After an incredible weekend at ReThink Addiction by Dutrirun, Carrie and the ladies prepare to embark on Lake Delavan for the Zooma - Great Lakes Half Marathon for our second visit to this great race.

The week after that, though, Carrie and I break up with her heading West as I tackle the Community First Fox Cities Marathon.  Carrie and a small band of NE Wisco-ers will be headed to beautiful Bismarck, North Dakota where OnPace will connect with a number of different runners from Minnesota and North Dakota as we are involved with helping the Bismarck Marathon and Half Marathon.

The Race Director, Dustin Erhardt, has been so stinkin' cool to work with and we're full of gratitude for the chance to help out this great race in this neat little city.  We didn't make a call to Dustin but were introduced by our Little Leprechaun pacing powerhouse from Chicago, Bob Strauss, so when Dustin called, we took the chance to skip Minnesota and expand right over to North Dakota!

Because of the various charities that the Bismarck Marathon supports, we found there to be great symmetry with the recently completed ReThink Addiction run. One of the main charities is the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch which fosters a safe place for children coming from abusive backgrounds to recover, which often includes drug and alcohol addictions.

Tonight we hear from Julie Bosch, one of the leaders of Team Kaizen out of Bismarck, who has played a large part over the last seven years in recovery and/or prevention for at-risk kids.  Kaizen means "good change" and the group turns to running to keep kids surrounded by a healthy community.  Many times, these kids in Team Kaizen have ties or will have future ties to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch as they try and stay on a straight path in their formative years.

Julie speaks passionately about her role and the organization and the 200+ kids they have had through the program since it began.  Many thanks to Julie for sharing your story!

Welcome to OnPace’s 5th podcast in our series leading up to Dutrirun's Rethink Addiction Run which will be held on Sept 7 in Oshkosh.

I got to meet Scott J. Bartels through Carrie Miller because he hired OnPace Coaching to propel his running ambitions forward.

But what about before his running ambitions brought us together?  What was that Scott like? The answer: very, very different.

After serving our country for over 20 years including a couple of stints in Afghanistan, Scott retired and came back full time to civilian life. The challenge for Scott was he struggled to find purpose in his job and life and started abusing alcohol to fill a number of voids.

Scott shares his story in this weeks podcast, recognizing alcohol had overtaken his life and he turned his attention to running to help overcome his drinking addiction.

Today, Scott is a different man - confident, determined and purpose-driven and we appreciate his honesty in this all too common battle many face.

Scott will be with OnPace at the event leading the 8:00 minute/mile team in the 5k.

WARNING: age appropriate content included on this podcast.

We just don’t ever know someone’s story until we hear them tell it.

Chris, like Senora P. Meyer, Tate Whitlinger, Juan De La Cruz and the rest of the Grateful Runners, all have a story.  Their challenges and struggles are all so real to me, and they worked or are working their tails off to overcome.

Just like we are all trying to overcome something in our life.  This group?  It’s drugs and alcohol addiction. You and me and your neighbor and the kid at school and that co-worker?  Maybe they have the same addiction...but maybe theirs is something totally different.

Likely most of us are fighting some ghosts in the closet. Because it’s life. It’s tough. But the fight is worth it and that’s why we persevere.

And we can relate. Maybe not to being in jail like Chris, but fighting to get past our trouble and get ourselves into a more joyful state of mind.

On Sept. 7 in Oshkosh, Dutrirun will host a 5k/10k race called Rethink Addiction, calling awareness to drug and alcohol addiction.  We sure would love to see you all there. So, too, would the community that attends this event.

Chris is no longer a story. He’s a real person who has suffered, hurt himself and others, is remorseful, and is trying to make something out of the hopefully long and cleaner life ahead of him. I’m encouraged by Chris and using Tate’s phrase Grateful - extremely grateful - that our paths have crossed. I see Chris as another brother in Life’s family of which we are all entwined.

Along with Carrie Miller, we look forward to seeing you all in two weeks at the event in Oshkosh.  We appreciate our sponsor, Nicolet Bank, for their endless support of what we do at OnPace.

When you have a loving husband, raise three healthy babies, a faithful upbringing that you’ve passed onto your kids, how does it feel when one loses the way?  Do you turn your back?  Do you even recognize he’s lost his way?  

On our third podcast we talk with Paula Meyer, a long time OnPacer, who has had just that happen with her son, Christopher. 

From an early age, Chris turned to a life of drugs that, by junior year in high school, had became an addiction. Chris is battling to get through the addiction now and has turned a corner in a positive way.  

Hear Paula’s story - the good, the bad and the ugly - about being a mother to an addicted son.  All of these podcasts continue to be shared in anticipation of the Rethink Addiction Run on Sept. 7 put on by Dutrirun and Gloria West where we are sponsored by community leader Nicolet Bank.

If you know someone who is suffering from similar things to what you are hearing in these podcasts, think about signing up for the 5k and walking it. I have a feeling the community that will be present on that day will embrace whoever attends at whatever stage they are at and there will be a lot of relatable stories. 

At OnPace, we feel honored to be part of this and help get the word out about this important event and rightful cause.

Welcome back to our 2nd On Pace Podcast!  We had an awesome response from the community to last week's post and this week's is in the same vein!

In talking with Juan De La Cruz, I met a man who had a genuine smile on his face.  Although he "hit rock bottom" three years ago and there was no smiles to be found, since then he has recovered to not only forgive himself for past actions but to love the life he's living and the person he is.

Juan is a testament to what Tate Whitlinger is trying to accomplish with Grateful Runners. With a chapter in Las Vegas and now two Grateful Runners chapters in Wisconsin, Juan is helping spur the Grateful Runner mission.  Which is - in my own words - whatever we have done, wherever we have been, if we don't like it - we CAN overcome and there are those around who are eager to pitch in and help.  

In capturing a little of the favorite prayer of Carrie Miller, first is recognizing what we can control and what we can't.  And when we realize that our choices are driving our negative results, we can often adjust.  Doesn't mean it'll be easy.  For Juan, it took a number of tries at kicking addictive habits to finally move forward.  But IT CAN HAPPEN.

A run like Dutrirun's Rethink Addiction is not your typical event.  For most, this community event is not about how fast they crossed the finish line.  It's that they crossed the finish line.  OnPace's partner in this event, Nicolet Bank, remains an incredible support for us as we continue to extend our mission of building a running community to lift events just like this.

On a personal note, Gloria West has been an amazing partner to OnPace over the last two years.  Gloria, who directs this race, lost a son years ago to an overdose and her passion for the cause of this race is admirable.  We are humbled to help however we can.

Juan!  You're a star!  Taking a page out of your book, we're GRATEFUL that you are going to become an OnPacer!  Who wouldn't want to follow your joyful attitude around for seven miles on Sept. 7 at 12 minutes/mile.  I have a feeling those who finish with you will feel the same way, my man! 

Tate Whitlinger from Grateful Runners joins host, Paul Miller, on our first ever OnPace Race Podcast. We hear a bit about Tate's journey to overcome a multi-decade long battle with drug and alcohol addiction through the integration of running.  As part of his healing process, Tate led the formation of Grateful Runners and now leads that chapter out of Appleton.  Grateful Runners encourages community members fighting through addictions to bring running into their recovery process.  In conjunction with DuTriRun's event ReThink Addiction on Sept. 7 in Oshkosh, Tate will become an OnPacer and members of his chapter will be on the course for this race that brings awareness to those fighting addictions in their lives.