Wes Doty is now 8 years sober! Instead of sleeping outside he's now running marathons (and maybe an ultra-marathon one of these days). Thank you to Timmy Howard (EP 54) for introducing me to Wes.
This is the first official episode as part of the SandyBoy Productions podcast network! Huge thank you to Lindsey Hein for bringing this show into the fold.
During this episode, sponsored by Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:
- His childhood in Anderson, IN and how he spent most of his time away from his house searching for normalcy
- How this led him to discover opiates at the age of 13 because his friend’s mom had some that went missing
- Getting kicked out of high school and going from juvenile to a boys school
- Spending a year in boys school but then going right back to chasing the high
- What his parents must have been thinking and feeling during the time he was using
- Breaking the promise to himself that he’d never use heroin
- How he became a dad to his daughter, Jocelyn, when he was 25
- Why he shouldn’t be alive today
- How rehab brought him to Indianapolis in 2015 but opportunity and desire caused him to use again
- What finally caused him to get clean and how he found running through Back on My Feet
- The first races he did - The Indy Mini for his first half marathon, The Carmel Marathon for his first full marathon (where he BQ’d)
- How he set a goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon and go there with his mom, but didn’t get the chance
- His mom’s accident
- How the biggest struggle with helping others like him is that you can only help someone who really wants it
- Building a relationship with his daughter now that he’s sober
- Finding his running community in PBT and getting faster and faster
- His experience at the Boston Marathon in 2022 and chasing a PR at monumental (that’s on the anniversary of his mom’s passing)
- How we’re both intrigued by ultramarathons
- The documentary that was created about him after a film maker saw him give a speech in front of the governor
- An incredible story about when he was running downtown after he was sober
- How he ended up with a “normal” job thanks to someone from Back on my Feet
