme. I try to be an example to people about what they can do if they stick at things.
“Exercise gives you natural endorphins. It makes you feel good. I know it really helped me.
“The crisis centre can be quite rowdy,” he adds. “People come for a break and just relax.
“It can be challenging. People’s bodies have taken a battering.”
There are a mix of people from Turning Point’s crisis centre, where people go for three-week placements, and the Turn Around programme in Paisley, for people who have recently left prison.
I get chatting to Juliet, who is coming to the end of her three weeks at Turning Point, and is in recovery from addiction including crack and heroin.
She started taking drugs when she was just 17. She explains she just got mixed up in the wrong crowd when a local drug dealer took her out on a date.
She managed to stay clean for 18 years before relapsing this year when the traumas of her past caught up with her.
Her son came to see her this week, and she was excited at the prospect of spending time with her 12-year-old granddaughter.
“Family is everything,” she says. “It is what makes me want to get clean.
“I like being at Turning Point. I come to different activities and get to know people. It helps me keep going and keeps me calm.”
Today was her first session and she tells me that having the chance to chat to people in a relaxed environment is helping her recovery and she smiles and jokes through the session, which has been moved inside because of the weather.
Instead of their usual jog along the Clyde or around Festival Park, Colin devises a circuits session in a nearby community centre.
Colin adapts the sessions to the needs of the people who come – but the key principles are fun, support and inclusion.
Danny (main photo) is another person taking part. Aged just 22, he is nailing Colin’s press-up challenge.
But he tells me crack cocaine destroyed his life and he is trying to get clean so he can be a father to his young son again.
He has his sights set on a six-month residential rehabilitation place and hopes to be able to work again.
An industrial spray painter by trade, he has been offered work next year, travelling around Europe working on transport projects.
“I want to do it, but every time I have worked I have ended up spending the money on drugs. I want to get clean first.”
As we head back in the rain to Turning Point, he chats to another runner, by far the fastest, who is keen to find out more about residential rehabilitation and to secure a spot.
I tell him he is fast and he says: “This? This is nothing. I used to be a footballer. I was with the Celtic Academy.”
“When someone says they have been looking forward to the run all week, it makes it all worth it”
Running coach Colin Thomas
There is a strong sense of community and people wanting to help each other through difficult experiences.
And with every session finishing with a cup of tea and a biscuit, there is a chance to chat and decompress before returning to the centre.
From completing a single session, to running a 10K or even stepping up to become qualified jog leaders, Jog On is not only transforming lives but also helping people become part of their local communities with pride and purpose.
Jog On were finalists in the Group of the Year category at the 4J Studios jogscotland annual awards.
Colin’s hope is for Stuart to gradually take over the running group, attracting funding so the run coaches can be paid and build up work experience. He also hopes to be able to expand into other Turning Point services.
“Here, when someone says they have been looking forward to the run all week, it makes it all worth it,” says Colin. “I’ve done everything else in running. This just makes me happy.”