Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2004
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2004 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Jim Warren

ADDICT FOUND ROAD TO REHABILITATION IN IRONMAN TRIATHLONS

Todd Crandell almost killed himself with alcohol and drugs before he learned
to race his way to recovery by competing in grueling Ironman Triathlons.

Now he wants to bring his get-healthy message to Lexington.

"Part of our message to young people or others fighting addiction is to find
whatever you have a passion for -- whether it's running the Ironman or
teaching school -- and put your energy into that instead of wasting your
time with alcohol or drugs," Crandell says.

Today, Crandell, 37, is married and a father of three; he devotes himself
full-time to substance-abuse prevention. He runs a non-profit organization,
Racing for Recovery, that sponsors 5K events all over the country. He also
speaks in schools, drug-treatment centers and other venues. He recently
produced a documentary DVD about his life -- Addict: Racing for Recovery:
The Todd Crandell Story.

"I'm trying to take all the negative things that have happened to me and
turn them into something that can help other people," said Crandell, who was
in Lexington earlier this month, visiting relatives.

Crandell grew up in Ohio with a ton of athletic talent but with a shadow
hanging over his life. Both his mother and his uncle had committed suicide
because of their dependence on drugs, he said.

Crandell didn't learn the truth about their deaths until he was 10 years
old, but that knowledge didn't prevent him from taking his first drink three
years later. He was in eighth grade.

"The disease of alcohol and drug addiction runs rampant in my
family,"-Crandell said. "Curiosity got me started, but everything just fell
apart after that. It was like tossing gasoline on a fire."

Soon, Crandell was drinking more than a fifth of whiskey and using several
grams of cocaine each day. From there, he moved to "crack, heroin, pills and
any other kind of drug I could get my hands on."

Crandell was expelled from high school, then ran away to Florida to live on
the beach and lose himself in drugs. The binge continued for 13 years, until
he "hit rock bottom" after his third drunken-driving arrest. Determined to
rebuild his life, he completed a 12-step program and got sober in 1993.
Then, he found that competing in triathlons, particularly Ironman events,
provided the focus he needed to help him stay clean.

An Ironman Triathlon combines a 26.2-mile marathon, a 2.4-mile open-water
swim and a 112-mile bicycle ride. Crandell has competed in eight of them,
plus 28 shorter triathlons, all over the world.

Turning on others to what he has learned has become his "passion and
full-time job," he says.

Crandell hopes to arrange speaking engagements in Lexington soon and
possibly sponsor a 5K race here, all with an anti-drug-abuse message.
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