Get ready to lace up your running shoes and embark on a transformative journey with me, your host, Michael Maassel, as we explore the intersection of running and sobriety. A self-confessed former mocker of cross-country athletes, I discovered an unexpected love for running, a passion that has become my meditative and empowering tool in my recovery process. I invite you to join me as I recount my journey from running just a few miles to successfully tackling a 50K race in Colorado Springs.
Strap yourself in as we delve into the highs and lows of my personal narrative, revealing how they've shaped me and my running journey. We also explore the parallels between the starting phases of running and recovery, emphasizing the power of resilience, strength, and community in both aspects. It's a story of transformation and empowerment that serves to remind us that help is available when needed. So, whether you're a seasoned runner or just considering your first race, join me in this empowering journey of discovery.
For over 50 years, Harmony Foundation has worked as a nonprofit to serve those seeking recovery from substance addictions. Our residential and intensive outpatient programs are in a collaborative and respectful treatment environment with multiple specialty tracks offering additional support. Our main campus is nestled on a 43-acre campus in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Estes Park, Colorado, that promotes physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. With one of the most robust alumni programs in the county, clients remain connected and empowered for a lifelong journey of recovery.
For more information about Harmony Foundation, please visit:
www.harmonyfoundationinc.com
Get ready to lace up your running shoes and embark on a transformative journey with me, your host, Michael Maassel, as we explore the intersection of running and sobriety. A self-confessed former mocker of cross-country athletes, I discovered an unexpected love for running, a passion that has become my meditative and empowering tool in my recovery process. I invite you to join me as I recount my journey from running just a few miles to successfully tackling a 50K race in Colorado Springs.
Strap yourself in as we delve into the highs and lows of my personal narrative, revealing how they've shaped me and my running journey. We also explore the parallels between the starting phases of running and recovery, emphasizing the power of resilience, strength, and community in both aspects. It's a story of transformation and empowerment that serves to remind us that help is available when needed. So, whether you're a seasoned runner or just considering your first race, join me in this empowering journey of discovery.
For over 50 years, Harmony Foundation has worked as a nonprofit to serve those seeking recovery from substance addictions. Our residential and intensive outpatient programs are in a collaborative and respectful treatment environment with multiple specialty tracks offering additional support. Our main campus is nestled on a 43-acre campus in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Estes Park, Colorado, that promotes physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. With one of the most robust alumni programs in the county, clients remain connected and empowered for a lifelong journey of recovery.
For more information about Harmony Foundation, please visit:
www.harmonyfoundationinc.com
Hey, hey, welcome to season two, episode 21 of Monday State of Mind, brought to you by Harmony Foundation. My name is Michael Mausel and I am your host. We are diving into a new topic. It's the end of October and we're going to go right into November. I can't believe it. Halloween is tomorrow and holiday season full swing. It's like Halloween, thanksgiving, christmas, hanukkah, all those and the New Year's Boom. 2023 is over. Ah, so here we go.
Speaker 1:I am so excited to bring up this new theme because it is a topic that is so near and dear to my heart and one that has been so transformative in my life and the guests that I have coming on to talk about this too. Man, you guys are going to get so inspired and I'm so ready for this. We're going to talk about running, running and recovery, and you can relate what I'm about to talk about with running to like any sort of exercise in recovery. Right, it has transformed my life, my relationship with running, and I will say that my relationship with running and how I view it and why I'm so inspired by it, is a direct result of my program of recovery. The 12 steps, the little sayings that I used to think were so silly that have proven to have major impact on my outlook on my running, my progression with running, where I'm at today with it, and it's just awesome. So okay, let's start.
