Center Stage / the conversation
Founder & President, Racing for Recovery / Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) / Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC-CS)
Todd Crandell lost his mother at age three — she died from the intersection of addiction and suicide before he was old enough to understand what either word meant. By 13, he had taken his first drink. By his 20s, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and prescription medications had consumed nearly everything that had once been promising in his life: a competitive hockey career, ended by expulsion for cocaine use; relationships, destroyed; housing, gone; freedom, briefly, multiple times. He was jailed, homeless, and charged with drunk driving three times. He spent 13 years inside a pattern of dependency that, from the outside, looked like a person determined to destroy himself.
Todd Crandell lost his mother at age three — she died from the intersection of addiction and suicide before he was old enough to understand what either word meant. By 13, he had taken his first drink. By his 20s, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and prescription medications had consumed nearly everything that had once been promising in his life: a competitive hockey career, ended by expulsion for cocaine use; relationships, destroyed; housing, gone; freedom, briefly, multiple times. He was jailed, homeless, and charged with drunk driving three times. He spent 13 years inside a pattern of dependency that, from the outside, looked like a person determined to destroy himself. On April 15, 1993, after his third drunk driving charge, Todd Crandell quit — everything, all at once, overnight. No treatment center. No program. No pharmaceutical support. He made a decision, and he held it. That decision is now more than 30 years old. Six years after he got sober, Todd crossed the finish line of his first Ironman triathlon — a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run that most people complete in awe of the effort and never attempt again. Todd did not stop. He has since completed over 128 Ironman and Ultraman events across more than 25 countries on six continents. In 2008, in a single week, he completed both the Ironman Western Australia and the Ultraman Hawaii Triathlon — a three-day event consisting of 6.2 miles of swimming, 90 miles of biking, and a 52.4-mile run — making him the only person in the world to complete both events in the same week that year. He has earned the prestigious All World Athlete (AWA) status and has been featured on CNN, ESPN, BBC, and in The New York Times and Runner's World Magazine. But the races are the vehicle, not the destination. In 2001, Todd founded Racing for Recovery — a federally approved 501(c)(3) CARF-certified nonprofit that offers weekly support group meetings (in-person and virtual), intensive outpatient programming, family counseling, and holistic wellness resources. The program is built on Todd's conviction that traditional recovery models are often insufficient because they fail to address the emotional trauma at the root of addictive behavior and fail to redirect addictive drives into positive, life-affirming action. Racing for Recovery does both. Todd became a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) and a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC-CS), graduating from Spring Arbor University in 2007. He has authored seven books, including 'Racing for Recovery: From Addict to Ironman' (2006), 'Choices and Consequences' (2019), 'Do No Harm' (2023), '100: My Ironman Journey' (2023), and 'Creating Todd Crandell' (2024). He is the subject of four documentaries — Addict (2003), Running with Demons (2012), Pure Euphoria (2020), and Racing for Recovery (2024). He speaks nationally to school districts, corrections facilities, drug treatment centers, and community organizations, leading with a single, unwavering message: with sobriety, anything is possible. Todd Crandell appeared on the Center Stage segment of Mornings in the Lab to examine what he means when he says addiction and sobriety are choices — and why that conviction, however challenging, is the foundation of everything he has built.
The gap between intention and behavioral change
You can say you want to change and still wake up choosing the same thing that's wrecking you.
The opening frame of Todd's story is also its most psychologically precise insight: intention is not action. People can genuinely want to change while the pattern of their behavior remains identical. Todd lived this gap for 13 years and built his entire counseling approach around understanding why it exists.
Intergenerational trauma and addiction
At three years old, he lost his mother to addiction and suicide.
The biographical detail that contextualizes everything. Todd Crandell's story begins not with his own addiction but with the trauma of losing his mother before he could form memories of her. Understanding his 13 years of dependency requires understanding what he was carrying when he picked up his first drink at 13.
Cold turkey sobriety: a decision held without a program
He went from daily dependency to total withdrawal overnight. No treatment center. No program.
Todd's sobriety is not the product of a system or a program — it is the product of a decision, held without institutional support. This is both his most extraordinary personal achievement and the source of his sometimes controversial position that addiction and sobriety are ultimately choices.
With sobriety, anything is possible
With Sobriety, Anything Is Possible.
Todd's seven-word thesis, carried through 30+ years of sobriety, 128+ Ironman events, seven books, four documentaries, and a nonprofit that has helped thousands of families. It is not a motivational platitude — it is a proven proposition. His life is the evidence.
