Recovery is a process. It looks different for everyone who transitions from active addiction to living free from drugs and alcohol. Each person builds their own way of maintaining a healthy life. For many men in our recovery community, that journey started at 1835 House. Including Recovery Run founder Jim Mitchell, who came to the House 28 years ago.
Back then Jim would not have guessed that his recovery journey would lead where it did. “I didn’t start running until many years later,” says Jim. “My interest came about because my daughters gave me a Christmas gift of a course to train to run a marathon. I think they wanted me to meet someone.”
Jim laughs about that now but admits that it did work in a sense. “Running can be a way of engaging in life,” he says. “A way to get out into the world and meet people.” He did meet new people through running and it became part of his evolving recovery journey.
Run to Support 1835 House
In 2011 Jim started a run in support of 1835 House. It came about through a personal development course that required him to plan an event that would engage people. An idea clicked around a term Jim came across in his marathon training. Taking a short, easy run on the day after an intense training session is known as taking a ‘recovery run’. Jim drew a connection between the term and his ongoing process of recovery. It made a good name for a run in support of addiction treatment and the Recovery Run was born.
Recovery Run 2017
Runners from the 1835 community and beyond have been hitting the pavement in Eau Claire every fall ever since. Join them for this year’s Recovery Run on November 4, 2017. To register, or find more information click here.