Series One - Why Run? podcast - 7th March 2022

Sarah is a mother of four, a cafe manager, a recovering alcoholic...and a runner. Why Run? explores the mental health benefits of running and in this opening episode, Sarah speaks candidly and emotionally about her slow descent in to alcoholism over ten years and how running has been a key element in her recovery.

A front-of-house manager at a top London restaurant for many years, Sarah's problems with alcohol escalated after she and her family moved away to live in a Cambridgeshire village. Always a heavy social drinker, Sarah turned to alcohol increasingly to escape her loneliness and the loss of identity that goes with leaving a responsible job and close friends and being a new mum in a place where you don't know anyone.

Sarah talks about going in to rehab three times and the importance of running and exercise to her recovery.
Fascinatingly, Sarah talks about how her approach to running was transformed after completing a yoga course in rehab. Today, Sarah runs mindfully by focusing on her breathing, particularly during ‘the hard bits’. "God knows how I did it before," she says.

Sarah has now been sober for eight years and running is a vital part of her new life. "You can be feeling rubbish and you go for a run and you come back with a completely different mindset...every time. I really believe I'll be running for as long as my bones allow it.

"The fact I am running after all I've been through is miraculous. If I can do it, then anyone can."