Running to Recovery: Ken Anderlitch's Journey from Addiction to Advocacy Ep. 175

Ever wonder how running can transform a person's life completely? Join us as we sit down with the incredible Ken Anderlitch, a devoted runner whose path from addiction to sobriety is truly awe-inspiring. Ken opens up about how running became his essential lifeline, helping him to overcome life challenges. Listen to his riveting account of running 840 miles across Texas in just 19 days to raise awareness about addiction. And don’t miss the scoop on his next ambitious journey from Washington DC to San Antonio to support families in recovery, showcasing his unrelenting dedication to advocacy and resilience.

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Chapters

• 0:10 Challenging Addiction
• 9:17 Ultra Running Challenges and Advocacy
• 17:37 Finding Hope in Recovery

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:10

Welcome to Ella Go. My name is Lisa. Join me on the journey in having real, raw and uncomfortable discussions about fitness, health and everything in between, because, let's be honest, this journey would suck if we don't get our shit together. Welcome to the Elego Podcast. My name is Lisa. I am your host. Today's guest is Ken Andelich. Ken is a runner, but he's not your average runner. In 2023, ken ran across Texas to raise awareness on addiction. This was about 840 miles in 19 days. And now he will be starting a new challenge on September 20th, right, and he will start running from Washington DC to San Antonio, texas, to raise money to help families in recovery. So welcome Ken.

Speaker 1: 1:09

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:10

First of all, I saw your story on the Run Try magazine and I'm like, who is this? And I reached out to Jason and I'm like, oh my God, this guy is is incredible. How did you start with running? How did that get started?

Speaker 1: 1:31

So the story usually goes that I had I got sober almost about two years into my sobriety, I was in a relationship, got into a into a relationship right away when I got sober, and then I tried to keep it going for about a year and a half, and then, um, within that point of the year and a half, I was getting to closer to two years and all I was doing was just, uh, trying to appease this relationship and just wasn't working. Um, so I had to do the hardest thing for an alcoholic, which was let things go. And then so I obviously found myself letting go of this relationship. But at the same time, I found myself trying to get back into it, or at least the notion of like maybe I can make it work. And I knew deep down inside, if I were to continue doing this'd kill me. So, uh, you know, I was desperate and, plus, at the time I just stopped smoking cigarettes. So, um, I was like you go through a relationship and you get through a relationship and then you don't have any cigarettes, what do I do now with my life?

Speaker 1: 2:40

And so I was working, uh, and I saw a buddy of mine, real well, he was looking at some stuff on a map and I said what are you doing? He says I'm, I'm about to run six miles, that's it. I could do that, and uh. And he said well, come on. And uh, lo and behold, he got me up at like 5, 30, 5, 45 in the morning and we hit the streets and within that time I realized there was nothing else that really mattered other than just I do not want to get dropped and so I don't. It was the same city that I recognized, but then at the same time, it was the same city that I didn't even know, just for the simple fact that I never actually gave running a chance. So it was cool to just get that perspective of like running and within that time, also the perspective of like physically and mentally, like not worrying about something else within my life, all those worries of is my ex seeing somebody else. That you move on, whatever the case was.

Speaker 2: 3:54

Is my ex seeing somebody else, did she move on, whatever the case was, and so it just became a tool. You know another coping for me. It gave me, like this, empowerment and felt like I would have some control. So for you, was it more of like you said, it was a tool for coping, and in the sense of like letting it go, that you didn't have to think about it. Or did it give you some strength, or was that along the way?

Speaker 1: 4:22

I think if I were to, uh, I told myself like, if you're able to get up this early in the morning and and put yourself through this, and that was just the first day.

Speaker 1: 4:30

But then, you know, as time went, you know, days and weeks went by and my buddy Robo said, well, I'm going to stay on my side of town and train, but you know, you know now what to do. I was like, ok, so I found myself consistently trying to do it a little bit more, and a little bit more, and a little bit more. And you know I may not be running six miles here and six miles there, but I was doing something. And so I told myself the discipline of doing that should help incorporate some sort of a little bit of discipline on not worrying about, you know, a little bit of discipline on not worrying about, you know, as ex-girlfriends, social media, the discipline of like of and, like I said, I stopped smoking cigarettes, I don't have to smoke cigarettes anymore, and it was like chipping away at some of the stuff I thought was when you get sober, you hold on to the old things in life, like, let's say, like relationships and like cigarettes and nicotine and caffeine and all this other stuff, you know, because it's like you get this change in your life, but we do it.

