Happy New Year: Who has the most reason to celebrate?

It's 11:30am. The countdown begins! You can start drinking if it's after Noon!

Wooo Hoo it's time to pre- party. Make sure you get good an loaded before you get out to the bars with your significant other or with your friends. There is no better way to mark the start of a new calendar year than to get hammered and wake up to a significantly  higher credit card balance and a dehydrated body. It's okay though because you'll be at the gym on Monday right. 

It's 2:45 am. Your buddy Joe is in the passenger seat because he was the designated driver. Unfortunately he got caught up in the "moment" and had a few but was mindful of not getting too drunk. You got some woman's digits who had just filed for divorce and was really hot. In reality she had 14 pounds of makeup on, was married, and was not at all attractive. You decided that it would be better if you drive because you only drank beer. Your other buddy John just puked outside the club and is passed out in passenger seat. You are texting everyone about the night and your experiences. what an awesome night an you only spent about $500.00

An SUV packed full of 17 year old kids cuts your car off and the next thing you know you are waking up in the hospital with a headache. Joe was killed on impact when your Prius slammed into the highway barrier. John was tossed from the car and pieces of him are smeared across the highway. At least he never knew what hit him. You survived and are nursing a massive headache only to discover you are handcuffed to your hospital bed. 

The entire SUV full of kids were killed instantly as their driver was wasted as well and none of them were wearing seat belts. You're wife is standing by your bedside crying with her pregnant best friend who was married to Joe.

Fast forward 1 month later and you are sitting in a courtroom facing a DUI charge, 6 counts of Vehicular homicide and you left your wife's best friend's kids without a father. John is dead and his family is mortified. You had a DUI back in 2008 that you thought was a fluke. Now you have a second one that really is just the icing on the cake. Your license is gone and you really won't need it because you are going to jail for vehicular homicide for 10 years. You may get out in 6. Your wife can't afford the house payments, you lose your house, you lose your job, and you are in a cell for 23 hours a day. You can sit and think about the car full of dead kids and all the other effects of your New year's Eve Celebration. 

Happy New Year Asshole! How much did Amateur night really cost you? I hope you never get out. Sorry about your disease. Bullshit! Maybe you'll get areal disease from all the prison rape you hopefully will experience after your caught crying in your cell. You made a choice just like millions of other people who want to blame a disease. You made a choice.

It's the way of the world yet people have the audacity to say alcoholism is a disease? It's a choice that goes on all year long and their are days like today set aside to take people to the next level of "cost" regarding alcohol consumption.

Numbers don't lie! People lie to suite their obsession with alcohol and sustain the disease myth! Keep the lines forming outside the AA meetings so people can replace one addiction with another, then fail, then drink again, then die. Happy New Year!

Alcohol Use

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alcohol.htm

(Data are for the U.S.)

 Prevalence

• Percent of adults 18 years of age and over who were current regular drinkers (at least 12 drinks in the past year): 51.5%
• Percent of adults 18 years of age and over who were current infrequent drinkers (1-11 drinks in the past year): 13.6%

Source: Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2011, table 27  [PDF - 1.3 MB]

 Mortality

• Number of alcoholic liver disease deaths: 15,990
• Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 25,692

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2010, table 12  [PDF - 3.1 MB]

Have a drink for the over 38,000 people that die every year because of alcohol abuse. Celebrate the proven fact that you have destroyed brain cells and on average spend close to $500 to $5000 on booze, tickets, parking, and food to celebrate the end of a calendar year. That is a conservative estimate. When the night is over you can expect to be driving in a sea of people that are at the very least 5 drinks deep. Your driver may be sober but you could be driving next to a car load of completely wasted people. I'll stay home with friends and play Russian roulette with a 45 thanks! I have better odds.

It's time to celebrate but who is doing the most celebrating when the sun comes up on January 1, 2014.

The answer is:

• The bar and club owners
• The liquor industry
• Doctors
• physiologists and psychiatrists
• pharmaceutical companies.
• Lawyers
• Cops
• Rehabilitation Centers
• Alcoholics Anonymous

There are at least a dozen days/nights designated by our culture to be the money maker and death dealing celebrations that keep the liquor industry in business and keep alcoholics closer to death or people closer to alcoholism.

The Alcohol Industry makes well over 1 Billion Dollars a year. Even after deducting the cost, they make Millions in Profit.

As Americans we bastardize  or recreate every holiday to suite our culture of drinking in excess. Easter is about Jesus Christ and the Catholic religion. where did the bunnies and drinking come in to play? 

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over their French oppressors, but the bars are packed in the middle of the week with people wearing sombreros and doing shots of tequila.

St. Patrick's Day was created as a religious holiday to celebrate the Irish heritage on the day of Saint Patrick's death. The first parade in 1762 was held in America to bring together the large amounts of Irish immigrants that were living here.These first parades involved protests from the Irish for being so mistreated as immigrants, as many foreigners were exploited at that time. They marched to show the strength in their numbers and prove they deserved more. Our answer to this is to assume all Irish people love to drink and  plaster shamrocks on the walls to commemorate this uprising of the Irish immigrants. It's another day for everyone to get wasted by choice. Choice not disease!

People get wasted on Labor Day to Valentine"s Day and parents walk the streets with liquor on Halloween. Americans love to find an excuse to drink and the best part is that the government appreciates the tax revenue and rehab centers appreciate the revolving door of men, women and teens that have in excess of $20,000 to get country club help.