Speaker 1:I did not grow up being a runner. I was a team sport athlete volleyball, basketball, track, soccer, like I lived for team sports, mostly basketball. I actually you guys, I have to be perfectly honest I used to make fun of the cross country team. I was like, oh my God, I can't believe they're doing that. Like why would anybody do that? And then in my adulthood, even in my early twenties, I was like why would people go and do that? And then I was like this looks horrible, that looks like pain. And then I was like I don't want to do that. Like who runs, who does this? And then, right before I got sober, I ran my first race and it was called the Ima Jean Pass Run and it is a 18 mile run that goes over Ima Jean Pass, from Ure to Telluride, and I was like I have to do this. It was really ego. You guys, everybody in Telluride, if you live in Telluride or Ure, it's kind of like a ride of passage. You better do this race. It's kind of like are you really a local if you don't do this? In my opinion? And so I did it when I was very sick in my active addiction was not pretty, but I did it. I couldn't believe I ran that race in the condition that I was in with my body, like mentally, emotionally, but I did it.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because I didn't start really thinking more about running even in early recovery. I went back to the gym because, I will even say, before sobriety, I was also a gym rat. I loved lifting weights, loved being in the gym, and so that was my outlet in early recovery was just going to the gym lifting weights or doing things at home with bands, like I love that aspect of training and physical fitness. And then something inside me I'll never forget, when I was living at our house back in 2020, when I really started looking at trails, when I lived in Pine with my husband Jesse, I was like I think I want to get into running, like I had no rhyme or reason other than I was like you know what it's easy to do, like I can just walk out my door and go and do it.
Speaker 1:And I remember listening to a playlist from Peloton and I heard Beck. She's one of the instructors and I remember like listening to a playlist for 26.2 miles for a marathon and I literally I think I ran maybe two miles. I'd have to look back at my Strava but I was dying. And I remember this playlist of like hey, like 26.2 miles marathon. She was so pumped that I'm like I'll never get there. There's no effing way I'm going to get to 26.2 miles. And you know what I did. Instead of beating myself up, I came back home and I was like that was really fast, but I was done.
Speaker 1:But I was like you know what I thought about my sobriety, you guys. And I was like you know what, mike, getting sober was the hardest thing I've ever had to do Getting sober, learning how to live a new life. I'm like Michael, you've done this. You know how to start something. That's hard. And so I was like Michael, let's get back out and let's do it again Started really easy a couple of miles at a time, three miles. I logged it.
Speaker 1:I started looking at my progress and I was like gosh, maybe I can do this thing. And so I signed up for IMAGINE back home and tell you right for that following year, and I was really excited about it and I just kept going. You guys, it was one of those things with running, just like sobriety. I had to stay present, like what can I do today for running, be here now, type deal, and went back, did IMAGINE sober, and I think for me that was the tipping point of like holy cow, if I can do this sober and I just crushed my goal, I can do anything.
Speaker 1:I signed up for another race that year with my friends in Moab. I got hooked. And I got hooked because for me, with running, it became meditative. It's something that I really was like I it's where I feel the most at peace and where I can really just clear my head and be right in the moment, looking at my feet, looking ahead on the trail, on the road, and being like, okay, what am I going to do this next mile? What am I going to do the following mile? The other aspects that I love about running when people say that it's a single sport, people are they're wrong. It's community.
Speaker 1:I really got involved in running not just because I was doing it, but because I had friends doing it, and so once I did IMAGINE, I did another race in Moab. I then signed up for my first marathon, the Colfax Marathon. I had other friends doing it, so it was like that accountability, just like recovery, being in recovery, having that accountability of we're all in this together, cheering each other on going and doing the damn thing. And I was so nervous when that first marathon came about and I was like I don't know if I can do this. And I had a dear friend of mine, pam Rickard, with the Heron Project. I just love her to pieces. She just said, michael, it's one mile at a time, who cares if it's 26.2, you stay in that mile. And that helped me, just like with recovery. It's a day at a time, sometimes it's a minute at a time. And what am I going to do for that next minute, that next hour to stay sober with running? What am I going to do with that next mile? To keep going.
Speaker 1:And so, slowly but surely, I finished my first marathon and I got the bug. People say after you run a marathon, either you're going to love it or you're going to hate it. For the most part, and I loved it. And I will also say too, getting to that point again, just like recovery, I asked for help. I had mentors. One of my bigger mentors was one of Jesse's cousins.
Speaker 1:Before I signed on with a coach, I humbled myself enough to be like I don't want to do this by myself. I don't just want to Google a training plan and go off of that. I need help. I want to talk to people who have been in my shoes, that have done the deal and they can give me advice, just like recovery with my sponsor has been in my shoes, is doing the thing and can share experiences that are going to help me. So then I got a coach and I started doing more races and it was one of those things where I was like I love how it totally correlates with sobriety, parts of this journey, you guys. And again, like there are days and I want to talk about this because I think this is so important Like there are days where I crush my goals. Right, I am like killing it. I am slaying my training schedule.
