Aaron Conners and Kevin Wood have turned to distance running to support sober living and begin a new chapter in their lives.
With running being a social sport, it demonstrates what experts have said that sober living is supported by social connection.
Conners and Wood are Thorpe Recovery Centre alumni. They are now job hunting and in sober living programming with Residents In Recovery.
Conners says their goal is for more running options.
“We are putting together a Residents in Recovery running club. We are going to do a run-walk group and a run group; a regular 5K group. For right now we are running as a team, just him and I, but it [the running club] is on the [to] do list to happen rather quickly.”
Conners describes his life as having been in trauma coming from what he says was a family of addicts. He has been in previous treatment programs, but this time he got the sense how much it was up to him. He credits one of the staff at TRC for introducing him to running.
When Conners and Wood completed TRC they continued running and this week did a 21.5 km run in about two hours. That feat has pushed them to sign up for the Titanium Half Marathon on August 14.
The running duo is also in the midst of a 215 km run to honour the Kamloops 215.
Coming out of addiction, Conners admits they are cleaning up a financial wreckage. They are very passionate about their running, but pursuing sober living through distance running takes its toll on sneakers. They would welcome any community support.
“It’s a bit of a learning process for us. Running shoes; they play a big part. They keep you healthy. Running in old shoes is a great way to blow a tire. Between that and the registration fees for races; we are just looking for sponsorship to help out.”
Wood and Conners are using the Strava running app to keep track of their progress and various running challenges.