Paul Wozniak Opens Up About His Alcoholism, Part 2 of the Documentary

This is part 2 of my documentary recounting my quest to win an adventure 5k race as a way of making a sort of 'amends' for the fact that I quit competing when I started abusing alcohol as a teenager.

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That tells the whole backstory.

In this episode, I explain how important asking for help became to me after I decided that I needed to stop drinking. The only people that I have ever met who are alcoholics in recovery and are still happy are the ones who have asked for help. Those that see asking for help as weakness or surrender as powerlessness are the ones who crumble under the weight of their addiction, even if they aren't using.

When I quit, I asked for help, and I made myself willing to do whatever they told me to do. As I realized I had a drinking problem, it was about the worst feeling I had ever had. Since that was the case, I figured that my bad decision making got me there, so maybe it was time for me to let some other people help me make decisions.

It was a great idea. If you drive the car into the ditch over and over again, maybe it's time to let someone else drive.

So what did they tell me to do? It was pretty simple. They asked me, "Did you drink every day?" To which my answer was, "Yes." They said, "Then work on your sobriety every day." Fair enough.

The people who were helping me also encouraged me to figure out what I was afraid of and to stop being afraid of it. They said fear is "False Evidence Appearing Real". F-E-A-R. I began to believe that just about every problem the world faces is because of fear, and mostly because of unreal fear, or fear that has no basis in reality.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

~President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

It was incredible to learn all of these things, and I decided to apply them to all other areas of my life. As you can see in the documentary above, I asked for help in attempting to win the Northern Colorado Mud Brigade. I had the help of trainers and people to help me stay healthy.

I even started asking for help in my career, and saw my income increase quite a bit. That's why I wanted to create The Redemption Race, because it was so simple to ask for help, and the results were so spectacular.

My thanks go to all the businesses and people that helped me create The Redemption Race. I couldn't have done it without them.

Star Painter Productions and Drew Bankston

Drew did it for a very small return. He worked very hard and patiently with me, and I am so glad to call him my friend.

Star Painter Productions Website

Advanced Healthcare Physical Medicine and Dr. Nathan Irwin

Dr. Irwin loves to work with athletes, and he is the one who kept me healthy through the intense training that it took to pull this off. I was able to see him for adjustments, spinal decompression and massage as much as I needed. And I needed a lot.

Advanced Healthcare Physical Medicine's website

The Fort Collins Club, Todd Heenan, Wendy Mader and Theresa Rudel

Todd Heenan supports me in everything I've ever asked for his help on, and this was no different. In addition to allowing us to use the Fort Collins Club as a shooting location for the interviews, he worked out a deal with his best personal trainers to be in the documentary, and to have them help me prepare for this challenge.

Fort Collins Club Website

Theresa Rudel

Theresa Rudel has been an athlete all of her life and she helped me with my balance, strength and coordination. She is an amazing trainer who helps people of all walks of life achieve all kinds of goals.

Wendy Mader and T2 Coaching

Wendy Mader is a record setting, champion triathlete ( 2008 Ironman Overall Amateur World Champ), and an amazing coach. She teaches pros how to be better and takes newbies from nothing to racers with no problem. She worked on my conditioning, running technique and speed. She set me up on an email system, and like clockwork the new workout would be there...every day. It seemed like too much sometimes. :)

Wendy Mader's Coaching Website

Post Paradise, Nick Duare and Amy Marie

I needed great music, specifically a great workout track, and Dani Grant from Spokesbuzz hooked me up with Nick Duarte and Amy Marie from Post Paradise. I have since become a big fan of their music, and even bigger fans of their giving hearts. I listened to a couple things from them and settled in on the cello heavy Bach inspired rock track Interlude: Bach Cello Suite that acted as sort of a linker from the first half of their their great record The New Normal to the second. But I needed it to be longer. I needed a little something here, a little something there, and I needed Nick Duarte to do it. He did, and it makes the workout montage look and sound great!

My wife

I put a lot of time into the shooting and editing of this documentary, not to mention training every day. Sarah supported me the whole way, and has encouraged me to work through the idea of releasing something of such a personal nature.

If you notice, the documentary was shot a few years before it was posted. Part of that is because editing is difficult. Mostly, it was because I was afraid to put it out there. She pushed me through it, which I think says a lot for her courage.

Check out her website, the Blissful Seed.