 Three days running in the Lake District. What could be better? But I'm not going, and let me tell you why. I used to live here. Well, not that exact house. It's been knocked down and rebuilt since I lived here. But when I was six years old, I used to sit on this wall. This is the original wall. I used to have a set of drumsticks. I used to pretend that I was in a band and sit on the wall and play drums. My dad used to be the minister at this Methodist Church. And I used to attend this primary school. See, my childhood was really important to me, and it's obviously made me the person I am today, and it holds so many memories for me. Which is why I will not be running the Great Lakeland three-day event this weekend. We've had a really busy few weeks. Training for the Paris Marathon between January and April took up an awful lot of my time. And then running the Paris Marathon. And all the organization that that entailed meant that I was away from the children and the family for longer than I wanted to be. A couple of weeks after the Paris Marathon, Victoria flew to the USA to run the Boston Marathon. And I drove up north to run the Manchester Marathon. And all of that was particularly unsettling for the children. They haven't been away from Victoria for years for that length of time. A week from now, I'll be running the Centurion Thames Path 100-mile race. Right now, I'm in the middle of the country, supposed to be heading up to run three days solid in the Lake District. Now, because of the teaching strikes in the UK here, my children have some extra time off school this week and next. But I was supposed to be away in the Lake District for the whole of that time. As I was leaving yesterday, deep down, I knew I didn't really want to go. Normally, the thought of running for three days in the mountains would absolutely be so exciting to me. And I'd be jumping at the chance. But this time, my heart really wasn't in it. This time, I felt like there were more important things I needed to do. But the team at Uri events had been kind enough to offer me a place in the event. And I'd agreed to make a film covering it. So I duly got in my car and made my way up the M6 to fulfill my obligation. But then something happened. I don't know if you've ever seen the film, The Breakfast Club, where one of the characters is talking about how he was trying to get a lamp to work and he couldn't turn it on. It wouldn't go on. I tried to pull a fucking trunk on. It's the light's supposed to go on. It can go on, I mean. And for him, that was a really stressful moment. And it was the straw that broke the camel's back in his case. Well, for me, when I got up to Liverpool to stay with my mom halfway up the trip, I got my camera out to test it. And I tried to turn it on and it wouldn't turn on. And I spent the entire evening last night trying to get my camera to work. And eventually, I realized it just wasn't going to turn on. I could have gone and tried the whole day today to find a shop that would sell me a new camera. But at the end of the day, for me, that was it. That was the moment where I said, maybe this isn't meant to happen today. So this morning, I emailed the organisers. I thanked them very much for their understanding. I got in my car and I made my way back down the M6. I am incredibly lucky to be able to do what I do. But I also need to be aware of the sacrifices that other people make so that I can do these adventures. I am eternally grateful to those people who support me and allow me to go running weekend after weekend. But I'm also aware that it's not necessarily a bottomless pit of goodwill. I need to do my part as a husband and father. So I'm going to spend the weekend with my wife and children because it doesn't happen often enough. And because sometimes there are more important things than running. If you would like to watch the time I DNF'd at the Centurion Thames Path 100, then click that link right there. If any of what I've said has resonated with you at all, then please do let me know your feelings in the comments down below. And please click like and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And I will see you on the start line next time.