A LONG TIME AGO-BEFORE HE'D FREEBASED OPIOIDS or robbed his best friend or checked himself into rehab for the sixth time Ammons had dreams of a future involving running.
Ammons can only shrug when asked to pinpoint the lowest point in a life filled with them. He spent a decade careening along the rock bottom, mired in what he now calls "the worst possible self-hate."
Mitch Ammons knows his story could have ended like the stories of so many buddies from his darkest years with an obituary. Instead, the longtime addict changed course in a manner that is, without hyperbole, beyond belief.
It's tough to fully grasp the scale of this turnaround until you see Ammons run-to see him metronomically cruise 4:50 miles for more than an hour or to watch him push himself to the brink of consciousness in an interval session at sunrise. Then you can absorb the way he embraces suffering-relishing the revelation of what his body can do while immersing himself in pain that must feel like a cosmic body rub compared to waking up every morning in opiate withdrawal.
People who love to run know that the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other can yield life-changing consequences. It doesn't matter if you're running toward something or from something the activity can bring you redemption and community and purpose and confidence and inner peace. It can strengthen your quads and your mental resolve.
Mitch Ammons knows these things with more clarity than most of us will ever experience. Seven years ago, he was a newbie jogger who'd not run hard since the 11th grade. He couldn't trot a half mile without collapsing. And before that, he spent a decade drowning in a sea of toxicity-smoking, injecting, drinking, popping, and otherwise ingest>ing every controlled substance you can think of and quite likely a couple more than that.
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TO RUN 26.2 IS TO FEEL ALIVE
THE SUN IS rising from the east, and the waves of the Pacific crash below to the west.
LEAVE IT UP TO A PIECE OF PAPER TO TEACH YOU TO RUN EASY
BEFORE I FELL for running, I thought the hardest thing about the sport was the fast stuff: the speedwork, the sprints, and the intervals.
WHY-AND HOW-YOU SHOULD RUN DOUBLES
Those are just a few of the titles entered into my training log for the second run of a day.
FIND YOUR RUNNING COMMUNITY, ONLINE OR IN PERSON
I SIGNED UP for my first marathon while sobbing in the back of a rideshare, on my way to the airport to fly to my uncle's funeral.
FUEL WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT
AS AN ULTRARUNNER, I'm all too familiar with the saying that long-distance running is an \"eating contest with a running component.\"
AT THE FERTILITY CLINIC, MY PAST CAUGHT UP WITH ME
I SAT IN the fertility doctor's office white walls, bare wooden desk, opaque window-alone.
THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE STORY
AT 15, DARLENE STUBBS WALKED AWAY FROM A POLYGAMOUS CULT-THEN DISCOVERED A NEW LIFE AND COMMUNITY THROUGH RUNNING.
RUNNING WITH HANK
How my daughter's rambunctious mutt saved my sanity while she was lost to the darkness.
WHEN I FOUND OUT I HAD MS.I THOUGHT I'D NEVER RUN AGAIN.
I checked the pins on my bib, shimmied my spandex shorts into place, and teed up the stopwatch on my wrist.
A RUNNER'S GUIDE to sleep
Nike rocked the running world in 2018 when it released the Vaporfly 4%, claiming that the shoe could boost a runner's efficiency by that amount.