Here are the facts that will vary by state but I thought this was interesting:

Cost of a DUI

Cost of annual auto insurance increase over 13 years	$40,000
DUI classes	$650
Towing and storage fee ($137 a day)	$685 (at least 5 days)
Fines and attorney fees	$4,000
DMV reinstatement fee	$100
Estimated Minimum total	$45,435

Remember that these fees are the least you would pay. They don't include hospital care for the person your teen hurt, the emotional and physical costs, the inability to get a job because of the DUIrecord, or the award from any lawsuit resulting from a death. All together, those costs could total millions of dollars.
The time spent dealing with the consequences resulting from a DUI is time lost in a person's life, keeping your teen from reaching his or her goals. Here's the time breakdown.

Average time of license suspension	3 months for adults, 12 months for teens
Average time in jail	6 months
Average years on probation	3 years
Number of years with two points on driving record	13 years
DUI classes	6 months
Time in court	Several months
Convicted of murder	Possible lifetime imprisonment
Plus, can you imagine your teen being handicapped or maimed? Suffering a lifetime of guilt and pain because of harming or killing someone? Having trouble getting a good job or getting into college because of a DUI conviction?

In a nutshell, your drinking and driving could cause you to:

• Pay fines and fees of more than $55,000;

• Pay huge increases in insurance premiums;

• Pay for a costly and time-consuming alcohol abuse program for your teen; and

• Have a teen with a criminal record for a DUI.

DUI penalties for those 21 years and older also can be severe. They include:

• Mandatory jail time;

• Substantial fines and fees;

• Suspension or revocation of driver's license;

• Restrictions on when and for what purposes one may drive;

• Being assigned to an alcohol or drug treatment program;

• Installation of an ignition interlock devise on a car; and

• Impoundment of a car.

A first DUI offense requires an adult offender to be:

• Jailed for at least 48 hours;

• Fined substantially;

• Restricted to driving only to and from work or an alcohol treatment program;

• Ordered to attend a three-month or six-month alcohol treatment program;

This New Year's eve ask yourself if you think it's an accident that there is a liquor store on every corner in lower income neighborhoods. There is a liquor store in every town. The difference is what they sell. If the homes are worth 300K than you'll find expensive wine and premium beer. If the housing is government subsidized you'll find 40oz of the lowest quality malt liquor for $2.00. The alcohol industry does not discriminate and neither does alcoholism. However, alcoholism is still a choice. The problem is that once you get in too deep there is no turning back and stopping will kill you. alcohol is the only addiction where stopping cold turkey will kill you. No other drug has that power yet all other drugs are illegal?

What is the cost of alcoholism? 

http://www.cdc.gov/features/CostsOfDrinking/

The High Cost of Excessive Drinking to States
A new study finds that excessive alcohol use cost states a median of $2.9 billion in 2006, or about $1.91 per drink. Find out how much excessive alcohol use costs where you live.
Excessive alcohol use cost states a median of $2.9 billion in 2006, ranging from $420 million in North Dakota to $32 billion in California, according to a new CDC study. This means the median cost per state for each alcoholic drink consumed was about $1.91. Binge drinking—consuming 5 or more drinks on an occasion for men or 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women—was responsible for more than 70% of these costs.

The District of Columbia (DC) had the highest per-person cost ($1,662), while Utah had the highest cost per drink ($2.74). Furthermore, about $2 of every $5 in state costs were paid by government, ranging from 37% of the costs in Mississippi to 45% of the total costs in Utah.

The researchers found that costs due to excessive drinking largely resulted from losses in workplace productivity, health care expenses, and other costs due to a combination of criminal justice expenses, motor vehicle crash costs, and property damage. Across all states and DC, the share of costs from productivity losses ranged from 61% in Wyoming to 82% in DC, and the share of costs from health care expenses ranged from 8% in Texas to 16% in Vermont.

These estimates were based on a previous CDC study that found that excessive drinking cost the United States $223.5 billion in 2006. Costs were assessed for states and DC across 26 cost categories using data multiple sources.

Researchers believe that the study's findings are underestimated because it did not consider a number of other costs, such as those due to pain and suffering by the excessive drinker or others who were affected by the drinking. Even so, the total costs for excessive drinking to states were generally of the same order of magnitude as the costs for smoking or Medicaid.

Make a New Year's resolution to be powerful. Save your money during an uncertain economy. Party responsibly at a friend's house where you can crash if you need to. Save your self a few hundred bucks and put that money towards opening an IRA for your future instead of making everyone else rich besides you.

If you want to be really crazy, be superhuman and go out and drink water. Stay in hotel next to the bar where you party and you may find that you have much more to celebrate. wake up on January 1st at 6:00 am and while the world is asleep, go to the gym or go for a run. Make it really a new year's eve celebration to remember. Watch all the morons throw their money away and make themselves sick. watch people do the dumbest things and act ridiculous. Listen to people question you every five minutes when they see you with a bottle of water.

Be that guy or girl who is really celebrating something. Celebrate yourself! Celebrate Life! Happy New Year!

Conquering the Beast (Alcoholism) by Becoming Superhuman

90 percent of alcoholics are likely to experience at least one relapse over the 4-year period following treatment!

I have been sober since 2003! I will never drink again because I am Superhuman and so are you!

Are you going to be part of the 10% that never touch alcohol again? The alternative is to drink again and be a statistic that lines the pockets of liquor store owners, alcohol manufacturers, doctors, lawyers, the government, and everyone else that stands to profit from your inability to be superhuman. Everyone profits from your drinking and then you die! don't give anyone the satisfaction.

