From Drinking Every Morning to Running 340 Miles: Tommie Runz on Recovery, Running & Redemption

**Tommie Runz** (0:00)
I don't know when the morning drinking started, but that was standard. And I'm just like, I'm going to die like this. Like this is how I die.

**Rich Roll** (0:07)
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 going to hear the experience, strength and hope of Tommie Runz.

**Tommie Runz** (0:19)
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.

**Rich Roll** (0:26)
That's like the most accelerated case of alcoholism I've ever heard.

**Tommie Runz** (0:31)
Well, you know, 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, 340 miles. How do you continue and how do you make that decision for yourself even though like everything's telling you to stop?

**Rich Roll** (0:56)
So how do you do that? All right, Tommie, before we even get into it, Dan over here dug into the archives, and I want to share something with you.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:12)
Hello Rich Roll Podcast. This is Tommie Runz. I think it's important to mention that I'm a young black guy from the Detroit area, went sober, then went vegan, then started running. And sober vegan runner is enormous synonymous with like the black community. So it was just so much different for me to be going down this road. And I was kind of like on my own with it. 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 kind of on my own looking for material and information, found Finding Ultra, and it just spoke so much to me.
I've been in AA and went to the program, loved the program, the program helped me so much in so many ways. But I mean, 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.
But they also felt like all the same feelings and all the same 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 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 needed 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, they have my own little personal brand on Instagram. Now, I'm working with companies.
I've been able to interview, I have a podcast, I've been able to interview some of the people that have ended up on your show as well, to help people just kind of navigate through these things and through these times. I super appreciate how much time you spent on talking about the black community and the issues in 2020 that arose and came back to the forefront. So I appreciate you, Tommie Runz. Thanks, Rich. Namaste.

**Rich Roll** (3:14)
So that was 2021?

**SPEAKER_3** (3:17)
Yeah.

**Rich Roll** (3:18)
So like five, six years ago.
I had forgotten about that and Dan unearthed it. It was so fun to listen to that today.

**Tommie Runz** (3:28)
I happily forgot about that.

**Rich Roll** (3:31)
So how does that make you feel hearing that now, like so many years down the line from where you were at that moment?

**Tommie Runz** (3:38)
It makes it feel like sitting here feels so real because I know how much, I know like what role that book in your podcast and the beginning of my sobriety in running.
I just know how much it all meant to me to like see somebody thriving and working because 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 get into it and be curious about like self-improvement and all that stuff, to catch all that, catch your content and your story at that time, it was like a big deal for me. So I was really happy to be able to like have a moment to record my thoughts and like send it to you, whether you use it or not. So it's like surreal for me to be sitting here. And I guess I'm proud of me then, like it makes me feel kind of proud, like it's kind of cringey hearing it, but I'm proud that like I'm still finding out, like still trying to find out who I am in this journey, but then also like trying to help people on the way.