Running Man. 10 quotes from a book that will change the way you think about running

Running Man. 10 quotes from a book that will change the way you think about running

Charlie Engle was able to run away from drugs and alcohol. In the truest sense of the word.

Runner Charlie Engle has overcome hundreds of the most difficult distances. But his biggest victory is over addiction. He was able to escape from drugs and alcohol, getting a high from running and new challenges. Now in Russia Charlie Engle’s book “Running man. How Running Helped Me Defeat My Inner Demons”, in which he tells the story of his overcoming. We have collected 10 striking quotes from the book, after which you will definitely want to read it.

This is how Charlie Engle describes the main idea of the book:

I’ve been running all my life: either striving for something or running away from something. Running helped me break a ten-year addiction to cocaine and stay sober for twenty years. Running saved my life, and it gave me life.

About addiction

Charlie had always loved running, but at university, drinking started to appeal to him more:

“Beer made me feel warm, light and calm, as if some wizard had put his hand on me and said: “See, Charlie, now there’s nothing to worry about.” It was as if alcohol had stuck a flag in my brain, marking that territory and claiming it as its own.

During one of the drinks, as it usually happens, Charlie was asked to try drugs:

I remember being glad that the cocaine didn’t work on me. I didn’t want it – or anything else – to distract me from drinking.

Still, he hadn’t forgotten his addiction to running:

The more serious my binges and binges got, the harder it was to run. The harder it was to run, the harder I forced myself. I realized that I deserved this pain. I hated myself for my worthlessness. Running was my punishment.

About the father

An important part of the story is the relationship with his father. It was important for Engle to live up to his expectations, but his father was stingy with praise and support:

My teammates patted me on the back, and my coach told me I was a natural-born runner. When I showed my three blue ribbons to my father, he was more surprised than impressed. I hoped he would come to the race, but he never showed up. No one beat me that season.

On new challenges

The love of running proved to be stronger than the addiction:

The thrill of a long, hard run – that rush of endorphins that had eluded me for so long – was far purer and more pleasurable than any pleasure from drugs. Drugs and alcohol were a means of escaping reality. Running became a means of returning to it.

Drugs and running turned out to be similar, Charlie wanting more all the time:

My attention was immediately drawn to the headline, “Nanango Forest 52km Run.” I thought a marathon was the longest distance. Do people really run distances longer than 42 kilometers? And if so, for what purpose?

He liked to challenge himself more and more:

The higher the bar was set, the more people called me crazy and the happier I felt.

When it seemed that all the problems were over, fate threw another challenge at me:

I was facing up to 30 years in prison. The same media that had recently praised me for my accomplishments now seemed to be reporting my “downfall” with a kind of schadenfreude. I realized that the people who had seen “Running the Sahara” and thought I was a self-loving moron were also willing to believe that I had committed a crime.

Once in prison, Charlie again decided that the only way out was to run:

To keep my sanity, I need to do a crazy act – that’s always worked before.

Overcoming one of the ultra-distances, Charlie wondered if there was an end to his main race:

Will I ever stop wandering? Will there come a point when I finish a race or expedition and say, “That’s it, it’s done. I’m satisfied”?