2012 Book 9: The Long Run

The Long Run by Mishka Shubaly is a memoir about how Shubaly quit alcohol. Mostly it drones on and on and on and on about the author's drug and alcohol experience. And then it briefly talks about how he saved himself through running. Basically he just woke up one day and decided to quit drinking and he did. The book doesn't offer much hope, just a sad story of an alcoholic. I was disappointed that he didn't talk more about his running experiences, after all the title is The Long Run. The most powerful part of the book is the very end where Shubaly helps a friend complete a 100-mile race.

If you are just in the mood to read about the sad life of an alcoholic, then you might feel like picking this up. But I wouldn't recommend it.

Excerpts from the book:

“The tragedy is not that you’re gonna die this way,” my mother had said to me once, “it’s that you live this way.”

"At 27 years of age, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and even Jim Morrison had each created a body of work that guys like you are still ripping off today. At 32, you seem to have done nothing. Or at least I have no idea who you are. So my two questions to you are: What do you intend to do with your life? And just what exactly is your f---ing problem?”

It’s much easier to accede to the grim fact of an early death than it is to deal with the long, fumbling open question of what to do with your life. 

...my best attempts to the contrary, quitting drinking taught me a few things. One hard truth I stumbled upon is this: I drank because I wanted to drink. Every single drink, every single drug I took, I took because I made the decision to get f---ed up, and f--- the consequences. I was sad and angry and lonely and a little alcohol made me feel better. It took me a long time to figure out that a lot of alcohol made me feel worse.