Speaker 1: 5:32

To us alcoholics do it to the extreme, and so we have to learn how to discipline ourselves in order to kind of, you know, still enjoy those things without having to feel like we're overwhelmed and that's the same thing with running.

Speaker 1: 5:43

running is like I have to discipline myself now from running because there comes a point where I do too much of it, because I take it to the extreme. So with the running now brought into my life, it helped me bring discipline into some of the things back then which was like you don't, do you really need a cigarette? Do you really need to be in a relationship? Do you really need to have? Do you really need to be in a relationship? Do you really need to have cap? Yes, I do need to have a lot of capi, but like, but of course I do discipline myself on some sort of level with all those things.

Speaker 2: 6:14

You started running and then when did it become like like this thing, Like I mean, I saw where you did this whole, the whole size of Texas, which is huge, Like how, where, how did you get from running the first time and then doing this run where you're running the entire width of of that state?

Speaker 1: 6:36

Uh so, um, when I started running I was 29, um, going into turning 30. 29, going into turning 30. So my first month I attempted to try to run 30 miles you know for 30, for my 30th birthday and failed. I failed on many levels, but more or less I failed just because of the simple fact that I was brand new to it. But I continued to, just, I continued to try.

Speaker 1: 7:06

At that point, you know, I ran from one end of the city to the other end and back, and realized, like you know, that wasn't enough distance. And by the time I knew that, like by the time I got back, I was like, oh, it was only 22 miles. So I was like, instead of, instead of being happy that I ran 22 miles, I was like, no, I wanted to run 30. And so, a little bit after the age of 30, I finally ran, like 30 miles on nothing but concrete. It was like it was this we have this mission trail. We did nothing but concrete on these old Ultra shoes that I was given, realizing that my ankles were busted up and my calves and everything like that Nothing against Ultra but my poor feet were just not ready for that impact. I did it and then continued to realize that there was more to running as I went, and so I went and got into trail running. Trail running I went to I don't know if you've ever heard of Bandera, but I was taken to Bandera on my first trail run.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Showed up to Bandera with a.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Starbucks cup and, like you know, just completely unprepared, like I told myself, oh, I just ran 14 miles with my friend on a workout, I could handle this, and my buddy took me through six miles of that and I wanted to cry and realize. I was a whole new challenge of running, and so I got into that and, of course, like as we got into trail running, I realized, you know, trails are softer on the feet, they're great.

Speaker 1: 8:44

And you get through so many other trials and tribulations with that, and so I did. You know long distances with that and once both the worlds of and that's the thing with me like it doesn't matter if it's trail or road, they have both been implemented in my life where I can't tell the difference. I can tell the difference, but you know, in all honesty, I love both of them. I love trail and road, it doesn't really matter. I think I'm at that point in my life right now where my body can take both ends and be okay with it. So, uh, I figured, okay, well, I want to uh start doing ultras.

Speaker 1: 9:17

I think, like uh, within my first couple months, I ran my first hundred K through a last man standing, um, and as long as I feel like sometimes, as long as I have some music to kind of tune out, I can probably detach from everything else like I don't even listen to the music.

Speaker 1: 9:35

It just helps me tune out like, uh, it becomes white noise for me. Um, in that sense, to just kind of, you know, just stay focused on one foot in front of the other and nothing else really matters. And then, of course, you know, as time went, covid hit and by that time I've already done my first 100-miler, I've done my first 100K, I've done a couple of 100Ks, and then of course, I'm doing like you know, runs, from one end of the city to the other end of the city, just nonchalant, and I, when COVID hit, I signed up for a hundred mile. That got canceled and you know I was in self-pity.

Speaker 1: 10:17

But there was these running challenges when we're, when COVID was hitting, of like who can run the most and who can do that, and it kind of inspired, and it inspired me to. Well, if I'm doing it for this, I might as well raise money for it. So I saw my buddy, ben. He ran from Austin to Corpus, which is 223 miles, which is called Catechos. I'm like, let me try that and I try it and I got a hold a child safe. Child safe is a child advocacy center.

Speaker 2: 10:48

I am a victim that I don't identify as one anymore.

Speaker 1: 10:52

But I am a victim of child abuse, right, but I don't identify as much now, I try to say, as more of a survivor or more of somebody as an advocate for that survivor or or somebody as an advocate for that.

