An annual run along Morecambe Promenade will celebrate recovery from addiction and how running is helping to turn lives around.
The Well Communities 5K Bay Recovery Run takes place this Saturday, September 7, from Morecambe Sailing Club starters' office opposite the town hall.
Many of the participants in the seventh annual run are people who are recovering from addiction.
They include Stuart Nevin, who set up Morecambe Community Runners five years ago to help get people off their couches and into running.
"I'm now approaching 14 years of sobriety," said Stuart, in an interview with Beyond Radio.
"Once I got back to being healthy and started running in the mornings, it promoted that recovery and gave me a sense of purpose and direction.
"A lot of people need that in early recovery, and it's helped me manage my ups and downs. It's not always been a bed of roses for the past 14 years. It's helped me manage the difficulties of life.
"Running has always been my failsafe when things get too hard, instead of going for a drink, or worse.
"Running saved my life."
Stuart was joined in the Beyond Radio studio by Kate Aspinall, an alcohol outreach worker at The Well Communities.
LISTEN to our interview with Kate Aspinall and Stuart Nevin
Kate said: "We're a lived experience recovery organisation which means we help people to overcome addictions of various sorts.
"The majority of people who work in The Well Communities are either in recovery themselves or have very direct experience of loved ones who have had or are still suffering with addiction issues.
"I am nine years sober, having had 20 years of increasing desperate slide towards addiction, into alcohol and other stuff.
"People like myself can use those experiences, all that pain from the past, to help other people recover.
"We take pride in being a recovering community that is doing something healthy and positive and very visible.
"There is a lot of stigma around addiction and addicts and alcoholics. Actually it's an equal opportunities problem, is addiction. It does not discriminate between background or walks of life.
"Those of us you'll see running up and down the Promenade on that day will all be there to celebrate our own recovery or remember people we have lost and that's how the majority end up.
"It's way more than half of addicts and alcoholics come to a sticky end as a result of their disease.
"Lots of people have been very familiar with fitness and running. But taking care of ourselves is one of the first things to go when addiction strikes. So to put one foot in front of another is very important.
"The fact that we're above ground and we can hold our heads high to run, is against the odds. So many of us don't make it. Every person who is there on that day, is a miracle.
"To see people smiling and laughing, and living again, it's remarkable.
"We run shoulder to shoulder. No-one's any different from anyone else, all running together, it's exciting, uplifting and I'm often moved to tears."
Stuart and Morecambe Community Runners have been helping the Recovery Runners to train for the event.
"We support The Bay 5K Recovery Run guys to rebuild their fitness prior to the run, so when they run on the day they can enjoy it," he said.
"I am fortunate to be able to introduce people to running, people who have never run before and those who have but due to the choices they've made and the lives that they've lived, thought they'd never be able to get back to that.
"There's never usually a dry eye in the place on the day.
"Families are affected by the actions of the person who is in this predicament. But on the day, you can see the lights in their eyes. They are getting their partner or son or daughter back. It's such a wonderful experience. They're getting a bit of hope back.
"It's more than just a run."
Anyone is welcome to come along on the day to take part or support the runners. Participants will get a medal and a T-shirt, and some sweets!
"You don't have to be in recovery or have experienced addiction in any form," said Stuart.
"We want people to help us break down stigma. It's a celebration of health and wellbeing. We have people from the running groups in Lancaster and Morecambe come along, because they love running."
Meet at 10am on Saturday, for an 11am start.
*Morecambe Community Runners is a fully inclusive running group in the community for all ages and abilities, running beginners' Couch to 5K programmes.
It has already helped hundreds of people, who thought they'd never be able to run, to achieve their goals. Some have gone on to run marathons and even further distances.
They meet on Tuesday and Thursday nights at 6.30pm at The Battery. All welcome.
More info at their Facebook page HERE.
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