EP51: Guest Episode – Mark Long (Beyond Limits Life Coach) | The Guy Who Stopped Pretending

EP51: Guest Episode – Mark Long (Beyond Limits Life Coach) | The Guy Who Stopped Pretending

From Clean Break Chats by Andy Delderfield and Richard Casement

April 25, 2026 · 1h 14m · Episode 51

About this episode

Mark Long shares his journey of overcoming vision loss and alcohol dependency while training for a challenging run.

Mark Long has been losing his sight since he was 12 years old. For most of that time, he pretended everything was fine - hiding his condition, masking it with alcohol, and performing a version of himself he thought the world needed to see. It took a car crash, a divorce, and a gym full of tears listening to a podcast about suicide to finally make him stop. Now registered blind, 16 months alcohol-free, and training for a 25K SAS selection route through the Brecon Beacons, Mark is a qualified positive psychology life coach who's building a life he actually recognises. He talks to Rich and Andy about using drink to cover up his vision loss in social situations, the moment he realised his relationship with alcohol was quietly destroying his marriage, what it feels like to run when you can barely see, and why he refuses to be defined by his blindness. He's also running the Fan Dance on 2nd May to raise money for Guide Dogs UK - the charity that gave him Mary, his black lab and, by the sound of it, his best mate. Links to donate in the show notes. Sponsored by Authentic Brew. Use code CB10 at authenticbrew.com for 10% off. Tpo Sponsor Mark use this link…

People in this episode

Hosts: Andy Delderfield, Richard Casement

Guest: Mark Long

Topics covered

  • vision loss
  • alcohol recovery
  • life coaching
  • running
  • personal transformation

Keywords

  • blindness
  • alcohol-free
  • positive psychology
  • SAS selection
  • running with vision loss

Sponsors

Authentic Brew

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Guide Dogs UK

Places: Brecon Beacons

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