Speaker 1: 11:05

So, uh, I look at these, these things that I kind of shied away from or I didn't want to speak about, or I didn't want to bring it, and I and I faced that fear and I want to raise awareness about it, especially with males, right. And so, as a male, I felt like the message was just as impactful. Um, come and shed light on, like, hey, this has happened to me. So, that's, I raised money for that, with the help of my crew and with the help of the community, seventeen thousand dollars was able to be raised for child safe. And so, you know, a couple of years later, down there, I do some other ultras, I do some other stuff. And then, I think, my buddy, who was a CEO of Pave Forward, reached out to me and says, hey, what else you got?

Speaker 1: 11:53

And I heard about a couple of attempts of across texas, one of them with jacob, um, he, he, unfortunately he, he's an just an experienced runner and he uh kind of stopped over at west texas, or I believe it was like closer to the hill country, and um, and then, of course, rebecca guttrowow and she, she attempted to do this as well, and somewhere around I believe it was I can't say it was like by she. She unfortunately passed away from doing something like this. So there was a lot of, there was a lot of danger behind it, a lot of like unknown behind it. But then I found out about this other guy who did it and he was in his like fifties, forties or fifties diabetic. And you know just, I was like, how did he do it? He did like 30 miles a day, you know, and I tried to reach out to him. I was like, which route did you take? This is that? And I looked at, I looked at, uh, his fkt. I looked at the route and on strava, I went from this to that and the map was made. That was it. I mean, yeah, uh. And then I, and then I pulled out an rei map and I kind of lined up to see, uh, that it was all runnable.

Speaker 1: 13:12

There's a lot of like, uh, inexper happened behind it, just like this. Right now, there's a lot of inexperience that's happened behind this just because we don't have, I mean, like now, if this happens, I can say that I've attempted, because I haven't yet done it is that the attempt of running through states is bound to happen. So I can at least say like, okay, like I know what it feels like to run in this state, in that state or whatever. The idea has always been like I'm not going to run for, like the fkt I, so I got the fastest, no time there, but I never actually submitted the information because it really doesn't matter too much to me. It's like it really doesn't matter too much to me. It's like it really doesn't matter If somebody wants it take it. None of that matters to me.

Speaker 1: 13:59

Like the fact that, like there's an FKT, it arouses some people, it's great, it's monumental, whatever. But for me it's like the fact that, like the message is clear, for sober living has now had that ripple effect with other communities. Oh, that is big right. Fkts can always be taken away, right. But nobody can take away the fact that other people now have that message and are spreading that to other people. Whether it's like, hey, some guy ran for sober living, or hey, some guy ran for families that needed recovery, or hey, this guy ran for, you know, uh, victims of of sexual, uh violence, it's that that is a bigger message than an fkt to me because, like the fkt. There's always gonna be somebody stronger, faster, you know um, so those are bound to be. You know, you get an fkt, stays there for a couple years and then somebody else takes it, so I mean, I don't live for that. The fact that the message is is there for a purpose, because that's what we need, is more important to me.

Speaker 2: 15:01

Let's talk about your, your mindset here. Okay, because you know, obviously that's different from your physical and being able to do these runs. But in your mind, like you said that you sometimes detach right, so but what is it that? I mean, come on, you got to be like you're running right. And those self-doubts, the self-doubt talk, sometimes creeps in or does it, I don't know. I mean, does it happen and how do you combat that? How do you overcome that, like what keeps you going?

Speaker 1: 15:38

I've always had this thing because I've I've done overtraining before, and overtraining always leads me into a point of negativity. Um, because I feel run down, I feel tired, I feel all these things now, um, everybody has a different point of overtraining. For me, uh, I get to a point where, uh, if it doesn't become fun for me anymore, I don't want to do it. I have, I already have adhd as it is, so so the fact that, like, if it becomes something where it's a job, I already have a job right and I have other responsibilities. So if this thing becomes a responsibility, I don't want to do it.

Speaker 1: 16:18

So when I get into something, there's a little bit of like, there's a little bit of fear behind this, but I think the biggest fear is that when it's all over, I can't do it anymore. It's already done, like that's. My biggest fear is, like, when it's all done, I got to go back to being an adult, so I must be doing something right. When I'm getting into this and I get to feel excited about something, you know, I get to feel like I'm about to do something that like we can all feel included in, but going into this with more on the level of excitement and like somewhere of like I can't wait for this to happen. And just put me in, coach.

Speaker 1: 16:56

It's, you know, like it's a lot of talk right now, right, and it does have that build up, but once I'm out there, I completely shut it all off because it's white noise and I just know that on my watch it's going to tell me to go left right, straight, whatever, but I'm going to keep going right, straight, whatever, but I'm going to keep going Right. And I get to go out there and continuously challenge myself every day. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt really bad, but there's also going to be some there's. There's also going to be some high points as well, which is, you know, the exciting part. It's like, how many times are you going to be able to get yourself out of the low, to get yourself, you know, back into that high point?

