Life

Four months after my first training run nearly finished me off, I ran the Great South Run in 1 hour 23 minutes, finishing 3,985th out of 25,000.

On my fifth wedding anniversary, I didn’t drink a drop for the first time ever, looking back at old photos and wishing I’d sorted my health sooner.

With the year over 80% done, there are just 66 days left until I get to spend Christmas completely alcohol free, as my running challenge continues.

After the funeral for an aunt who meant a lot to my family, I wrote about my year without beer and the races ahead, the Great South Run and The Grim Original.

A week after beating my 5K PB, I smashed my 10 mile and half marathon personal bests too, cutting 25 minutes off my previous half marathon time.

On top of running alcohol free all year, I signed up for the Facebook FiveK, a global 5K where anyone posts their time and a photo online.

With the year over 70% done, there are only 100 days left until a Christmas without beer, as I keep training for the Great South Run.

Three months after starting to run, I passed the halfway point of my 500 mile challenge for the year, with the Great South Run still to come.

After hating running at school, I finished my first race, a quarter marathon, in 54 minutes 42 seconds, powered by a week of juice only.

A trip to the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight, the garlic beer I tried again, and why it’s one beer I’m happy to give up for good.

With two weeks to go before my first race in over 20 years, I’ve nearly doubled my running pace and set a new 5k personal best.

Two months into running I’d covered 175 of my 500 mile target, burned over 25,000 calories, and brought my body fat down to 12%.