I fell off the vegan wagon and went on a cheese bender during dinner with Nick Clegg

And what a cheese bender it was: three courses - grilled halloumi to start, risotto with a big slice of goats cheese for main, and a selection of Cornish cheeses for desert.

I made it from Sunday (1st March) to 8.30pm on Thursday (5th March) without any meat, fish or diary before I succumbed to an excess of cheese.

I'd been invited to a Lib Dem dinner in St Ives on Thursday by Julia Goldsworthy (Camborne and Redruth Prospective Parliamentary Candidate) with Nick Clegg as the special guest.

The Deputy PM had spent St Piran's Day on a tour of Cornwall, and the dinner was too good an opportunity to miss.

The restaurant was able to provide a vegan option, but at the point in time I sat down at the table to check the menu, I was absolutely loathing this particular #40before40 challenge.

And, I didn't really care that I had broken the plan - the cheese was so good. 

My fellow dinners seemed to revel in my delight at being a rogue vegetarian for the evening. 

Falling off the vegan wagon in style - grilled halloumi

Mmm goats cheese risotto

Cornish cheese with frozen grapes....

So, how was the challenge for me?

Well, during the week it felt bad. I went into it feeling unwell anyway, but spent the first five days being ill and feeling nauseous.

I had to take time off work, I struggled to concentrate and I didn't want to eat what I was meant, or had to, in order to get enough energy on board. 

I also started to feel resentful at the cost of vegan-friendly food.

Cutting meat and fish was never the issue for me.

It was eggs and cheese that I missed the most, especially as I've attempted to eat more protein and less carbs over the last year.

Mrs P provided brilliant support, did the research, produced a meal plan and cooked up some amazing vegan food (she actually faired a lot better than me).

My snacks during the day were fine for a vegan diet, so I carried on with those (although I seemed to enjoy them less than normal), but I just couldn't get enough energy from my breakfast or lunch.

It got even harder when the girls both wanted scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Bryher enjoying scrambled egg for breakfast

Olivia enjoying scrambled egg for breakfast

While the girls were eating scrambled egg, I was eating scrambled tofu

During the week there was a lot of debate and comments on Facebook and Twitter with vegan friends, as well as people we'd been recommended to follow.

And while I totally understand the ethical and sustainable reasons for being vegan, it was never the driving factor for me with this challenge.

It was to see if I could do it, as well as see if there were any health benefits.

It's difficult to tell if there were any health benefits. I did lose weight in the first couple of days, but that was probably from being ill, and it was back on by the third day.

I didn't have the energy to get out to do any training during the week, but I found I ran out of steam playing football on Saturday and when I went for a run on Sunday.

And I didn't enjoy having to go back to eating more carbs and sugar, and think that left me feeling drained.

I was also a bit unsure about the processed nature of a lot of vegan foods, and was slightly baffled by a recipe I found that called for vegan chorizo.

To me, it seems to defeat the object to eat vegan chorizo or Quorn chicken pieces.

I also felt annoyed by the cost of vegan-friendly food - this small piece of vegan flapjack (below) was priced at £2.50.

Okay, so it was homemade and did taste good, but it is possible to buy a piece of homemade flapjack from the Saturday farmers' market in Truro that is double the size for half the price (I know it probably has butter in it).

An expensive piece of vegan-friendly flapjack

One of my friends, who is vegan, commented that a minor suffering in my wallet or diet is nothing compared to the suffering of the animals used in food production.

And while I applaud his commitment and understand where he is coming from, I actually think that the high cost of vegan / natural food is a big issue, and one that potentially puts people off, especially those with families.

And while I've generally grumped about this challenges, there were some great food moments (as you will see from the pics below).

Farrinata

Vegan chocolate torte

Homemade dairy free pizza with beetroot, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, olives, rocket and pine nuts

Some of my homemade vegan flapjack

However, the flat white with soya milk was slightly unusual.....

I wasn't sure about the flat white with soya milk

What next?

This was probably the toughest, and least enjoyable, #40before40 challenges that I've undertaken in the last year. Running through mud and diving into a skip filled with iced water during the Rock Solid Race was more favourable!

But despite that, I've actually had a vegan lunch and dinner today (Monday 9th March).

It was good to have eggs for breakfast this morning, and I felt so much better for having the protein. My energy and concentration levels were much better and back to normal.

We're also considering some of our buying habits - we already get the bulk load of our eggs and meat from the Cornish Food Box - but we will now look into getting locally sourced milk from there as well.

On top of this we're also going to try and eat more vegan / vegetarian food.

So, we didn't make two weeks, but there is a good chance that some of the changes we made will continue for the foreseeable future.

Run Forrest Run

Number 4 on my #40before40 was to run 850 miles in 2014.

Flashback a decade and setting this target would have seemed like a dream, rather than a potential reality.

Growing up I'd always I enjoyed watching and taking part in sport: football, tennis, cricket, swimming, hockey, basketball and rugby. 

Although running was one of the sports at school I didn't really take to. I think that point was bought crashing home when I stumbled across the line to finish last in the 800m at school sports day when I was about 15. 