The Crutch versus The Cure

Have you ever seen a vampire movie or read a book about vampires. Well if not let me tell you how you need to approach a vampire if you encounter one. You need to chop off its head and drive a wooden stake through its heart to ensure that it’s dead. If the morons are lucky, we will have a zombie infestation on this planet and then once you or one of you loved ones are bitten, you must kill the zombie despite the fact that it appears to be your loved one. Just like the vampire, once bitten and infected the body is simply a vessel. The “thing” that now exists inside the vessel is no longer your dear sweet relative. It is the undead; it is a vampire or a zombie or whatever else your imagination can come up with. The vampire appears to be human but is more cunning and evil in its intent. Its sole purpose now is too feed. Feed on the blood of the living so that it can exist in its current form.

Have you ever driven past a liquor store at 7:30 in the morning on a Tuesday in the dead of winter and seen beings huddled around the corner of the store inboard daylight trying to stay warm. They pace back and forth and barely converse with each other. They shake like leaves on trees in the fall whether it is 90 degrees or 30 degrees. Some are fortunate enough to be waiting in the warmth of their $80,000 car on their cell phone in a $2k suit. Others huddle under layers of clothes they found in a donation bin on the corner. These beings are also mere shadows of the people they once were and they will stop at nothing to feed. They need alcohol or they will cease to exist in their current form. They need to be treated with extreme prejudice and stopped. They don’t need to be killed because there is still hope. The problem is that most people don’t have the ability anymore to do what is right. Their brain has been chemically altered by alcohol and their body is dependent on it. Stop them before they end up in prison, kill themselves slowly, or kill someone else while driving drunk.

Despite your best intentions, there is only a few choices you have when dealing with someone that is an alcoholic. They do not in fact have a disease but they do have a habit that has taken over their body and their mind. Understanding that they are not the same person they were before they became addicted to alcohol is very important. They don’t even realize that they are not the same person. They never will unless you as a friend or family member have enough balls to do the right thing.

Here are the symptoms of alcoholism in case you did not know: http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/faq/f/prob_faq3.htm

Symptoms of Alcohol Dependence

·        Neglect of other Activities: Important social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of alcohol use;

·        Excessive Use: Alcohol is consumed in larger amounts over a longer period than intended;

·        Impaired control: Ongoing, unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control alcohol consumption;

·        Persistence of Use: Alcohol consumption is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely caused or exacerbated by alcohol;

·        Large Amounts of Time Spent in Alcohol Related Activities: A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain, use or recover from the effects of alcohol;

·        Withdrawal: Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking;

·        Tolerance: The need for increasing amounts of alcohol in order to feel its effects.

Your choices when dealing with an alcoholic are simple. You cannot reason with an alcoholic, you cannot bargain with an alcoholic, you cannot trust anything the alcoholic says.

There are only three things you can do:

1.      Set the person up to have a nice sobering run in with the police by calling the police the minute you know this person is driving in his or her car drunk. This sometimes may be a sobering enough experience for someone to put them in a position to have to be medically detoxed and start thinking somewhat clearly.

2.      Pool your resources and have the alcoholic not the person put into a rehab clinic that they cannot leave under their own free will or threaten to have them arrested again.

3.      Sit back do nothing and hope for the best and watch this person die.

The light at the end of the tunnel is a wonderful thing. You will get your friend back, you will get your family member back but you must take the right action to do so. Anything other than  the options that I have laid out for you will result in death or imprisonment and the person will never be able to remain sober. They may stay sober for a week, a month or even a year but if you do not take aggressive action upfront, you will get the same results 99% of alcoholics face. They relapse and fail and many times they die.

Unlike the vampire or the zombie, your friend or loved one can recover fully from the habit that they chose to take on which in turn became a physical and mental addiction. They do not have a disease unless they developed one as a result of the damage they had done to their liver, heart, pancreas, etc. They can fully recover and be a better version of the person you knew. If you believe this to be true that read on. If you don’t than you will surely be offended buy most of the rest of this blog.

Choice: The American Medical Association labeled Alcoholism as a Disease in the 1940s in order to pave the way for the philosophy of AA and 12 Step. Effectively they were simply helping to line the pockets of Doctors and Pharmaceutical companies. It is not a disease. It is choice. There are liquor stores on every corner in every city. You chose to go in there once a week or once or twice a day. No one forces you. You don't wake up an alcoholic. There is no conclusive evidence that there is an "alcoholic" gene. Once you are medically detoxed you can live a healthy and happy normal life as long as you have the the self-Discipline not to drink. If you disagree with this than you will not be able to stomach the rest of this blog.

When I was admitted to the hospital for the last time I had acute pancreatitis. It was so bad, I was there for almost a  week. Lying next to me either strategically or by chance was a young boy whose liver had failed him. He had never touched a drop of alcohol in his life. He moaned in agony and threw up all night long every night. I had the chance to talk to him when he was highly medicated. It was the most uncomfortable series of questions and answers I had ever had. I was a coward and a failure. This boy would have given anything to have had a chance to survive while I was throwing it all away. My granmother had given me a statue of St. Anthony because she believed that it would help me. I gave the statue to the young boy because he appreciated it more than I ever could. I hope it served him well while he was alive. He died a few short weeks after I left the hospital as I asked his parents to keep in touch.

I understood how absolutely ridiculous it is for anyone to say that they have a disease when they actively participated in giving it to themselves. The only thing that was diseased was my mind and I needed to make a conscious decision to be stronger and smarter or die. Depressed? Sure I was depressed but the dual diagnosis thing is not real either. Stand and take stock of your life and make a damn choice. The boy I met in the hospital died days after I left. He had no choice and the last thing he was worried about was depression and anxiety medications.