The recovered life in full: athlete, author, counselor, advocate
He is the Original Sober Triathlete — 128 Ironman finishes, seven-time author, counselor, speaker, and vegan.
The density of Todd's identity as a recovering person is part of what makes him effective as an advocate and counselor. He has not built a recovery story — he has built a recovery life. The racing, the writing, the clinical work, the plant-based lifestyle, and the advocacy are all integrated expressions of the same commitment.
Family inclusion in addiction recovery
Racing for Recovery brings people and their families into the same room and confronts addiction directly.
This design principle of Racing for Recovery — deliberately including families alongside those struggling with addiction — is one of its most distinctive and powerful elements. Addiction does not happen to individuals in isolation; it happens to systems of people. Healing, Todd argues, should involve those systems.
Addiction and sobriety as choices: the philosophy
Todd believes addiction and sobriety are choices — and today we are going to examine what that means and why it challenges everything.
The host's framing positions Todd's worldview as genuinely provocative, which it is. In a recovery landscape increasingly focused on neurological and genetic frameworks, Todd's insistence on choice is a minority position with real implications for how we design treatment, allocate responsibility, and measure success.
Physical transformation: from addiction to ultra-endurance
In 2008, he was the only person in the world to complete both the Ironman Western Australia and the Ultraman Hawaii in the same week.
This single achievement — completing two of the world's most punishing endurance events in seven days — is the kind of fact that no amount of abstraction can diminish. It signals that Todd Crandell's relationship with his body, once weaponized against himself, has been transformed into an instrument of extraordinary capacity.
He Quit Drugs Cold Turkey and Ran 128 Ironmans
Episode #CS-015
Center Stage
You can say you want to change and still wake up choosing the same thing that's wrecking you.
With Sobriety, Anything Is Possible.
He went from daily dependency to total withdrawal overnight. No treatment center. No program.
Todd Crandell is the founder and president of Racing for Recovery, a federally approved 501(c)(3) CARF-certified nonprofit organization based in Holland, Ohio, dedicated to addiction prevention and recovery through holistic wellness, endurance sports, and community support. He is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) and a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC-CS) who has spent 30+ years in sobriety after quitting heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and prescription drugs cold turkey on April 15, 1993. He has completed 128+ Ironman and Ultraman events in 25+ countries, authored seven books, and been featured in four documentaries. He is known as 'The Original Sober Triathlete' and leads with the message: with sobriety, anything is possible.
Todd Crandell has completed more than 128 Ironman and Ultraman events across more than 25 countries on six continents. He completed his first Ironman triathlon in 1999 — six years after achieving sobriety — and has raced continuously ever since, earning the prestigious All World Athlete (AWA) Ironman status. In 2008, he became the only person in the world to complete both the Ironman Western Australia and the Ultraman Hawaii Triathlon in the same week — the Ultraman being a three-day event consisting of 6.2 miles of swimming, 90 miles of biking, and a 52.4-mile run. He continues to race annually across multiple continents.
Todd Crandell spent 13 years struggling with addiction to heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and prescription drugs, beginning with his first drink at age 13. His addiction ended a promising hockey career, led to homelessness, multiple arrests, and three drunk driving charges. On April 15, 1993, following his third drunk driving charge, he quit every substance — cold turkey, overnight, without a treatment center or formal program. He has maintained sobriety since that date. He went on to become a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) and a Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC-CS), and founded Racing for Recovery in 2001 to help others through the combination of emotional trauma work and holistic wellness.
Todd Crandell has authored seven books: 'Racing for Recovery: From Addict to Ironman' (2006), 'There's More Than One Way to Get to Cleveland' (2013), 'Choices and Consequences' (2019), 'Do No Harm: Discovering the Truth and the Power Behind a Compassionate Lifestyle' (2023), '100: My Ironman Journey' (2023), and 'Creating Todd Crandell' (2024). His books chronicle his personal journey from addiction to sobriety and ultra-endurance athletics, offer clinical insight into the recovery process, and explore the role of compassionate living and holistic wellness in sustained sobriety. He has also been the subject of four documentaries: Addict (2003), Running with Demons (2012), Pure Euphoria (2020), and Racing for Recovery (2024).