It was a bad performance, although not as bad as when I was entered for the javelin, even though I'd never shown any particular skill in this area.

I was number 13 to throw and as I ran up on a grey, drizzly summer's day, my less than grippy trainers gave way below me and I slipped over. Cue mass howls of laughter from the sidelines as the javelin went about 30 cms over the white line and I landed on my arse.

I somehow kept my feet behind the line and avoided a foul throw, meaning that my misery was compounded and the throw was measured. 

As I entered my 20s, I became less active and, for a number of reasons, developed a pretty poor lifestyle. I was unhealthy and overweight.

When I moved to our old flat to Falmouth when I was 29 I decided that one of my challenges I wanted to achieve before I was 30 (in 2005) was to lose weight and get fit.

So, I started to run.

To begin with I could barely get round Pendennis Point, which is just a couple of miles, but I kept going. I kept setting myself targets and kept, literally, plodding away.

I got to the position where I could run round Pendents Point in one go without walking, so I pushed it a bit further, and then a bit further.

By 2008 I'd run my first half marathon (Truro) and my first marathon (New York). I'd also taken part in two triathlons (Perranporth and Helston).

And like Forrest, I just kept running (also, we don't have a shed, so to get some space from the girls and to clear my head instead of going to the shed, I go running).

At some point in late-ish 2012 I downloaded the Log Your Run app to my phone. I wanted to keep a record of how much running I'd done.

On New Year's Eve 2013 I checked the app and it said I'd run around 800 miles.

"Wow!" I thought to myself. That was great, but I think I can beat that. 

So I set a target of 850 miles, which I thought would be achievable, but also push me a little bit.

Now, on checking the Log Your Run website, I discovered that on New Year's Eve 2013 I'd misread the data on the app. It had showed me the amount of running I'd done since I downloaded the app, not since January 1, 2013.

In fact I'd 'only' done 664.1 miles during 2013.

Running total for 2013

And instead of getting up to 850 miles, I'd recorded 522 miles in 2014.

Running total for 2014

There are a couple of reasons for the drop in miles: I played a lot of football in April and May, which meant I was unable to get out running; and I started having session with a personal trainer, so I often did sets of reps instead of going for a run.

Despite being down on my targets, I'm chuffed with the total for 2014. 

There were some great runs and events thrown in, such as the Classic Quarter (where I beat my 2013 time), Rock Solid (where I came 271st out of 1880 entrants) and the Rok 5k.

I'll just have to see if I can increase the miles to 800 + in 2015!

Coffee

Number 14 on my list was to have a coffee. 

Probably a strange one for most people who frequent Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero or any number of independent coffee shops that have grown over the last few years and taken over the high street. 

But it's been about 10 years since I had my last coffee. 

I can't remember when exactly, but Mrs P and I have been together for over nine years and she has never seen me drink one. 

So, the reason for not drinking coffee. 

About 10 years ago I went to the doctors for a bit of a health check.

I was not in the best shape: I hardly did any exercise, drank a bit too much and didn't eat as well as I should. 

I also drank a lot of tea and coffee everyday, in excess of 10 cups, with sugar in. 

At the health check I weighed in at 16st 7lbs - the heaviest I had ever been. 

The doctor told me to make some changes. 

So I cut down on booze, started to eat better foods, began running and cut sugar out of my tea and coffee. 

I found I didn't like tea and coffee without added sweetness, so I stopped drinking them both and turned to green tea (which I now drink in great quantities). 

I remember going to a Cornwall Chamber of Commerce breakfast event about three months later and had a coffee. 

My head completely span out from the caffeine and that was the last one I drank in a decade. 

There have been times when I have missed it: I used to enjoy an espresso after a meal, particularly when in France. 

However, with 40 approaching I thought I'd give it a shot. 

In my head I'd planned to make it a ceremonial event, similar to brewing my beer, but it didn't work out like that. 

It just sort of happened. 

We'd arrived in Brittany for our family holiday with Mrs P, Olivia, Bryher and the in-laws (mother in law - Cathie, father in law - John and brother in law - Dan).

As we were unable to checked into our accommodation in Fouesnant until 3pm we stopped off at a creperie in Beg Meil for lunch.

A combination of tiredness from the overnight crossing from Plymouth to Roscoff and our Franglais not being up to speed the post-lunch coffee order for Cathie, John and Mrs P slightly confused our waitress, who ended up bringing out four coffees.

So what to do with the extra petit cafe?

The extra petit cafe

On the spur of the moment, and thinking about this list, I said  I'd have it.

Drinking the petit cafe 

Mmm, this is quite nice

The finished petit cafe

And I really enjoyed it, although I could feel the caffeine in my head over the next few minutes.

So, when Mrs P and I went back to the creperie for a date night, I decided I'd have another.

Date night crepes

Another petit cafe

Since we got home I've had one more coffee, from Costa, when we were in Yorkshire to watch the Tour de France. And again, I really enjoyed.

I think I will start drinking coffee again, but I'm not going to go down the Gold Blend or Nescafe route like I used to.