If you feel your alcoholism is a disease and that you will constantly be in recovery, than I actually feel sorry for you. If you want to be coddled, call your mommy.You have built a world of excuses for yourself and a reason to fail and have a relapse. Calling something a disease gives you excuses. The truth is that after your body recovers medically and you get your head screwed back on straight, there is no evidence of disease. No one would be able to tell you that you had a problem with alcohol unless you told them. Alcoholism is a habit that takes over your body and mind and therefore become a huge health risk because with drawl can kill you. Your body becomes dependent on it and your mind will cooperate with your body in order to make sure you keep feeding your habit at all costs. However, it is only a habit. Cancer is a disease.

choice

 noun \ˈchȯis\

: the act of choosing : the act of picking or deciding between two or more possibilities

: the opportunity or power to choose between two or more possibilities : the opportunity or power to make a decision

: a range of things that can be chosen

Rewind 9 years and I am waking up in medical facility unable to walk or eat at 120 pounds. I was dragged there against my will by a very dear friend when everyone else in my life had left me for dead. Now this is not because they did not make an effort to help me climb out of the alcohol and drug induced persona.  They simply didn't know what to do. I was drinking a gallon of 100 proof vodka a day periodically throughout the day in order to function. I had more than a dozen episodes of acute pancreatitis and was a less than functioning alcoholic and drug user. I was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Pancreatitis  a few years later and asked to be put on pain meds to control the pain.The pain of these acute episodes has often been compared to childbirth for women. I passed out a few times if I was unable to get morphine fast enough at the hospital.

 http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/digestive-diseases-pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis usually begins with gradual or sudden pain in the upper abdomen that sometimes extends through the back. The pain may be mild at first and feel worse after eating. But the pain is often severe and may become constant and last for several days. A person with acute pancreatitis usually looks and feels very ill and needs immediate medical attention. Other symptoms may include

·        a swollen and tender abdomen

·        nausea and vomiting

·        fever

·        a rapid pulse

Severe acute pancreatitis may cause dehydration and low blood pressure. The heart, lungs, or kidneys can fail. If bleeding occurs in the pancreas, shock and even death may follow.

This is where the war stories stop. I am simply trying to paint a picture.

When I realized where I was and has been medically detoxed, I had to shake off the brain fog from the seizures and start remembering who I was again and start reconciling in my mind exactly what had happened and why. I would imagine that every addict goes through this process but more that 95% of these same addicts choose a different road than I chose. I remember standing in my room and going through every forced and impulsive thought that came to me. I would say that I went through all the stages of grieving because I had lost someone. I lost the someone that I was for 15 years. However I did not know who to equate the image I had in the mirror with the person that I was for the last 15 years because those years were as blury as a distant memory of dream. Those years were almost a feeling rather than a recollection of time.

I stopped the grieving process at Anger. So if you are a happy go lucky flower smelling sunshine and rainbows person than you may not appreciate this line of reasoning at all. However the benefits of anger as it has been defined by me have yielded a positive response. Many people will tell you that harboring anger will "eat you up inside" Well, that may be true if you don't know how to use it.

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy." -Aristotle 

The roads that people can go down are infinite but my road was paved with anger and hate. Anger for what I had allowed myself to become . Hate for what whom I had become. Anger towards all of the influences that I allowed into my life that ultimately destroyed me. Hate for not knowing that I had never really taken the time to understand myself. I never gave myself credit for the positive attributes of my life versus all of the negative.Rather than facing the truth about what and who I was, I masked everything with drugs and booze to compensate for my failures as a human being. Therefore I was able to reduce myself to the same level of a lab rat in a test environment of my own creation. My mind and my body were taken over by mostly alcohol and there was nothing left of who I was. Who was I to begin with?

The answer is, " who cares" It is who I am now that matters. The gift of understanding how to use anger has allowed me to love myself and those I care about.The past had become as irrelevant as my future was when I was drunk. In that moment I decided  that day was the day I was reborn into the beauty of Anger, Discipline, Dedication and an appreciation for Pain as the mechanism for evolving into the man I am today. There truly is no gain to be hand without spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical pain. There is no easy way to reinvent yourself alone. Drinking is everywhere in business and in your social life. People will constantly ask you why you are not drinking. They will buy you drinks even after you say that you are"all set" I tell people I am training for a race. I run obstacle races. the funny part is that, I love telling people that I am training because after everyone else has about 6 drinks in them, I smile.

 I smile because I know they are destroying themselves while I will be out the next morning running a 5k for kicks. I'll be up at 6 am ready to conquer the day. I'll be playing football on a Sunday morning while everyone else is sleeping. I am superhuman. The people that criticize you for not drinking most likely have a problem and feel guilty about their own drinking or obesity, or just about the fact that they are lazy and out of shape. I am better than that now and am very proud of that. Keep drinking fools! Everyone is getting rich off your habit!

I walked out of that medical facility/rehab center 4 months later 20 pounds heavier and able to run 3 miles as if it were something I had done all my life. I never stopped exercising my body and mind. I closed my mind and began to repair my body because without my body working properly and at high degree of efficiency, I was not going to be able to use my mind. Exercise of the mind and body seemed to be the way to go. I had started lifting weights, running, and reading anything I could get my hands on about my condition and about things that interested me.

90 percent of alcoholics are likely to experience at least one relapse over the 4-year period following treatment!

You don't have a disease! You have a Habit! Overcome it and be better than you were before! Become Superhuman!