Racing for Recovery is distinguished from traditional addiction treatment programs by its holistic, community-based model and its deliberate inclusion of families alongside individuals in recovery. Todd Crandell founded it in 2001 after observing that traditional recovery programs often failed to address the emotional trauma at the root of addictive behavior and failed to redirect addictive drives into positive, life-affirming activities. Racing for Recovery's model combines weekly support group meetings open to everyone affected by addiction (individuals, families, and the public), intensive outpatient programming, individual and family counseling, and an emphasis on physical wellness, plant-based nutrition, and purposeful living. The program is CARF-certified and federally approved as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Todd Crandell is available for motivational speaking engagements through the All American Speakers Bureau and his own websites. He speaks nationally to school districts, corrections facilities, drug treatment centers, community organizations, and corporate audiences. His counseling practice is based in Holland, Ohio, and he also offers virtual support through Racing for Recovery. He maintains an active presence on Instagram (@soberultraman) and Facebook (facebook.com/soberultraman), and his main websites are racingforrecovery.org and toddcrandell.com. He also offers personalized Cameo video messages and has a podcast titled Racing for Recovery that is available on major streaming platforms.
You can say you want to change and still wake up choosing the same thing that's wrecking you. That's because habits, even destructive ones, can feel safer than the uncertainty of choosing differently. Todd Crannell lived inside that pattern for over a decade. He started drinking at 13. By his 20s, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and prescriptions controlled his life. A promising hockey career ended with expulsion for cocaine use. Then came homelessness, jail, and three drunk driving charges. At three years old, he lost his mother to addiction and suicide. In 1993, after his third drunk driving charge, he quit everything. He went from daily dependency to total withdrawal overnight. No treatment center, no program. 6 years later, he crossed his first Iron Man finish line. Since then, he has completed 128 Iron Man races in over 25 countries across six continents. He founded Racing for Recovery to bring people and their families into the same room and confront addiction directly. He is a licensed counselor, a seven-time author, and the subject of four documentaries. Todd believes addiction and sobriety are choices. Today, we are going to examine what that means and why it challenges everything. Nation, this is going to be a powerful conversation. Todd, welcome to Mornings in the Lab.
The open: habits that feel safer than change · ~2 minutes · The episode opens with the psychological insight that habits — even destructive ones — feel safer than uncertainty. This frames Todd's 13 years of addiction not as weakness but as a pattern with its own internal logic. · Todd's childhood: losing his mother at three · ~4 minutes · Todd discusses losing his mother to addiction and suicide when he was three years old and how that foundational loss shaped the trajectory of his early life and his own relationship with substances. · The addiction years: 13 to 26 · ~5 minutes · Todd describes the arc from first drink at 13 to the full grip of heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and prescriptions in his 20s. The hockey career, the expulsion, the homelessness, the jail time, the three drunk driving charges. · The decision: April 15, 1993 · ~4 minutes · Todd recounts the moment he decided to quit — everything, all at once, overnight, cold turkey, without a program. The nature of that decision, what held it in place, and what the next days and weeks felt like. · The first Ironman: six years sober · ~3 minutes · Todd describes how he found Ironman triathlon and why the extreme physical discipline of endurance racing became the channel through which his former addictive drives could be redirected into something transformative. · 128+ Ironmans and six continents · ~3 minutes · Discussion of the scale of Todd's race record — 128+ events, 25+ countries, the Ultraman, the 2008 double in the same week. The races as a living demonstration of what becomes possible in sobriety. · Founding Racing for Recovery in 2001 · ~4 minutes · Todd describes the founding of his nonprofit — the gap he saw in traditional recovery models, the family-inclusive design philosophy, and how the program works in practice through weekly meetings, outpatient programming, and holistic wellness. · Becoming a licensed counselor · ~3 minutes · Todd discusses his decision to pursue clinical credentials — graduating from Spring Arbor University in 2007 — and why having been through addiction personally makes his counseling uniquely credible and effective. · Addiction and sobriety as choices: the philosophy · ~5 minutes · The philosophically loaded center of the episode — Todd's position that addiction is a choice and sobriety is a choice, and what this means for how he designs treatment, counsels clients, and challenges the disease model. Sophia engages directly with the complexity of this view. · Seven books, four documentaries, and the speaking mission · ~3 minutes · Overview of Todd's seven-book catalog and four documentary appearances. Discussion of how writing and film have extended his reach as an advocate and why 2026 is a particularly active year for his national tour. · Closing: with sobriety, anything is possible · ~2 minutes · Sophia closes the segment with Todd's core message, directing viewers to racingforrecovery.org and toddcrandell.com. A reflective exchange on what Todd's life represents for anyone who has ever believed their story was over at rock bottom.
