While most of us are contemplating the prospect of crawling out of bed on a cold winter’s morning James Peters has already completed a half marathon.

James has set himself the target of running 13.1miles on every one of the 31 days of December to raise funds for homeless charity Crisis.

"I started running three years ago when our little boy Henry was born. I was very lazy then. I’m on the road a lot with my job for a medical company, and was spending evenings alone in hotels, bored, sitting in the bar because there was nothing else to do, eating all the wrong food. I was 16 stone and decided I had to do something about it.

"I’ve done half a dozen competitive half marathons plus the Welsh marathon and Black Mountains Trail Marathon and my weight’s down to 12 stone. My friends know I’m capable of all that so this had to be a proper challenge.

"I chose Crisis because as I’m travelling around the country I see so many homeless people in our towns and cities, a lot of them ex-services.

"I’m concerned there aren’t the frontline services to help them and I like Crisis because they’re pressing the government to do something about the lack of public funding. Any one of us could become homeless if our circumstances changed suddenly.

"I’m hoping to raise £2,000 although obviously the more the better."

James lives in Kingcoed near Raglan with his wife Nicky and son and for most of his runs he’s in familiar territory.

"I’ve been running around here most days for two years so I know the area like the back of my hand. But my first four were in the Lake District where we were on holiday, last week I was in Bangor, this week I’m in Southend and over Christmas we’ll be in North Norfolk visiting my parents so I’m using an app called Footpath to plan my routes.

"I usually get up at 4.45am, have a quick coffee then set off in the pitch dark - and return by about 7am. I take some energy gels to keep me going.

"It’s different from a competitive race. I tend to slow down and walk past cattle in fields so they don’t chase me, for instance."

James says running in the dark is safer than at dawn or dusk, and he’s lit up like a Christmas tree with reflective jogging pants and lights on his chest, back and head so he can see where he’s going - and drivers can see him.

"Normally I like running on hills but doing this every day it’s easier on the knees to run on the flat.

"My back’s sore and I’m tired all the time but, on the plus side, I can eat pastries, pancakes and waffles for breakfast!"

With his last run on December 31st, James will be able to see in the New Year in style.

You can follow his progress on https://www.facebook.com/31in31forCrisis/ and help him raise money for Crisis at:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/James-Peters11