It’s just the two of them this week, and they’ve got a lot to get through.

Rich and Andy kick things off with some genuinely exciting news - the Valencia marathon experience that became the highlight of Rich’s year is back in December 2026, and this time they’re opening it up. They’re giving up their race bibs, offering a six-month coaching programme, and taking a small group on the whole journey with them. Twelve people expressed interest within 24 hours of it going live.

There are race reports too. Client Ed ran 3:47 at the brutally hilly Leeds Marathon - only five minutes slower than his Seville time on a completely different beast of a course. Andy ran the Bristol Half with his son Johnny on his 18th birthday and crossed the line holding hands in 1:42. Rich used Leeds Half as a glorified training run, executing 12K of race-pace intervals while trying not to fart on people.

But the heart of this episode is Mental Health Awareness Week. Rich opens up about where he was five years ago - sitting at his kitchen table, not wanting to be here - and traces the slow build that got him there: the values misalignment, the coping mechanisms, the things he was avoiding. It’s honest, raw, and the kind of conversation that reminds you exactly why this podcast exists.

Andy talks about the emotional regulation rollercoaster of ADHD, what it really means to chase contentment instead of highs, and what it felt like to watch the ripple effect of eight years of choices play out in real time on a finish line in Bristol.

Oh, and Andy’s off to run 230 kilometres through the Peruvian Amazon jungle in ten days. Training’s done. The zip lines are being built as we speak. The foot cream has arrived.

This one’s got everything.

To join the Valencia Marathon Waiting list go here - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXj3TJDplFq-83-VlYZj_PwfGBjKDzn_3t0cqR_Z2nurhPHA/viewform

Send us a DM and start the conversation - https://www.instagram.com/clean.break.coaching/

Rich is joined this week by the wonderful Louisa Evans therapist, hypnotherapist, CBT practitioner, and someone who stopped drinking three and a half years ago and hasn't looked back since.

Louisa's story isn't about rock bottoms or dramatic turning points. It's about the slow, quiet exhaustion of a decade spent trying to moderate, the physical signs her body kept sending that she kept ignoring, and the moment she finally decided she was done negotiating with herself.

Since then, her life has changed in ways she genuinely didn't see coming. She's lost 3.5 stone, cleared up her rosacea, completed a Master's in Psychology, and is about to embark on a PhD exploring the link between neurodivergence and alcohol use. Oh, and her husband Dale — who said he'd join her "just for a year" never went back either.

This is a conversation about what it really means to be a grey area drinker, why moderation is harder than it sounds (especially if you've got a busy brain), and how understanding yourself - your patterns, your triggers, your neurodivergence — is often the thing that finally makes sobriety stick.

Honest, warm, and genuinely inspiring. This one's worth your time.

Rich and Andy are back together, and this one goes deep. What starts as Andy pulling on a medium t-shirt for the first time in years turns into a genuinely honest conversation about gratitude - not the toxic positivity version you see on social media, but what Viktor Frankl called tragic optimism: the ability to find meaning in life despite inevitable suffering, loss, and pain.

They talk about why gratitude isn't a destination you arrive at, but a daily practice you have to train. Andy shares what it's like running to his mum's funeral playlist - crying through the woods, feeling grief and joy at the same time, and what it means to actually be able to process things now. Rich talks about using gratitude to close the gap between trigger and response, and how it maps directly onto the alcohol-free journey.

There's also a proper celebration of the Clean Break community - Six runners across Manchester, Nice Half Marathon and the London Marathon, including Syori who went from not being able to run 5K to finishing her first marathon in nine months, and Jane, who at 70 called her half marathon in Nice "just an easy run, but a bit longer." And with Sebastian Sawy going sub-two in London, the conversation turns to what's still possible as we get older, and how far both Rich and Andy feel from their own ceilings.