Spartan Racing and the Miracle of the Cure: You'll know at the finish line!

Anyone of any fitness level at any time can do a Spartan Race and should! I have type 2 diabetes and am 10 years clean and sober. I am a spartan competitor but what does that mean? Spartan Racing's mantra is that, "You will know at the finish line."

What will I know at the finish line?

In March of 2012 I saw this: www.spartrace.com  I decided to investigate beyond the drama and theater of the opening inspirational testosterone filled video. I had seen the movie 300 about the Spartans and remember vividly the scene where the king asks his men what their profession is. What a great scene filled with the stuff that over caffeinated testosterone filled teenage boys love. Here is the scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI6sARmxEuc..

Now strip away all of that nonsense and calm down.It's marketing and imagination.What I needed to know was what was this Spartan Racing thing about and was it for me. If you follow my blog and or Twitter feed at @MasterofOne73 you understand that I am a fully recovered "alcoholic". Alcoholism is not a disease . It is a habit that anyone can break. Any person who has not done permanent physical damage tot heir internal organs can eliminate all emotional, mental, and physical signs of the supposed disease once they are medically detoxed. If you choose to live your life going to AA and going through 12 step and becoming dependent on those things for your sobriety than you have subscribed to the myth of "alcoholism " being a disease and you will always be in "recovery" . I chose not to live that life based on the scientific facts of the habit as opposed to the lie of the disease myth. The disease myth is a lie and I am living proof. One of my most recent blog posts was about a trip to a new doctor who had no understanding of my "alcoholism" until I told him, even after blood tests.

On the other hand , I am also a type 2 Diabetic. That is truly a disease and is not going anywhere. However a proper diet and exercise regiment will decrease the need for drugs and or insulin when dealing with the progression and treatment of the disease.I did this to myself through alcoholism so I thought i would handle it standing on my own two feet without drugs and insulin if I could.

Reversing Diabetes: http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/20/5-steps-to-reversing-type-2-diabetes-and-insulin-resistance/#close

Stop drinking and break the habit of Alcoholism without 12 step or AA: http://www.wikihow.com/Quit-Drinking-without-Alcoholics-Anonymous

This is Sparta!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qR0Uke2XNI
Now that we have the basics down let's shift back to March of 2012. I began subscribing to the Workout of the Day (WOD)  to the letter of the law as written by the PHD level Spartan Trainers. I met with the head trainer for Spratan racing because I happen to be a tenacious salesperson and I sought him out. I spoke to and shook the hand of the creator of the Spartan Race who is an incredible man with a kind soul. I was introduced to training experts and marketing people from the Spartan organization and they all seemed to have the same lighting rod firing through their core. I decided that I was going to train and try and run the 8 mile Spartan Sprint which was coming in August in the area I grew up in as a little boy! The irony!

Spartan racing begins at the 3 mile level and moves to an 8 mile level and then a 13 mile level. Beyond that are 26 mile races and a "Death Race covering days of  physical, emotional, and mental endurance. In March of 2012, I decided to start training. I received no special instruction or personal attention from anyone at Spartan Racing, I just subscribed to the workout of the day training regimen and tailored it to my own thresholds of physical strength, endurance, and mental toughness. I received words of encouragement and fed off of their energy and tips. They kept telling me it was not about winning. Not about winning? I didn't have to be Hobie Call: The World's number one Spartan Racing competitor?. I just had to be a better me. A different me. I had to train to try and finish a race. If I didn't finish than I could always try again. Wow?

I had not run a single mile since I was a teenager. I just turned 40 this past Spring. I had to try and  run now but I had to run up hills, not only did I have to run up hills but I had to run up mountains. I had to lift too. However, I had to stop lifting weights.What? Instead, I had to lift 50 pound sandbags and carry them up hills and then run and then immediately drop and do burpees. What's a burpee? A burpee is important because the Spartan Race obstacle course is filled with obstacles and if you cannot successfully negotiate an obstacle you have to do 30 burpees.

The burpee: http://www.spartanracehq.com/the-burpee/

My race was coming in August. I was going back to my childhood home as a truly changed man. In March I ran my first mile in over 12 minutes. I had no running ability at all. I fell down after my first attempt at a mile. I could barely do one burpee never mind 30 and I was met with defeat every time I tired to perform a workout of the day. I then realized why the mantra of the Spartan Race was not to win but to finish. My training was focused on being competitive my first time out because of all my life's missteps.In the end all I needed to do was finish.

Four and half months of training harder than I ever trained before was allowing me to reflect on my life, on my sobriety, and on my diabetes. It allowed me to focus on my diet, my job, structure my time, and feel alive. I had a goal, a purpose, and I was determined to finish.What will I know at the finish line?

Race day: In august of 2012 I drove to the race. It took me 5 hours and I drove alone and raced alone. I was nervous as there was really fit jacked up guys and galls pumped and ready to go. I was a newbie and I was alone. I was a  type 2 diabetic with chronic pancreatitis and a ten year bout with the habit of alcoholism. I walked to the starting gate and heard" Aroo Arooo" ( this is the chant of the Spartans in the movie 300). I was nervous as hell. The race began and I was running straight up a mountain with 300 other screaming people.

Suddenly the screaming stopped, the muscle heads had slowed to a crawl, the guys wearing spartan costumes were down with their hands on their knees, and I heard laughter. People were laughing! People were having fun. People were kids again. Groups of friends had decided to run together and help each other through the mud and beyond the obstacles. People were there to encourage each other and make sure that no one was left behind. There were husband and wife teams, friends, and even guys and gals in their 60s and 70s moving along and enjoying every moment of the event and scenery. People were talking to each other and encouraging each other along.People were handing out sips of their water and offering energy bars to strangers. Of course there were veteran racers that were tearing through the course with a look of feverish determination.

