So much for me giving up alcohol... I tried the "I'll only drink at weekends" thing, I tried the "I won't drink in the house" thing and then I tried the "I'll only drink at parties over Christmas" thing. Nothing worked and I ended up drinking in the house, at parties and during the week! It all came to a head when I couldn't be bothered to train properly and as I sat in the house having a glass of wine with Graeme I suddenly announced that I was giving alcohol up completely. I said that night and that glass of wine was going to be my last. Graeme said I should probably wait until after New Years Eve and enjoy the rest of Christmas first. I agreed he was probably right.
The next night I went out for another one of my many Christmas parties (with friends from a previous job) and as I sat there with a large glass of Pinot Grigio I couldn't help but think it wasn't what I wanted to do anymore. I got home that night and confirmed my days of drinking wine, or anything else alcoholic, were over, and if I could get through the whole of Christmas and New Year alcohol free then I would have it sussed. So, on the 20th of December I had my last drink. There were no fanfares or accolades or grand declarations on Facebook... I just got on and did it.
And then I started to train, and I started to look forward to training. I started to feel better and I even felt happier in myself after a few days. Previously if I've decided to be "good" and cut out alcohol, it's been difficult when Graeme has wanted to have a glass of wine at night with a meal. This time I wasn't bothered. In fact there has been a number of nights he's had a skinfull and I've been on either alcohol free beer or just had a plain old cup of tea. He'd asked me if I mind him buying wine and I genuinely didn't care at all and wasn't tempted to have a glass either. I got through Christmas, a traditional family alcohol fuelled fest of a party on the 28th of December and New Years Eve completely unscathed. I have, of course, been called boring... a party pooper... far too extreme in everything I do.... you know, the usual shit! I don't care, I feel better than I have for a long time and when I got up this morning (New Years Day) it was my legs that were killing from getting a PB in squat and deadlift supersets. My head didn't hurt at all, unlike the rest of my family!
So, looking forward, I'm going to do a 24 hour race in February, a 40 mile ultra in March followed by my 3 day event in May. I'd quite like to do a 48 hour race in August and I've had a word with Graeme (who has now joined me on the alcohol free front... although party rules for him apply and he will drink then) and after his cortisone injection on 12th January he is hoping to be able to start running again. We are going to look into doing a marathon next New Years Eve as I've seen some actually start at midnight. That would be a totally different start to any New Year celebration I've ever had before!
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