Speaker 1:Let's dive into the marathon I did with my good buddy Sobi, and it was called the run through time here in Salida. The weather was great. Leading up to it, everything was going well, and the day of the marathon it decided to be a full on snowstorm. I was like, why am I doing this? Sobi stayed the night with me and Jesse and his fiance, and we got up and I'm like, looking at Sobi, we're going there and I'm like, why am I doing this? Why the hell am I going to go out there and run in a blizzard? And I'm like, michael, you get to do this. Everything you've been doing has prepped you for this moment.
Speaker 1:And when I was out there running, let me tell you guys, there were moments I'm like, why am I doing this? I'm going to quit. I don't want to do this Kind of like with sobriety. It's like things are hard. When things are hard, that's when I dig in and I pause and I'm like, michael, if you could do all this work before, what is keeping you from going now? Is it fear, and a lot of it was like fear of being in the snow, fear of the snowing, sideways tripping, falling, all the things. And I got to be there and just sit in it and be like you know what, michael, you can feel these feelings, you can feel fear, you can feel doubt, but you know what? These aren't unfamiliar. You have felt all these feelings and you've kept going. And so in those moments where it was snowing so much I had so much snow piling up on my baseball hat running I was like, michael, you got this.
Speaker 1:And to get to the finish line of that slight of marathon and it finally got sunny. At the finish line I was like, oh my God, I did it and the gratitude I had for Jesse and again so much credit goes to my husband for being there at every race, being my rock, being on my team Besides my coach and everybody else cheering me on seeing him at the finish line I was just like, oh my God, thank you, like I made it. These accomplishments are huge and again, with, what my body allows me to do is just incredible. And it happens because again, it's that disciplined part of training that fuels me, is like, when I am disciplined, good things happen right. So then we're going to dive into this. This is really fun, this is where it gets good.
Speaker 1:After that marathon, I was like I want to up the mileage. I was talking with my coach and I was like there's a 50k, 32 miles, in Colorado Springs, let's do it. And so signed up for this 50k and I was like, oh boy. And so what was hard for me? Especially kind of like with sobriety. They always say trust the process. Right, trust the process. You don't have to know what's going to happen tomorrow, just trust what's in front of you. When I would look at my training plan from my coach, I would be like is he nuts? Like I need to be running more or I need to be running less. I'm like you know what, michael, you're trusting him because he's been there. Who are you to let your ego come out and tell you oh, do something different. You know that this process works. It's worked for him, it's worked for other people. Just trust, and that's what I had to do in sobriety, you guys, and I still do that every day.
Speaker 1:When moments in training get hard, I trust the process. When moments in life get tough, I trust sobriety. I trust the tools that I have to get me through hard moments, and I've been proven wrong every single time when I try to do something different. I don't need to do anything different. I need to follow the plan. I get to wake up and show up and be grateful and do it. What I also want to say to that, though, with the plan, what I noticed that really hit home with me after I did the 50K, so I did that race, you guys, it was amazing and even place top 10, which was even more incredible. I started really dialing in training for the New York marathon that I get to run with my two very best friends for recovery, raising money for scholarships. What is so interesting to me that I realized was so important with running and I will even say, if you guys go to the gym, if you guys do any other sort of activity biking, hiking, you name it I realized in this training process how much my emotional state plays a role in how I show up.
Speaker 1:I will never forget this last summer where there was a lot of things going on in my life professionally and it was a really hard time, a really really hard time, and I wasn't sleeping well. I was really not okay mentally and emotionally. I had to get up and run the next morning for three hours. That was on my training. Doc Michael, go run three hours. I was in such a way I only ran for three miles. That's all I could do with everything that was going on in my life. I wanted so badly to do that three hours, but I was like you know what coach I have to be an acceptance of where I am and not beat myself up, and that's okay. And when I only ran those three miles and I was back in my car before I went back to see my husband, instead of beating myself up, I sat there and I was like you know what, michael? There were some days in early recovery and even today having some time under my belt where it is not a good day, or I've had a lot of really bad moments, because I don't say I have bad days, I have bad moments, and if all I can do is stay sober, that's a win. And so I correlated that to my experience that day with running it. Even though I couldn't get three hours in, I still put my shoes on and I showed up in some way. And if that's all I could do, you know what? Then that's enough and that is okay.
