Quitting drinking

good post bud wrote: Were you hiding the vodka in another container? How could your family not know about the cocktails?

I had bottles stashed around the house. 1 in the garage in a junk bag with old electronics stuff, 1 in the closet in my hardware bag, 1 in the kitchen in the cupboard above the fridge that my wife never looked in because it's too high up.

For a long time I kept it in a 'vodka 360' brand bottle. We peeled the label away & used it as like a water pitcher for filtered water. After awhile I noticed my wife stopped using it, so I filled it regularly with vodka using a funnel & she didn't even notice. She's pretty unobservant. I'm not sure how she didn't smell it when I was drinking it while sitting next to her on the couch. I know several times she would come up to me in the morning telling me I reeked of alcohol last night & that I need to cut back.

I knew her nightly routine. She always came home & went to the bedroom to change. That's when I'd sneak a shot in. Right before dinner I'd have a beer. She'd hit the shower around 7:30 & that's when I'd load up on more vodka. She goes to bed before me around 9:00 to read in bed for an hour or 2 so I'd have more alone time to sneak more booze.

Last January I started keeping a log of how many drinks and how much money I spent on alcohol. I fell into the routine of "allowing" myself 6 drinks a week. If I drank 4 Monday then I only had 2 left for the week. I was pretty disciplined about it and thought I might cut down to 5 each week for this year. I do still enjoy a good beer or Scotch with a meal or after dinner and rarely have more than one a day. Keeping track was definitely the key. My sleep has improved.

Good luck.

I quit two years ago. I didn’t see an immediate change in my running but as the months passed my running changed a lot – today I’m way stronger, I recover from workouts faster, I can handle more mileage and I’m injured a lot less. I think for me most of the change has come from the fact that I’m taking in calories from real food, replacing calories from what was on tap or in a bottle. My sleep is a ton better too – that is, once I got through the night sweats and Technicolor dreams. That crap, and the anxiety, passed in days. Social stuff took a few months to work out. It’s hard and will be hard for a while, but stay with this.

I quit drinking cold turkey about 5 years ago. I had tried to quit several times before but could never last for more than 9 months at a time. From the age of 17 to 26, I had become a severe addict and at times could easily drink 20 beers a night. Sometimes I would quit drinking or drink less but take up smoking weed. The high was never enough, and it got to the point where I lost everything in my life. I would have been homeless had a family member not been gracious enough to allow me to stay at their place. I was in debt with no future. I stopped running and fell into depression until God got a hold of me. Nothing worked for me until God showed up.

Since I quit drinking and the rest of my drug use I got married to smoking hot wife, have 2 kids and a great job making good enough money to where my wife doesn't have to work. It's a pretty good life when you no longer have something controlling your every thought and ruining every ounce of moral goodness inside of you.

Quit drinking and ditch anyone who wants to bring you down. You'll be better off. Life's too short for you to conform to what society mandates you must follow. Many people are fools who need others leading them. Get outside the box and be the exception. Be a leader.

Last time I drank was 523 days ago. I also had an affair 523 days ago.

I've quit both, successfully, but only with a lot of a) help, b) honesty, and c) money.

The help is 12-step meetings and therapy (therapy for my wife and I both is also where the money goes). Honesty came when I felt the greatest sense of despair immediately after acting out sexually with a woman outside my marriage. I thought my life as over and I would never be able to spend any time with my kids again. I felt there was no other option but to tell my wife. So I did. I also had to be very honest with myself about my problems.

I frequently used alcohol to have (or attempt to have) affairs. I would binge and then try to hook up with girls at bars while on work trips.

Telling my wife what I was doing is ultimately what set me free. It was the scariest thing I've ever done. But we are closer and both individually healthier now than ever before. It is 100x better than being caught, for both me and my wife. The very nature of 'coming clean' builds trust and intimacy.

I don't self identify as an alcoholic currently. I don't crave alcohol and I've been fine without it. But I just don't have a need for it and in the past it hasn't ended well for me.