Speaker 2: 17:36

yeah, um. So I was surprised that you said you had a job, because I was like I thought this was his job.

Speaker 1: 17:44

I'm like, wow, okay I I had two jobs actually. Uh, yeah, I I worked from eight. I was working from 8 am to 12, and then I'll take a nap, and then I'll work from 3 pm to 11 pm Any time before that time I'll train, and then the time between 12 and 3, I'll take a small nap, put some food in me, whatever I got to do, and then go to work and then do it all over again. And my hours were so flexible with my first job, the morning job, so I can kind of flex the hours around a little bit more.

Speaker 2: 18:23

But so obviously you've been training for this and you've been diligently. You know doing your training and you know the difference between overtraining and things like that. And you, I think you have a coach, you have like a running coach right.

Speaker 1: 18:38

Yeah, ryan Miller is my running coach.

Speaker 2: 18:40

First of all, why did you get a running coach? And number two, what was it about your running coach that gravitated yourself to him?

Speaker 1: 18:51

The coach is just to kind of manage my, my consistency because, like I said, uh, you know, like I don't want to overtrain, there is a, there is a point where if you tell yourself I don't want to overtrain it, and then you're just like you know, I I feel like overtraining by doing five miles, that's considered overtraining. It's like no, it's not. Uh, quit lying to yourself, you got to get that five miles in. I'm like probably one of the most lazy athletes you'll probably come across without structure. So, again, like I really don't want to tell myself like okay, like don't worry, you'll be able to do the five miles sometime later on this week, or whatever the case may be, you'll be able to do the five miles sometime later on this week, I do, or whatever the case may be. And then I also know that there's some feedback that my coach may tell me.

Speaker 1: 19:41

If I'm cutting corners, you know he reminds me like hey, so you did that eight mile run or that 10 mile run, but you didn't put those striders in there. You didn't put, you know, those hill repeats I asked you to do, you didn't. Those things have a lot more power to it. Trust me on that, um, that sort of thing and, um, you know I signed up for some texas summer races as well. I had three 360ks kind of back to back to back, along with a couple of, I think like a couple of 5ks and 100kK all throughout the summer just to kind of see where my hydration was, my nutrition, just make sure that things are kind of coming together.

Speaker 1: 20:23

And you know, most of them worked out. I had 160K where I just DNF'd. I just I think I just got into this funk and I was like I'm going to, I cut myself short, I didn't, I didn't plan out the uh hydration uh, a little bit better. I could have, you know, put some ice on me a little bit more. You know, I just I got a little too lax, but I, I look at that uh dnf as more of a educational reminder that you, I mean I was doing so well in these other races.

Speaker 1: 20:54

I mean mean I was, I was winning all the other races, I get to DNF on the 60K and so I I told myself like the complacency started kicking in so that that that DNF helped me kind of rejuvenate more on the level of you got more stuff to learn. So after that, after that DNF, I was like, okay, I need to buckle down on hydration, I need to do this, I need to do that. It kind of helped revamp my training into the summer.

Speaker 2: 21:21

Let's talk about your charities or who you run for For this going from DC to San Antonio. What is the name of the cause that you're running for?

Speaker 1: 21:35

It's three, three nonprofits Uh, it's hidden for hope, pay for it and lifetime. They're all working in conjunction together to start a facility for families that are in need of recovery, and so with that, hopefully, you know, haven for Hope will provide the facility, as Lifetime will get it a little bit more into the grants of everything and all that. And then, of course, pay it Forward would provide the case management end of it, so that and Pay it Forward just has an ample amount of knowledge on how to handle recovery, and so they have recovery coaches on standby, they have all these things, and so it's just cool to see these three nonprofits work together and just try to get a community and going because I mean one of the things I've asked myself was like, is there a safe, sober living environment for single dads or single moms or single parents?

Speaker 1: 22:43

and I work in a place where cPS is having to be called on a daily basis and I've seen my share of child removals and safety plans and whatnot and things just kind of go south just because there's not that care for that kind of population. And so I'd like to see you know a lot more success stories if this program were to work out, you know and not just within our facility, but more you know a lot more success stories if this program were to work out, you know and not just within our facility, but more you know out there where it's needed as well.

