Run in your recovery from alcohol or drug abuse? (Read 191 times)

Running and athletics became my new addiction. Long story short, I realized that I'm an addict, pure and simple, and that wasn't going to change. What had to change was how I directed my addictive personality. When directed to drugs and alcohol, it was a death sentence. When directed into running and athletics, it became a super power.

I also used running to quit smoking. went from 1.5-2 packs per day down to none, running gave me a reason to stay smoke free.. quit running and picked the habit back up, then quit smoking and started running again.. I'll never go back to smoking now, but I do still enjoy the occasional cigar (like 1 or less per month, not a "habit", just something I enjoy)..

Running and athletics became my new addiction. Long story short, I realized that I'm an addict, pure and simple, and that wasn't going to change. What had to change was how I directed my addictive personality. When directed to drugs and alcohol, it was a death sentence. When directed into running and athletics, it became a super power.

Hey Dean from K's, would you consider emailing me at sportinrecovery@gmail.com,

as I am doing a study on running in recovery and would really love to ask you a few questions about your experience.

Thanks for considering

I just trade addictions. Running currently keeps the alcohol in check, most days. Running did help with stopping smoking some 25+ years ago. Plus, I just kick the dog instead of beating the wife or kids.

I was growing into parenthood as an alcoholic son of alcoholics. I had quit my drug use before I got married, but I still drank in excess. I saw the writing on the wall after making a fool of myself at my wife's class reunion. 30 years later I haven't drank a drop. Upon emptying the nest, I golfed for a while, but it wasn't enough. I began running a bit when I walked our dog(s), and advanced that to a treadmill. My son urged me into a local 5K, and after beating him by 2 minutes, I was hooked on something once more. I have been running for the past 7 years. I ran over 1,500 miles last year (1,506). I hit 1,100 miles for 2017 this week. I ran my first marathon last year, at age 60, and qualified for Boston next April. I just ran my 2nd marathon and BQ'd for 2019. I started our Rec Club's running program 6 years ago and am still directing it.

I'm not sure I'd go back to drinking if I wasn't busy with running, but I'm more than just dry now, I'm healthy as heck. That's the stopper for me now.

My alcoholic ex used running and swimming to fill up her addiction void with a positive addiction (before I met her). And through her met several others who used endurance sports as therapy and recovery. Post-race and post-open water swim parties were BORING ! But seriously, YES, I would highly recommend that people in recovery take up running. Who's that guy that was an addict, quit and took up running and within 2 years was a national caliber ultra runner?

I think any endurance ath-tivity makes for a great meditative recovery and maintenance system regarding addictions. In my personal observations, (science, pop-science and $elf Help Indu$try aside) some people have addictive personalities, and the "trick" is to entertain a positive addiction (or mostly positive) to supplant a negative addiction (sure, ok, everyone is special, and their addiction is special).

This was a good autobiography about an addict turned triathlete.
"The Hurt Artist: My Journey from Suicidal Junkie to Ironman."