Speaker 1:Because training for me, this business of being committed to running, like sobriety, it's a nonlinear journey, meaning it's not just going to be I put on my shoes and it's this like everything's going to be amazing and I'm going to kick major butt every day. Oh no, it's ups and downs like a roller coaster. I appreciate the highs and the lows, because when I'm in low moments of running, those are also my greatest teachers. It allows me to be able to look at like you know, michael, look what you're made of. You can grow through this. You get to do this and you don't have to do it alone. It's so amazing to me to look at this. Look at running, look at how much joy it brings me. I love how much of my sobriety tools have just completely ten X'd how I show up for training, for running for life. I'll even say running aside.
Speaker 1:I remember, if any of you follow me on social media, I made a post about skiing in the back country and talked about how much sobriety relates to skiing in the back country, the patients that's involved, the proper planning being okay, with course correcting if things don't go well. So I'm here to say, while I'm talking so much about running, sobriety really does play a big role, the tools in any sort of athletic sport that any of you choose to dive into. What I have just noticed is that it has really impacted how I show up when I put my running shoes on, and it's a gift and it's amazing and it allows me to give myself grace. It allows me to be able to humble myself to being you know what, michael, I might have to take a couple of days off if I'm injured, and that's okay. I don't have to put my ego out in front and be like I have to do this because it's on my plan. No, michael, you do what's safe, you do what's right, and I never would have known any of this. I really believe I would not have seen any of this if I didn't have recovery.
Speaker 1:I love how it infiltrates my life, especially running. Running for me, it's freedom. Running for me it gives me so much purpose when it comes to knowing that I get to control the mileage, I get to control where I go, I get to decide who's gonna come with me, and the purpose of again being able to be like, hey, I'm choosing to take this time to do this, and the high I get from running people call it the runner's high. I wouldn't trade that for any of my best days, drinking or using. It's the coolest thing. And so if you are someone that is listening to this and is like debating putting on shoes, going and getting some shoes and trying running, don't debate it. Try it. You never know. Just like with sobriety. Like you never know unless you try. When I chose to put those shoes on and put on that playlist, I was like, okay, you gotta start somewhere, let's start here. It has been such a gift.
Speaker 1:Running is not a solo sport, it's a community. I could not do it alone and I don't wanna do it alone. Running alone yeah, okay, I do my training runs for the most part by myself, but I'm always texting my buddies, like my best buddy, sobi and Brett, my girlfriend, jamie. I'm always texting and we're always cheering each other on. So while I might be out there by myself running, I know I'm never alone. And what a gift that is. It is the coolest feeling in the entire world.
Speaker 1:I hope that this hits home with some of you that might be on the fence teetering do I get into this?
Speaker 1:Do I knock it into it?
Speaker 1:Do it?
Speaker 1:Just try it so that at least you can come back and be like you know what I did.
Speaker 1:Try it.
Speaker 1:It's just amazing. That's all I can say. I am so grateful to be able to sit here in sobriety and really experience the power of the tools of the program I choose to work, which is the 12 steps of AA, and how it infiltrates my life and it's in the most beautiful, impactful, purposeful way possible. So good. So, if any of you guys are listening, go, get in your car, get online, get some shoes, get on your bike, go to the gym and be like you know what. All it takes is just starting. It just takes going, the willingness to go, and that's what I got for you on this amazing, amazing Monday morning as we close out October and head into November, with more amazing guests. They're gonna talk about their relationship with running and how it has impacted their life in such a beautiful way, and so heck yeah to recovery and what it allows us to bring into our lives, that allows us to continue to be healthier.
Speaker 1:Amazing humans, right Cause that's what we do here on Monday. State of Mind. Before we part ways, I want to remind you that help is available. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please reach out to Harmony Foundation at 970-586-4491. Just remember that together we build better humans. All right, you guys, we'll see you next week. See you next week.