The tough as iron road to recovery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - When an ACI cell door closed on Wakefield’s George Marr for the first time, it was not quite enough to spur changes in his life.

“A lot of my friends stepped forward to help me,” the Wakefield man said, looking back to the end of 2006.

But the drugs were stronger.

It is hard to believe that this chiseled triathlete was a junkie, snorting coke, smoking crack and popping ecstasy and selling all of it too. But he fooled a lot of people for about fifteen years.

“I started when I was in tenth grade,” he said, taking a break from one of his long bike rides. “I was a very high functioning person. I still had a job but it was buried under a life of doing drugs all the time, 24-7, non-stop. It seemed normal to be."

His new normal started after a second stint in prison only months after that first arrest.

“Sitting in a jail cell, you're whole life goes on and you're not in it,” he said.  

Marr remembers that exact date, January 5, 2007. It is a birth date of sorts since he believes he re-started his life at that moment. When he got out, he was too embarrassed to tell his friends and family about his second arrest, thinking he had let them down. He was determined and even driven by his shady past, knowing he had to dry out or die.

“I went into rehab for six months and after that, I ran my first road race.”

He remembers huffing and puffing during that run, realizing that very few if any of the other runners even smoked cigarettes. He got better, though. Much better.

Four years after that first run, he completed the Boston Marathon, winning a surprise message from his tough, military trained father

“It was the first time he ever said he was proud of me after the first marathon,” Marr said, adding that he has now run 4 marathons. “He was the first person I called from the finish line at every race.”

But his sobriety was challenged on another cold January day, last year when his father died.

“When I lost him it was hard. And it's still hard. I don't have him to call any more.”

Seven months later, last August, Marr’s mother passed away. Then, pain in his hip required an operation in January. He was concerned about his training regimen but also wondered how the pain medication would impact his on-going recovery from drug addiction.

“I was worried and even tried not to use it but the pain after the operation was excruciating,” Marr said. “I took it and couldn’t wait to get off of it.”

Which he did, continuing his training for last month's Amica Ironman. He finished 61 ^st in his age group and 364 ^th overall. As he chugged across the finish line, he had tears in his eyes, thinking the 70.3 mile distance was nothing compared to how far he’d come in life.

“To be here with these people compared to where I used to be is just mass transformation,” he said. “Now, I look back on it and I'm glad to be alive for one thing and I'm glad not to be in jail or dead.”

70 plus miles of swimming, riding and running did not get Marr to the personal finish line he establish for himself. Up next, he will push his limits to complete, a 140.8 mile Ironman.

His parents won’t be around to call after he finishes but Marr said he knows they’re proud of him.

Send your news tips to Walt Buteau at wbuteau@wpri.com and follow Walt on Twitter: @wbuteau