I was definitely on the side of feverish determination and I reached the finish line in pain because I pushed myself every second of the way to make sure I never stopped running.I was running against my own demons. It was a journey that had my mind, heart, body and soul screaming in pain and in joy because I knew why I was there. I knew that I had trained to the best of my ability. The best of my ability......The best of my ability!

I placed in the top 15% in my age group that day. Spartan marketing was true to form. They say you know when you are at the finish line. I knew and I collapsed. I laid there on the ground and I immediately reflected on my journey. They had extended the course to 11 miles without telling anyone until we stepped up to the starting line. I had just run 11 miles and gotten through all the obstacles except two. I never stopped moving.

The miracle of Spartan Racing is that simply deciding to go to train for a race is a miracle. Simply trying to take that first step out your front door to run even 1/2 a mile is a miracle for some. Carrying a sandbag, doing a burpee, running hiking trails, climbing a mountain, and becoming part of the Spartan Community is a miracle. You are forever changed by simply becoming part of the Spartan community. You will never be turned away!Nothing in life is easy. You have to be uncomfortable in order to make things different for yourself. To make a change for the better, you must endure some level of doubt, fear, and discomfort.

Spartan Racing is not about screaming warriors. It's about the miracle of the cure for what is troubling you physically,mentally, and emotionally. It's all interconnected. I lost 30 pounds just training for Spartan racing. I can run a 5K in under 25 minutes. I can run up a double black diamond ski trail. I can do 50 burpees in a row. Even if I never ran a Spartan Race,  I won.

The people of Spartan Racing have developed a community that allows anyone of any fitness level to enjoy the miracle of  facing fears, setting goals and accomplishing anything you want. There is a spartan group for women, for hard core runners, and for anyone everywhere.

I no longer use insulin to treat my diabetes, I remain sober and I managed to run three races last year and place in the top 25% in my age group in each race.I enjoy a successful career and am a husband and father.

If I had one wish, it would be that every alcoholic or addict I knew who subscribed to the lie of AA and 12 step programs could  read this blog.. If you believe you are diseased and that you will be in recovery for the rest of your life than you are limiting yourself. Instead of a coin get a medal for finishing a Spartan Race.You maybe be alive but why not thrive! Instead of wasting hours in a room with codependent people who believe they are diseased, get out and train for a Spartan Race. You will know at the finish line!

 If I could tell every diabetic that sits around complaining about their insulin pump and the need for a cure about training for a Spartan Race, I would. I'm not a doctor, a psychologist, or a certified fitness trainer. I'm a diabetic who eliminated the need for insulin or pills. I also have chronic pancreatitus and I don't take pain medication because pain is relative. I wish I could tell every diabetic to train for a race and that "You will know at the finish line!"

My 5 year old did his first race last year, I will be racing with him on the adult course when he is 14 years old. The Miracle of Spartan Racing is that the cure for the biggest problems associated with the habit of alcoholism and the disease of diabetes is the mental, emotional, and physical process one goes through simply training for a race and joining the Spartan Community.You 'll know  at the finish line.

So what did I "know" at the finish line? I knew that I had to tell everyone that cared to listen that they need to "know" for themselves. See you in 2013 and beyond!

Thank you to every member of the Spartan racing team and to the entire Spartan Racing community!

Arooo!

Alcoholism, Type 2 Diabetes, and the Cure in the Mirror

A little more than 3 years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I actually gave it to myself. That's right I deliberately went out and started on the path towards Diabetes.Unlike Alcoholism which I also gave to myself, Type 2 Diabetes is a disease because it will never truly go away. I was an "alcoholic" for a good 15 years. At this point it is important to mention that "alcoholism" is a habit and it is not disease. No one wakes up one day with alcoholism or is predisposed to it because they are of a certain ethnicity or long line of drunks.At some point for whatever reason, I decided it was a good idea to start drinking and then continue drinking until alcohol took over the basic functions of my body and reduced me to nothing but a scrawny mass of seizures and acute pancreatic attacks.

The AMA debated the validity of "Alcoholism being a disease for decades until they discovered the trail of money to be made from labeling it as a disease. Follow the trail. I spent $400/week sometimes on booze, then I spent in excess of $10000/year on medical costs outside of my insurance payments, I paid thousands in court fees and lawyer fees, I spent weeks in jail, then I spent countless hours sitting a room for people who smoked and drank coffee together in a group psychosis of interdependence. The time I spent in Alcoholics Anonymous was the worst time of all because it cost me time and money because i was not out making money. I was wasting time hoping that becoming dependent on other people's "misery loves company" nonsense would heal me. Maybe i just wasn't in touch with my higher power? Bullshit. I knew there was more to life than these people aspired to be.

