Episode 80 | Scott Murdoch — Four Cans in the Fridge, the Marathon des Sables & Running to the First Minister

Scott Murdoch grew up on the schemes of Loch Lomond — grey houses, young teams, a school that got burnt down so they learned in caravans — and moved at thirteen to a nicer part of town where he suddenly realised other people's parents had Ferraris. His gran died of alcoholism at 58 looking about 80. His dad drank every day. His mum put up with it because she'd grown up in it too. As a kid, Scott knew that if his dad had four cans of beer in the fridge at home, the evening would be okay. If he went to the pub with his friends, it was best to hide under the covers and wait for it to pass.

He left school with a C in PE and a C in Music — both on performance marks alone, because he never bothered sitting the written exams. Drank in the park, caused trouble, got himself a reputation and wore it as a badge of honour. At 21, something shifted. He made two Google searches on the same day: being the child of an alcoholic, which is when NACOA appeared. And what is the toughest race on earth, which is when the Marathon des Sables appeared. Six marathons across the Sahara Desert in five days, 50 degree heat, sandstorms, a medical tent where people's feet were degloved from the sand. Scott decided he was going to do both.

It took him eight years. He went back to college, got straight A's, went to university, got straight A's again and won the court medal — the highest academic award for business at his university. Retrained, found a job he believed in, started working with NACOA, ran the Marathon des Sables in April last year for the charity, then ran 100km from Glasgow to Edinburgh through the night without sleeping to hand a letter from a grieving child to John Swinney, Scotland's First Minister.

Now 60 days out from attempting a Guinness World Record — two marathons in two time zones on the same day in Samoa — with Callum Best, Ian Stringer and Josh Connolly, all children of alcoholics, all NACOA ambassadors. The goal: to fund a national schools education programme so that children like Scott never have to count cans in silence again.

You can find Scott on Instagram at:

https://www.instagram.com/scott1murdoch

and you can donate to his Chasing Yesterday Marathons here:

https://www.instagram.com/scott1murdoch?igsh=MWhkMG01OTltdmo4OA==

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Alcohol Explained - William Porter

https://amzn.to/4uMmkyB

This Naked Mind - Annie Grace

https://amzn.to/4eC6L6z

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

https://amzn.to/44jOV3i

Donate:

https://motiv8.im/donate/

https://nacoa.org.uk/get-involved/donating/donate/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 79 | Paul Drayton — Ride or Die Trying: Beach Blanket Babylon, Two Brain Operations & the Love Story at the Heart of It All

Paul Drayton grew up in Sunderland — doors unlocked, family holidays, a dad who ran his own petrol station, a childhood he describes as idyllic. His first real taste of alcohol was chocolate liqueurs at his grandmother's, and he loved the feeling from the start. Not that he became a big drinker early — quite the opposite. As a teenager he was the designated driver, ferrying his friends to gay bars in his little box Astra while they drank cider and he listened to Erasure.

Then came London. Drama college. Beach Blanket Babylon, where the tips sometimes came in wraps and the shift ended at 3am and the mornings brought in with Bloody Marys to take the edge off. The trendy bars of the nineties. A life built around parties, people and performance. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, a relationship that would define the next decade of his life — with a man who became, over time, one of the most recognisable faces in Britain, while Paul quietly built everything around him and slowly stopped being Paul.

By 2015 he was at home alone with the dogs, self-medicating sciatica with alcohol, going to neighbours' houses to ask if they had any wine left. The drinking went from functioning to dependent. A drink driving incident that Paul still doesn't believe tells the full story ended up in court and in the tabloids. Two lots of brain surgery for a chronic subdural haematoma. A divorce. A month in rehab. And through all of it — all of it — he stayed sober.

The book — Ride or Die Trying — is at its heart a love story. Paul talks about the dogs who kept him honest, the 274 days that ended with champagne at a wedding, the ADHD diagnosis that finally made his whole life make sense, and what it means to finally be somebody again on your own terms.

You can find Paul on Instagram at:

https://www.instagram.com/pauldrayton1

His website:

https://pauldrayton.co.uk

and you can buy his book, Ride or Die Trying here:

https://amzn.to/4pguaPP

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Alcohol Explained - William Porter

https://amzn.to/4uMmkyB

This Naked Mind - Annie Grace

https://amzn.to/4eC6L6z

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

https://amzn.to/44jOV3i

Donate:

https://motiv8.im/donate/

https://nacoa.org.uk/get-involved/donating/donate/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nigel Jones is the founder of the 9KM BY 9AM health and wellbeing platform, an accredited life coach, sober coach, hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, and the author of the best selling QUIT DRINKING book Walking Back To Happiness: The Secret To Alcohol-Free Living & Well-being.

After recently reaching 2,000 alcohol-free days, Nigel has become known for his practical, no-nonsense approach to personal transformation and identity change. In this episode, he shares how stopping drinking wasn't the biggest challenge - rebuilding himself was. We explore why alcohol promises what sobriety delivers, the power of small habits, how to break free from old versions of yourself, and why lasting change happens when you stop focusing on willpower and start changing your identity.

Drawing on his own journey and his work with thousands of people looking to improve their wellbeing, Nigel explains why becoming alcohol-free is about far more than removing alcohol. It's about creating a healthier, calmer, more authentic version of yourself and building a life you no longer want to escape from.

LINKS

Website - https://www.9kmby9am.com/

My Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DLPH36R3/

Alcohol Free Coaching Programmes - https://www.9kmby9am.com/coaching/alcohol-free-coaching/

Coaching Testimonials - https://www.9kmby9am.com/coaching/coaching-testimonials/

Newsletter - https://www.9kmby9am.com/latest-news/newsletter/

Professional Bodies https://general-hypnotherapy-register.com/nigel-jones/

Professional Bodies - https://anlp.org/members/nigel-jones

Feel Good Hour - https://www.feelgoodhour.com

Podcasts - https://www.9kmby9am.com/about-nigel/podcasts/

TRY MY AI LIFE COACH

https://www.9kmby9am.com/about-nigel/ai-coach/

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Alcohol Explained - William Porter

https://amzn.to/4uMmkyB

This Naked Mind - Annie Grace

https://amzn.to/4eC6L6z

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

https://amzn.to/44jOV3i

Donate:

https://motiv8.im/donate/

https://nacoa.org.uk/get-involved/donating/donate/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.