I would encourage many people on this thread to get professional help for alcohol and whatever other problems you are battling. It's unlikely that you will be able to stop on your own.

I wish you all the best.

Nobody ends up in AA by accident. Get your behind back in the meeting rooms, take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your mouth, start with at least 90 meetings in 90 days, get a sponsor, work the steps. It works if you work it. Good luck.

After 17 years of heavy drinking from 17 to 34, I was sitting at work fighting dry heaves and realized, "It is not going to get any easier. If I keep going this way, I will be dead by 50". And that was it. 15 years later, and I don't miss it too much.

It helped that my boss was an alcoholic and cokehead, who also had had a heroin problem. Watching him in the mornings made it easy.

No AA, no group therapy. I just stopped, and still don't drink because I know what will happen. I smoke weed sometimes, in part because I see how I react - I can stop.

This belief that you have to hit rock bottom is misguided and not helpful. You have to hit rock bottom in your belief that you can manage your consumption of alcohol, when it is all around you and you are continuously encouraged to consume more of the world's most popular drug.

Best of luck to you but remember to keep in mind the exact purpose of quitting. Is it to really get in top shape for a PR, just general well being or is it for mental health reasons.

Millions of people have this goal right now as we commence a new year which is fine as long as it is adhered to and with a clear goal in mind. Just quitting for the sake of it is a little bit silly. Remember that life is very short and providing you aren't overdoing the drinking, booze can be a fantastic thing. There's a reason that it's been the social drug of choice now for hundreds of years.

I'll be thinking of all those sober people tonight as I enjoy an ice cold IPA.

Cheers!

I don't get it - no offence - but how the hell can you guys be alcoholics and runners? How many miles do you run a week? How fast do you run?

Drinking (enough to feel drunk) makes me feel like death the next day, it messes up my recovery from my run that day and the extra calories are really just not something I can do. I do like to drink and drink with my friends sometimes, but there's just no way I could drink every day and do my runs and workouts. The way I look at it, every single time I drink more than a beer I basically screw up my recovery that day and my training the next day. How is it possible to get drunk every day and be a runner? I honestly just couldn't do it. I assumed that being a runner, running most days, would prevent a person from being an alcoholic - as the two don't go together?

Well it's all about perspective and your personal goals. For me I can happily drink every day and run everyday as I've been doing both now for years and years. Plus, I'm not training to run in the olympics or even now set PR's, those days are long gone.

You are right, if you want to run like an elite or to your potential, the best thing to do is not drink at all or at a very minimal level. However, for me, there's just no fun in that or any need to.

trying again wrote:

Another poster said he quit on December 8th. I quit yesterday.

Anyone else?

I am already starting to feel anxious but I am drinking a lot of tea (different herbal infusions) and at least I don't feel the thirst.

Last time I stopped I saw great results in my running after about 8 days.

I quit drinking last December 3. God willing, I'll be able to get my 1 month chip after tomorrow. This is the longest run in sobriety in years. I just treat every 24 hours like I treat every mile in a marathon and it's been working so far. That and a steady stream of AA and Celebrate Recovery meetings.

You'll feel anxiety, but you'll eventually feel better, especially in your running and recovery from races and hard workouts.

There's alcoholics in all walks of life. Mickey Mantle, Hall of Fame baseball player and alcoholic. I

I quit about 20 years ago (the exact date is fuzzy now) after a long night of drinking which turned into a DUI. I swore I'd never drink again and I haven't. I drank because I thought I was unhappy, but after getting off Mr. Booze, I realized it was the booze that made me unhappy. Good luck.

