In his own words

1. Somerville

   1971 to 1989

   I grew up on the top floor of my grandmother's house in Somerville, a bombed-out, blue-collar suburb of Boston. We lived on food stamps, and as a kid I was mortified by it. I can't remember a part of my childhood when I wasn't getting hit. What I could control was school and sports, so that's where everything went.

2. The prison

   From 18

   A week out of high school I was working as a guard in the same prison my stepfather had done time in. Later my brother would do time too. A football coach recruited me to college, and I paid for it with loans and help from my dad.

3. Wall Street

   From 25

   A sales job got me to New York, and soon I was trading commodities. I worked at firms like Cantor Fitzgerald and Crédit Agricole, then ran desks in London and New York. From the outside it looked like I'd made it. Inside, a voice kept telling me I didn't belong there.

4. The pills

   1998 to 2010

   In 1998 a podiatrist gave me seven Percocet for my ankle. They dulled the pain and the anxiety. Within a year I was on OxyContin, and at my worst I took 20 to 30 pills a day. I wasn't even happiest when I took them. I was happiest knowing they were coming. In 2010, weeks before Shelby and I flew to Ethiopia to adopt our daughter, I went to detox. She found me unconscious on the bathroom floor. Then I finally told her everything.

5. Kona

   2012 and 2013

   I'd raced my first triathlon while I was still using. Sober, training became the place everything went that used to go into the pills. In 2012 I made the Ironman World Championship in Kona, and with twenty-two miles of the marathon left, I quit. I regretted it right away and promised myself I'd never quit again. I went back in 2013 and finished in 9:39.

6. The comeback

   From 48

   After Kona I worked with a coach for the first time. At 48 I ran my first marathon under 2:30. At 50 I won the masters division in New York, and at 52 I won the Gobi March and the M50-54 world title in Chicago. People ask about the races. Getting sober is my greatest accomplishment. None of the running is even close.

See it year by year