Why Running is the Ultimate Addiction Recovery Tool
Turns out, doing things you’re not always good at is a good thing
Nine a.m. and it’s 80 degrees with an unseasonably warm and aggressive 15 mile-per-hour southerly wind.
I’m lacing up my Brooks Levitate 5s and yanking up my high-waisted Lulu pants, setting my Garmin watch to “Run.”
The GPS catches a signal, so I tap “Start” and slowly begin my daily run.
I have all the gear. The shoes. The watch. The expensive leggings and technical shirt.
What I also have: zero talent at running.
In fact, I mostly don’t like it, except I picked it up when the gyms closed down during COVID and I needed something to get the wiggles out. Something to accompany my third consecutive year in successful remission from alcohol use disorder.
I’ve hardly improved at running in that time, either. Most runners tend to increase their speed, lose weight, go farther more easily over time. Not me. Every single jog is a slog and an exercise in self-deprecating self-esteem.
We addicts like to say, “Take the sobriety tools that work for you and add them to your toolbox. Leave what you don’t need.” What do I see in running that has me keeping it in my toolbox, rather than…