 Let's assume that the AMA is right and alcoholism is a disease of the mind. Why then would I want to surround myself with a group of people with a diseased mind after I had sobered up. that seemed counter intuitive and I was enraged that I was forced to be there by the courts. Those people made me sick. Then I collapsed with seizures  I paid even more money to go into a rehab center for a few months until I demanded to leave. Then I paid even more money to sit in a psychologists chair for a few sessions only to discover that I had figured out what my problem was when I was back in rehab locked in a room for 8 hours a night. Miraculously or not, I was given a clean bill of health 5 months after I left this glorious rehab center. My liver enzymes were slightly elevated and my pancreas showed obvious signs of wear but there were no cells in my body attacking other cells in order to systematically destroy my body. I had an emotional and or psychological issue that made the habit of alcoholism serve a purpose. For me it was giving me the ability to cope with a loss and recreate my identity when I moved away from all my friends at crucial age. Alcohol defined me and everything I did. Eventually the habit of alcoholism led to the disease of Type 2 Diabetes

The Habit:

The modern disease theory of alcoholism states that problem drinking is sometimes caused by a disease of the brain, characterized by altered brain structure and function. The American Medical Association (AMA) had declared that alcoholism was an illness in 1956. In 1991, The AMA further endorsed the dual classification of a
Alcoholism by the International Classification of Diseases under both psychiatric and medical sections.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease_theory_of_alcoholism)

The Disease

What Is Type 2 Diabetes?

(http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/type-2-diabetes)

Unlike people with type 1 diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes produce insulin; however, either their pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot use the insulin adequately. This is called insulin resistance. When there isn't enough insulin or the insulin is not used as it should be, glucose (sugar) can't get into the body's cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, the body's cells are not able to function properly. Other problems associated with the buildup of glucose in the blood include:

• Damage to the body. Over time, the high glucose levels in the blood may damage the nerves and small blood vessels of the eyes, kidneys, and heart and predispose a person to atherosclerosis (hardening) of the large arteries that can cause heart attack and stroke.
• Dehydration. The buildup of sugar in the blood can cause an increase in urination. When the kidneys lose the glucose through the urine, a large amount of water is also lost, causing dehydration.
• Diabetic Coma (Hyperosmolar nonketotic diabetic coma) . When a person with type 2 diabetes becomes very ill or severely dehydrated and is not able to drink enough fluids to make up for the fluid losses, they may develop this life-threatening complication.

Anyone can get type 2 diabetes. However, those at highest risk for the disease are those who 

• Are over 45
• Are obese or overweight
• Have had gestational diabetes 
• Have family members who have type 2 diabetes
• Have prediabetes
• Are inactive
• Have low HDL cholesterol or high triglycerides levels
• Have high blood pressure
• Are members of certain racial or ethnic groups

I walked in rehab 128 pounds without the ability to walk on my own. In a little over three months I was running a two mile track and had gained 15 pounds of muscle through a very strict diet and exercise plan. I absolutely refused to attend #AA meetings, I ignored all of the doctrine and I negotiated that I would work in the kitchen to avoid meetings and use the remainder of the time to training as if I were Rocky Balboa. What changed? to make a long story short, a counselor that I had a fist fight with at the rehab center escorted me into a bathroom and locked me in there for an hour. In that bathroom I discovered the most valuable tool for anyone who ever goes through the habit of alcoholism. A mirror.......... I'll come back to this! yes, A mirror.

When I left rehab I continued to gain weight and got stronger and bigger. I decided that the best thing I could do was become a muscle head. I took in 5 to 6 thousand calories a day and trained like madman. I joined a flag football league and was an instant success because i was also small, fast, and had built up my endurance. My greatest weapon was that I was fearless. I  shredded up my arm against a fence to try and make a catch, I bit through my tongue and had to have it sewed back on, I dislocated my shoulder, blah blah blah. When those things happened I demanded to keep playing . Duct tape around my tongue and arm in each of those instances. You would think I was getting paid.

Then one day I woke up in the middle of the night and I had to pee like there was no tomorrow. This was accompanied my a crazy uncontrollable thirst. I let this go for two week until the headaches started and the feeling of almost passing out ran a muck on a daily basis. I was out of work after being laid off. I had no health insurance and soon found myself in a free clinic shaking and sweating. I was taken in and I did not leave for three days. My blood sugar level was through the roof and I was diagnosed with type two diabetes. I had no idea what this meant but soon learned that everything would need to change yet again. However, the doctor's were extremely useless because I had no insurance. The doctor at the clinic literally told me that I needed to go buy a glucometer and test strips, get the prescription filled for Lantis insulin pens and then follow up with a diabetic nurse. It was my first taste of what poor people get when they have no insurance and need help.

I went home and I sat and thought about the chain of events. First I drank myself into a a miserable state, then I got healthy, then apparently I got too healthy. all the while my pancreas had been damaged from drinking and now I had been pushing it's strained abilities to the limits but bulking up and gaining weight like a football player. My pancreas apparently had had enough and now I had to take Insulin and eat 2500 calories a day or less and lose 50 pounds? what the f****? I had no insurance and I knew that I needed help and I needed to understand Diabetes so I went to the http://www.joslin.org/ at the advice of a family friend who had Diabetes. I absorbed as much information as I could and after a week I realized that this was not as bad as I thought. In fact this was the exact same battle I had already gone through with alcoholism except this would never go away. However the fight would bring out the best in me or reveal my weakness.

Music had played a big part in my recovery after I had come to grips with the truth that the mirror in the bathroom at Rehab had showed me. I found Hatebreed and it guided me through the challenges. They are not a "hate" group. The singer had a bought with alcoholism and other issues as well and remains sober to this day. The band hates those thing which bring them down or make them less that who they really are. I remember hearing the song,"Facing What Consumes You" and its message and rhythm and feeling carried me and still does.

Hatebreed: Facing What Consumes YouFacing what consumes you is the only way to be free.Released from those poisonous fears.Resurrected once and for all.You want me to hold my tongue,Then why the fuck am I here?You want me to bottle my rage,Cause you never had the heart to say what I say.My life, my body, my pride.You have no opinion, no right.I've built myself nothing like you.My refusal is my way of life.
doubt me, DOUBT ME!,hate me,HATE ME!You're the inspiration I need 3x
You're all the inpiration that i need.
AHHHHH!!!
My life, my body, my prideYou have no say 3x
You don't have a say.