Speaker 2: 23:16

So I want to ask you two more questions. So one question I had was you know, when I was watching the video of you with your training doing the Texas run, there was just the caption said that you know you had these checkpoints and you not only had to talk to someone, you know, that was like more like a trainer, physical therapist or whatever more taking care of your physical. But then you said it said even, it said counseling. So did you have like mental health support along the way as well?

Speaker 1: 23:54

I didn't really have too much of like um, like a therapist on standby, as more of, I would say, like um, like a spiritual advisor that I would call every now and again feeling at my lowest. I have, I have an accountability support system that I can call when I'm feeling like at my lowest. But but for the most part, I think that you know, being in recovery, you have responsibility to not only take care of the side of your own addiction, but if there's something else that comes along with it, I feel like you have a responsibility to take care of that as well. Um, and so again, like uh, I, I go through therapy.

Speaker 1: 24:40

Uh, on, you know on a usual basis, more than I would like to admit, but as well as I would like I probably utilize, when I'm going through these things, utilize a little bit more of my spiritual advisor to kind of just remind me, okay, like, hey, like, even though he's got no experience at running whatsoever. So it's like, you know, I don't have, I really don't have any parents to call, so I'll just call and ask for a word of support, but it's very few and far between that. I call just because of the simple fact that, like, I know deep down inside, um, you know it's, it's gonna, it's gonna pass and we'll get through this and it's, you know, it's just another day. So, yeah, well, you know, first of all, I'm glad you know it's just another day.

Speaker 2: 25:27

So yeah, well, you know, first of all, I'm glad that you were transparent about it, because there's a stigma for men seeking therapy, right, and you know, I think we need to hear more about it. I think a lot of people need to see it, almost like you're going to see a doctor, you get a checkup, you know, I mean, and it's just something that a lot of us need, and I know there's a lot of people who need it and can't even get to that kind of care. So, you know, I think that's definitely something important to talk more about. I'm gonna ask you this last question so you're talking about your own recovery and addiction and you doing the things that you're doing now, and this is not like, like I said, you're not an average runner. I mean, you're definitely going to the extreme with all of this, right, what would you say to somebody who is struggling right now with addiction, kind of feeling hopeless and needs something? What are some words that you would share?

Speaker 1: 26:34

When I first got sober, I was a year sober and I called my friend and he was somebody that I used with. I'm both an alcoholic and an addict, but I thought he was more hopeless than I was, and so when I found out he had years of sobriety because I was gone from the scene. I went to prison for five and a half years altogether, so I was locked up and then I was in my addiction. So I haven't talked to him in like 10 years.

Speaker 1: 27:07

When I found out that he had like eight or nine years of sobriety. So I reached out to him with one year of sobriety Uh, I'm sure, if that was going to like you're so uncertain on which path is going to go. I asked them, like how did you get nine years of body? Did you just continue to go to meetings all the time? Did you, you know, do this or did you do that? Did you, you know? You're just not hanging out with the same friends.

Speaker 1: 27:35

I think that this is the best advice that someone has given me. It's just stay honest. That's it. The honesty part will help you navigate on if you're an addict or not, or an alcoholic. The honesty part will help you admit like do I have a problem with alcohol or not? Honesty part will also help you down the line with years of sobriety.

Speaker 1: 28:04

Am I, am I being complacent? Am I, am I doing enough with my program or should I be doing more? Am I, am I treating people like shit or am I? You know? Of course, being true to my word and being a man of integrity and honesty hurts. Honesty is not easy, right? Honesty, will you know.

Speaker 1: 28:27

Keep people you know in or out of your life that you need or you don't need, but at the same time, you know it's that bravery it's very easy to lie about stuff. It's very easy to about um and uh, keeping stuff away from you, but at the same time, it's like I was told that we're only as sick as our secrets. And so, um, knowing that they're and I trust me in my sobriety I have lied in my sobriety, I have kept things from people and in the end it it ends up and bite me in the ass. Um, I am not perfect at my program, but if there's somebody who's truly struggling, um, and says, like I don't know where to go from here, so well, be honest with me, do you really want to change or not? Do you really want to do this? And then explain to them what it's going to take and ask them, like, is this something that you want to continue doing?

Speaker 2: 29:20

Yeah, yeah, no, that's, that's really good advice, ken. All right. So, ken, I want to first of all thank you so much for being a part of this. We're going to put all the places, the not-for-profits that you're raising money for, on the links to this podcast. I am confident that you got this. I know you'll get through to this. I think that the mental part is probably the hardest part. I always say it's harder than the physical sometimes, but thank you for being a part of this, of course, thank you, I really do appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 29:57

All right, until next time, everyone For you and I For you, and I For you and I.