Runners in Recovery With Bob BalfourRunners in Recovery With Bob Balfour
Addict II Athlete Podcast
Coach Blu talks with Bob Balfour about his journey from early addiction, crime and deep loneliness to long-term recovery, correctional work and running. The conversation highlights how gratitude, community, and marathon culture support people rebuilding their lives after addiction.
1:15:42•6 Jul 2021
Boston-Strong Recovery: How Running, Prison Work and Community Kept Bob Sober
Episode Overview
- Childhood roles, people-pleasing and chaotic family systems can strongly shape early substance use and later addiction.
- A simple daily practice of asking for a positive attitude and a grateful heart became a long-term anchor for Bob’s recovery.
- Sticking with the “winners” in recovery—people who live with integrity and heart—helps build a sustainable sober life.
- Treating incarcerated people as human beings with potential, rather than just their crimes, can shift prison culture and support change.
- Running and community events like marathons offer structure, identity and hope for people in recovery and their families.
“Nobody knows the loneliness like an alcoholic or a drug addict.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation between Coach Blu Robinson and long-time runner in recovery, Bob Balfour, offers a raw mix of humour, honesty and hard-earned experience aimed squarely at people rebuilding life after addiction. Bob shares how growing up as the youngest of five, people-pleasing and chaos at home steered him into alcohol and drugs at a young age, shelving dreams of hockey and hot rods.
He talks candidly about dealing, crystal meth binges, near-death moments, and the bizarre contrast of having a police commissioner father while running wild with outlaw bikers. One of the most striking moments comes when Bob recalls, “Nobody knows the loneliness like an alcoholic or a drug addict,” a line that sets the tone for the emotional weight of his story.
The episode then shifts into how treatment, spiritual practice, and a simple daily request for a “positive attitude and a grateful heart” changed his trajectory. Bob explains how running and community-based recovery gave him a new identity, eventually leading him into correctional work, where he chose to see inmates as people rather than their charges.
Runners in Recovery and the Boston Marathon thread through the chat as powerful symbols: from inmates running marathons in work boots, to parents in the stands watching their children finish sober, to the legacy of the late David Clark and the legendary Boston Quad. The style is relaxed and story-driven, with plenty of banter, yet it keeps circling back to practical hope for anyone dealing with addiction, trauma, or family fallout.
If you’re wondering whether movement, community and a bit of humour can sit alongside serious recovery work, this one might give you a lot to think about—and maybe even nudge you towards your own starting line. So, what small “positive attitude and grateful heart” step could you take today?
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