Facing what consumes you is the only way to be free.Though I'm still far from perfection.I stay relevant, I'm still vigilante.I have so much more to say.I have so much more to fight for.I've used your lack of expectation.As my awakening, its my ability to live foreverBy my own command.To be vehement, remain confident.
doubt me,DOUBT ME,hate me,HATE MEYou're the inspiration I need 3x
You're all the inspiration that I need.
Your doubt, it fuels me.x2Your hate, it drives me.x2The challenge ignites me.You make me fight harder! Stanza (x2)
YOU MAKE ME FIGHT HARDER!

I took on Diabetes in the same way that I took on Alcoholism but with a different understanding. I knew that my body was damaged and that Diabetes would never go away. Diabetes is a disease while Alcoholism remained and still is a habit. Fast forward 1 year. I am insulin free, I lost 50 pounds and I competed in and placed in the top 25% in my age group at the http://www.spartanrace.com/. I want to make it very clear that I attribute my sustained sobriety and overall health to the Spartan Race Community and it's leadership. The founder and his team of  fitness experts have  been kind enough to reach out to me from time to time for a variety of reasons. They understand that I live my life with purpose and am proud to be a Spartan Race Competitor  anyone of any fitness level can enjoy Spartan racing. There is truly nothing like finishing a 3, 8 or 13 mile course. You begin to understand what you are capable of and your desire to get better overwhelms you. If you train for Spartan racing for 6 months and do 1 race, you will be a different person. Someday I hope I can spread this message to the addict and diabetic community.

 I did 3 races in 4 months. To this day I do not check my insulin, my glucometer has dust on it and i see a doctor every 6 months. I am not the same as a I was when I was a 185 pound muscle head wrecking ball but I can run a %k in 26 minutes and compete at a fairly high level in obstacle racing for someone in their 40s. The spartan racing community unlike the AA community asks you to be better than you every day. I'm not  really a big community person so I don't run obstacle races with a big group of people and have a good old time. I take myself pretty seriously and try and remember that I am the alpha and the omega.

There is only one person, there is only one thing that can drive a very simple person like me through the trials and tribulations of the physical and emotional challenges of overcoming the obstacles of the habit of alcoholism and the disease of Diabetes.

Flasback to rehab. I could barely stand and I was 3 weeks into rehab. Someone asked me to do something and I through my food at this person. This was not a good idea. little did I know that this counselor was a black belt in some form of martial arts. two other counselors came to help the situation and i got a few good punches in after flailing around like an idiot. I was dragged into a bathroom and sat in a chair and restrained. The counselor who brought me in there looked at me and said," Listen man, you can fight all you want but the only person you are fighting is yourself, we can let you go and you can walk out into the desert. Hell I'll even call you  cab and give you money to get to the airport. In the end you need to decide what you are going to do. However , what ever decision you make you have to live with it and yourself."

I remember sitting there bloodied up a bit and really tired. I sat there for a little while and then shimmied myself over to the sink and stood up while still tied tot he chair with restraints. I stood there for what turned out to be over two hours. I remember the smell of the floor cleaner, I remember the taste of blood in my mouth and I remember it being pretty dark. I moved closer tot he door and flicked on the light switch with my shoulder so I could see better. I looked in the mirror and I saw the most horrific thing I had ever seen in my life. That's saying alot. I lived a fucked up life. I saw someone I didn't know looking back at me in the mirror. In an instant I knew what I had to do because i understood what I had done. Anger pushed through my veins like a lightning rod, sadness poured over me like a tidal wave, and yet relief propelled me to eventually knock on the door and ask to be set free.

The next day the beast was released and I have never looked back. No ridiculous group of interdependent cult like weaklings, no higher power, no god, no friend, no parent, no woman, no drug, no doctor, no one was going to make me better than I was. The only person that had the power to heal me was me. As with alcoholism, I decided to take diabetes head on and alone. I am in the best shape of my life and still sober and I owe it all to me.

I have a scathing and relentless disdain and impatience for what our society does to people who choose to make alcoholism a habit. It's not a disease but being labeled as such limits the innate power of the individual to overcome it. Instead millions of dollars are made by liquor company's and their advertisements, bars, rehab centers, doctors, and self help gurus that feed off of the psychological and emotional weaknesses that come along with labeling yourself an alcoholic for the rest of your life. I have that same disdain and impatience for fat people who are bodily able to do something about their diabetes by changing their diet and exercising but instead choose to try a magic pill or do nothing at all. They just complacently sit back and admit defeat or redefine themselves as a"big person" or big boned". Why so much hate?

 It is because I understand intimately that we are all simply animals. I am living breathing proof of my own suppositions and observations and yet I am nothing special. We are separated from those creatures that walk on all fours by a complex brain. That brain is influenced by the society we live in. The society that molds the vision of "self" for people is flawed and destructive. Our brains begin to suppresses our natural instincts to survive and thrive as the cancer of societies influences prey on our weaknesses through religion, pop culture, and other human constructs that really are just noise  Money is the driving force behind the sustained lie of "alcoholism" as a disease. Money is also surrendered by people who believe they can do nothing about their Diabetes. Imagine stripping away all the bullshit and realizing you can change the dynamics of your habits and diseases by simply looking in a mirror.

You are your greatest hero and facing what consumes you is the only way to be free!