I wish you luck. My drinking and drug use torpedoed a promising running career in high school, something that remains one of my biggest regrets. Upon getting sober in 1989, reclaiming my passion for running has been one of the many gifts granted to me. If, as you say, AA and NA helped you immensely, I would humbly suggest that you return, to share and listen to experience strength and hope with other kindred spirits. Trust me, that would be the best thing you could do from "within". In a manner of speaking, this post is a call for help, is it not? Allow yourself to be helped. Again, best of luck for a sober, healthy and productive '16

My story, I didn't not start drinking regularly till later on in my life. It was a slow regress for me, but I went down a slow and steady downward spiral, drinking daily till the point of drunkenness. I knew the closing time of many of the liquor stores in the city I live in a telltale sign of an alcoholic.

I was a "functional alcoholic" I had a steady job, but every other aspect of my life was out of control. My family life was out of control. My running was messed up too. I went from someone who did 18 minute and 37 to 38 minute 10Ks to someone who had a hard time just finishing 5Ks.

Speed ahead to 2009, I got a DUI. I was very angry for a period of time, but I also made a few changes in my life. I got back into running and I eventually got my speed back. I ran my first two marathons and in the process qualified for Boston and will be running it this spring. I accepted Jesus Christ into my life... a relationship with a higher power is very important in any road to recovery.

I never really fully quit drinking till last month. I had many brief sober periods and drifted in and out of AA. Last year I met a really nice woman, a relationship that I think has a future. It brought me back into AA and Celebrate Recovery. Been sober since December 3, 2015. Been taking the program more seriously than I did in the past and I'm treating every 24 hours like I treat every mile in a marathon, so far it's been working well.

There is a way out of addiction and a lot of programs for those who desire to quit drinking and drugging. Here in the southeast Massachusetts/ Rhode Island area, you can go online and find an extensive list of AA meetings, and I'm sure you can find them in whatever area that you live in. Good luck.

On the running end of life, heaving drinking impairs uptake of folate, B12, vitamin D and iron. This stuff all is key to building red blood cells - and if you're low on RBCs, your running will suffer. Your blood (hematocrit) could be fine, despite the drinking, but you might consider getting it checked out. If you're deficient in something, supplements/nutritious food - can turn RBC production around pretty fast. You'll start feeling better on the run within a few weeks and the quality of your workouts will probably improve. You'll be running noticeably faster within a few months.

trying again wrote:

Former wrote:

Former drinker:

I used to drink, binge drink. It cost me my career. Then my drinking almost cost me my life. You want to stop, go to AA. Abstinence..

I tried AA and NA. It helped me immensely at the time to hear people talking about things I could relate to. But that was it. I don't think it has to come from within this time.

My drinking cost me every single relationship in the last 9 years and running, I love running so much and alcohol doesn't allow me to fully enjoy it.

It took me two years to lose my 5 o'clock itch for a beer. It was worth it.

Try a soda or sweet snack if you want to curb an immediate urge to have a drink.

If you are a heavy drinker and serious about stopping, you need to analyze your patterns of drinking behavior. Remove them from your life. Change the routines and habits involving drinking. You may have a changeover in friends.

I joined LIfe Ring, a secular organization for sobriety in California. IT was helpful.

Good luck.

I was on track to be a half decent runner at 18 with a 4:21.9 mile and 1:58 flat half mile (1:57 something 800 equivalent). So I drank away during college and never improved much. Beer was the reason.

When addictions take over and become the dominating force in your life, running gets put on the back burner. You're right in that you can't be a runner and have an addiction. Typically, you're making a choice in which one you'll be serving. I stopped running in college and never loved it the same whenever I have started training again. But then again I've never been so happy. No longer does running or addictions define my identity as a person.

I was trapped for the past 8 years and finally went to AA on December 1st. I have been sober for 32 days and there has been a drastic change in my day to day runs. I felt like my liver was not functioning properly (blood glucose levels) and I was crashing 20-30 minutes into a 60 minutes run. There were so many runs that were neglected over the years because of my problem and all I would get was a repetitive cycle of regret, alcohol calories, fast food calories, and anxiety.

Anyway, if you really have a problem and can't stop on your own after repeatedly telling yourself that you would, go to an AA meeting and see what it's about. Life and running will become so much more enjoyable.