The Long Run (by Mishka Shubaly)

This was a gem of a little book!  I was turned on to this one by a friend on Facebook who posted the link for it being a Kindle (Single) and only .99 (free if you are an Amazon Prime Member).

This book really resonated with me due to my own past demons of substance abuse, internal demons and how running probably saved my life.  While I wasn't 'using' at the time I took up running, I would be willing to bet at some point I would have had a case of the backslider blues.

Even to this day, I have periods (usually just a day or less) where I think: Man...sure would be nice...you know, to just escape...to feel that feeling...but thankfully it goes away almost as quickly as it comes on.

So if you are looking for a quick, easy and good read for cheap, this one is one that I would recommend.

I finished it in 2 days.

Here is one small excerpt that I clipped/saved (love that feature on my Kindle btw):  and my old buddies, well, we can't hang out anymore.  They are recalcitrant before they drink and then loud, repetitive and finally, incomprehensible as the evening wears on.  They hold me at arm's length, too, like some grim memento mori.  Can't say that I blame them  ---- I have gone over to The Other Side.  I am a bleak reminder of what may lay in store for them, the Ghost of Christmas Future.

This is what my life before and now have become.  While I still am 'friends' with them all, I haven't seen 98% of them in 4+ years.  They still hang out at bars, still congregate to listen to whatever the band of the moment is, and still drink in excess (drinking wasn't my problem although I could drink for days.  Ugh that sounds like a problem doesn't it? LOL)...anyway, I tried a time or two to meet up in the old familiar places under the old familiar situations, but I just cannot handle being around drunk people.

Not because it makes me want to partake (I still have a cocktail or two from time to time; I'm not a fuddy duddy!), but because I cannot stand the antics of drunks.  The screaming to be heard over everyone else and the music, the drinks being dropped or spilled...the smell...any of it.  But mostly because I just can't be sober around drunk people.  They are infuriating.  I realize I was probably that person...but that person hasn't been a part of me since 2005.

And drinking etc., interferes not only with my running, but it interferes with my feeling good every morning that I wake up.

I wonder sometimes...had I known how good it felt to not be hungover from drugs or alcohol, I might have done it more often...or less often I mean... as I guess that is what is actually applicable...

This line in the book says it all:  For me, the hardest part was learning how to care about my life again.



p.s. there are a lot of good things that have come out of not being on Facebook and Twitter these past 3 weeks.  One of them being that I am reading a lot more!