Runner's World

JUNE 2018 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.UK 021

HRH R

Liam’s tips for

kicking the

booze

1 / Stay out of the

pub: it sounds

obvious but don’t

put temptation

in your way.

2 / There’s

strength in

numbers so

join a support

group where

others share your

experience.

3 / Find a hobby

that gets you out

and is a healthy

distraction.

Running

worked for me.

unplanned gap year wasn’t travelling

around Thailand or working abroad

but sitting alone in my parents’

Essex house for weeks on end

drinking vodka.’

By then – and for the next seven

years – he drank almost every day

often until he blacked out. Things

got worse in 2008 when he moved

to Edinburgh to study which gave

him free rein to live how he liked.

By then he was not only drinking

heavily but also experimenting

with various drugs.

‘I got a taste for a non-stop party

lifestyle and saw myself as some

sort of bohemian when actually

I was living in a grotty lat with a

bunch of hippies’ he says.

But the following year his life

began heading in a diferent

direction. At an open mic night in

his students’ union Liam found he

enjoyed – and had a talent for –

stand-up comedy. It eventually led

to him dropping out of university

and popping up on the Scottish

comedy circuit. But often it was

booze more than adrenaline that

fuelled his act.

‘Doing comedy is an ideal way to

hide your drinking’ he says. ‘You’re

often performing in pubs where

people want to buy you a post-show

pint. Many times I would drink into

oblivion barely remembering the

next morning that I had even done

a gig the night before.

‘I would arrive at gigs drunk or

not arrive at all. I became that

man in the pub who has drunk too

much and is spouting nonsense.

Sometimes I did that on stage

getting through my 20 minutes of

material without messing it up but

not always. When it went badly I

wouldn’t get booked there again.’

Finally following yet another lost

weekend while doing several gigs in

Aberdeen Liam realised his life was

stuck in a blurry alcoholic loop.

‘The day after returning from

Aberdeen I tried going for one

day without touching alcohol. I’d

successfully reached early evening

when someone asked me to meet

them in the pub. I ended up drinking

and so I failed miserably.’

His failure convinced Liam he

needed help. The next evening

he went to his irst meeting for

recovering alcoholics.

‘I’d seen these types of meetings

on TV with people standing up

and talking about their drinking

so it was weirdly familiar but really

scary too’ he admits.

After discovering he shared many

similar experiences with those who

were there that evening he vowed

to attend as often as possible

especially during his irst three

months of recovery. He hasn’t had

a single drink since that day three

years ago. His sobriety has

stabilised his mental wellbeing too.

It was during the six months

before he tackled his drinking that

he tentatively started running. Liam

describes himself back then as an

‘unit mess’ but his decision marked

a signiicant lifestyle change.

‘I’d read about the Couch to 5 K

programme and it appealed to me

to follow a plan’ says Liam who

saw running as a way of adding

some much-needed routine to

his chaotic life. He loved building

up his strength and stamina by

regularly tackling the run up Arthur’s

Seat Edinburgh’s famous peak.

‘Once I’d stopped drinking I

would wake up refreshed energised

and ready to run’ he says. ‘I’d also

given up smoking and drugs so the

more I ran the itter I felt. I loved

that whole ritual of putting on my

trainers listening to my music and

feeling fresh air in my lungs.’

Liam was soon running every

other day. He entered 5K and 10K

races and in May 2016 ran his irst

half marathon. More followed.

‘I enjoyed the goal of training for

a race by following a plan. When

I was drinking I would think about

something I wanted to do but it

never happened; I wouldn’t have

the drive to see it through. But now

sober I love the feeling that running

gives me of achieving something

totally by my own eforts.’

His love of running convinced him

to enter this year’s Virgin Money

London Marathon andfundraise for

the charity Scope which supports

people with disabilities.

‘It seemed the next logical step’

he says. ‘For 10 years I’d abused my

body with alcohol. So it felt right to

help Scope which supports so many

people some of whom who may

never be able to run a marathon.’

Liam believes he will always run

as it’s now part of what deines him.

He hasn’t yet written any comedy

routines about running but he has

toured with a show that mines his

old drinking habits for humour.

He still attends meetings for

recovering alcoholics and volunteers

at them too as a way of giving

back to those who helped him.

‘I never used to understand why

people exercised when they could

be in the pub’ says Liam who is now

married and settled in his career as

a stand-up and a comedy-club host.

‘But I’ve become that person who

would rather go for a long run when

before it was drinking into oblivion.’

JOKING ASIDE

Liam loves the feeling

of achievement he

gets from running

WORDS: RICK PEARSON.

PHOTOGRAPHS: JO HANLEY

‘I WOULD ARRIVE AT GIGS DRUNK OR NOT ARRIVE

AT ALL. I BECAME THAT MAN IN THE PUB WHO HAS

DRUNK TOO MUCH AND IS SPOUTING NONSENSE’