From Drinking Every Morning to Running 340 Miles: Tommie Runz on Recovery, Running & Redemption
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What sparked Tommie Runz’s early morning drinking habit?
I don't know when the morning drinking started, but that was sh a standard. And I'm just like, I'm gonna die like this. Like this is how I die.
He's sober, he's an accomplished runner, he's making a positive impact on the world. Prepare to be inspired because today you're gonna hear the experience, strength, and hope of Tommy Runs.
Seventeen years old senior year I think it was, ran out of the classroom and then like passed out. All of a sudden I'm drinking every day for two weeks.
That's like the most accelerated case of alcoholism I've ever heard.
Well, you know the story hasn't even the story hasn't even finished yet. The meetings saved my life. There wouldn't be any running if I didn't get sober. I did Osaka marathon seven days before Tokyo. Six or seven marathons in a year. The speed project from LA to Las Vegas, three hundred and forty miles. How do you continue? And how do you make that decision for yourself even though like everything's telling you to stop? So how do you do that? Um
All right, Tommy, before we even get into it, Dan over here dug into the archives and I want to share something with you.
How did Tommie’s drinking accelerate during his senior year of high school?
Low Rich Roll podcast. This is Tommy Runs. I think it's important to mention that I'm a young black guy from Detroit area. Went sober. then went vegan, then started running. And sober vegan runner isn't normally synonymous with like the black community. So it was just so much different for me to be going down this road and I was kinda like on my own with it. You know, the veganism is just not a thing in the black community for real. I mean it's getting better now for sure. But at the time, like I didn't know anybody that was vegan that's black or that was in my circle or even close to my circle. So I was just kinda on my own looking for material and information, uh, found finding Ultra. And it just spoke so much like to me.
Um I've been in A A And went through the program. Love the program. The program helped me so much in so many ways that I mean I just
How did AA meetings become the turning point for Tommie’s sobriety?
I feel like I'm indebted to those people in those rooms and those tables. So hearing that Rich went through the same process in so many different ways from a different side of the world to me. Um but then also felt like all the same feelings and all the same like just troubles, you know. It just made me feel at home reading the book and then so I started watching the show and It seems like every time that I was trying to make a new like direction in my life the podcast had a guest on it that was perfect for that moment, perfect for the past, the moment that just passed that I didn't need to get over, or someone that was inspiring me to move on to the next step and kind of reach forward. My journey went from
desperate to thriving with running veganism. Now I have a running company that have my own little personal brand on Instagram. Now I'm working with companies. I've been able to interview and have a podcast. I've been able to interview some of the people that and have ended up on your show as well. to help people just kinda navigate through these things and through these times. And I super appreciate how much time you spent on talking about the black community uh and the issues in twenty twenty that arose and came back to the forefront. So I appreciate you. Tommy runs. Thanks, Rich. I'm a stay.
So that was twenty twenty one?
Yeah.
So like five, five, six years ago. Um I had forgotten about that and Dan unearthed it. And uh it was so fun to listen to that today. I happily forgot about this. So how does that make you feel hearing that now, like so many years down the line from where you were at that moment?
Um, it makes it feel like sitting here feels surreal because I know how much um I know like what roll that book in your podcast and the beginning of my sobriety in running. Um I d I just know how much it all meant to me to like see somebody thriving and working 'cause before sobriety I just didn't know like what life was on the other side of that and like who I would be. So to to get into it and be curious about like self improvement and all that stuff, um, to catch all that.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What sparked Tommie Runz’s early morning drinking habit?
0:00–1:12
2
How did Tommie’s drinking accelerate during his senior year of high school?
1:12–2:02
3
How did AA meetings become the turning point for Tommie’s sobriety?
2:02–15:07
4
What was the decisive moment that led Tommie to commit to sobriety on January 11 2017?
15:07–1:07:12
5
How many marathons has Tommie Runz completed and what are his major race achievements?
1:07:12–1:21:12
6
How did Tommie transition from personal content creation to building a brand and podcast?
1:21:12–1:47:50
7
What challenges and opportunities exist for increasing Black representation in trail running?
1:47:50–2:13:02
8
What are the key take‑aways from the lightning‑round questions about motivation, gear, and community?
2:13:02–2:17:33
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Rich Roll Podcast
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