Running Helped Me Regain Control of My Life
Runner's World|Issue 6, 2021
IN MY FAMILY, we were expected to do well in school and also participate in sports. I ran cross country and track, and like practically everybody else in Minnesota, I played hockey. Then in my junior year, I discovered alcohol and pot. Athletics completely fell away, and I just kind of scraped through the rest of high school.
EMILY SHIFFER
Running Helped Me Regain Control of My Life

I went to college, where my addiction became more prevalent. I was drinking hard, doing cocaine, and smoking two to three packs of cigarettes a day. I graduated, returned home to work for my family’s supermarket business, and got married, but for the next decade, my alcohol and drug use spiraled. It was obvious to everybody but me that my life was falling apart. After my family staged an intervention in 1994, I attended Hazelden Betty Ford, followed by three months of aftercare. I’ve been clean and sober ever since.

This story is from the Issue 6, 2021 edition of Runner's World.

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This story is from the Issue 6, 2021 edition of Runner's World.

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