People always ask me how I stay off of drugs and alcohol. Among the many things I do to remain drug and alcohol free including exercise, spirituality, faith, family and gratitude is HUMILITY. Being humbled by all the good that comes into my life and thus turns into benefiting Racing for Recovery is truly a blessing. For example, having my new friend Sam create our new pod cast (which we just recorded the first show yesterday and will air Jan 1 or 2) and John who came to our support group meeting after reading the book From Addict to Ironman. John stopped by our house 2 times and I was not home but he spoke with Melissa and confirmed I would be at our meeting last night. When I had the opportunity to meet John, he simply said “I had to meet you after reading your book and want to be more involved in Racing for Recovery”. To me that is exactly why I started this whole thing in the first place is to simply take my experiences and make them help somebody else and this is a prime example of that.

I also ran into an old friend (Kerry) who I have known since I was 2 years old. We talked for awhile about me coaching her son Austyn (he is a goalie) and how another mutual friend of ours really enjoyed our support group meeting. She also commented on how I have remained the same through all of this and that to me was a nice compliment and brings us right back to having HUMILITY.

I want to close by simply stating how thankful, blessed and fortunate I am to have this wonderful program Racing for Recovery and all of the great people who are making Racing for Recovery what it is today. Thank you for not only your work and dedication but also your belief in what we do to share our message.

Enjoy New Years Eve and be safe out there.

T

Went to see Bob Seger last night in Detroit with my wife Melissa and my parents. Yes the show was awesome but to me what was just as awesome was the fact, I was sober and at the show with my parents. 20 years ago we did this but I was not in the right state of mind back then if you know what I mean. This to me was yet another example of what sobriety can bring and how families can be repaired.

Speaking of family, my brother comes into town from San Francisco. We always have a great time and I hope he likes the Paris Hilton CD I have for him. It is tradition that we try and give each other the worst gift of the year and I truly believe I am going to win this year. No offense Paris lol.

I love this time of year and I am so thankful that once again I am sober and trying to improve my life.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

With Sobriety Anything is Possible.

T

Hey everyone,

I am pleased to announce starting Jan 1 we will have a pod cast. I was contacted by a local guy who right now I am calling SW and he said he was looking for people who could exemplify success and thought of me. I am honored he contacted me and the basis of our pod cast are going to revolve around not only Racing for Recovery but the definition and examples of success.

The mentoring program in Long Island is gearing up to start and the shirts have been ordered. Thanks to Kathleen and Ryan for the endless support they are providing.

We had a great support group meeting last night and one comment that was shared was geared to people who are struggling with their addiction. You know what your addition has taken you so try and do something other that what you are currently doing. It is the old saying if you keep doing the same thing and expect different results something is wrong. Once again “With Sobriety Anything is Possible” You can overcome your current situation. I am not saying it will be easy in fact I will tell you right now you will have difficult times but any bad day sober is better thank being drunk.

I spoke at Perrysburg Jr. High School yesterday and took my daughter Skylar with me. People always ask me what I am doing to prevent my kids from becoming like their dad was and this is an example of what I do. I also did a presentation for parents to let them know about our program and the warning signs of drug usage with their kids.

Ok that is it for now and to my friend RJ keep your chin up mate you are a survivor and you will get through this thing.

T

Hello From Las Vegas at 4 am. For the past 2 days, I have been speaking at boarding schools just outside of Reno, Nevada. The first school was Skyview and the kids there were amazing. Yesterday my presentation was at Horizon and I talked, answered questions and signed our promotional material for 3.5 hours. Both Skyview and Horizon were amazing experiences for me. I was truly honored to be sharing my story to these young adults and I can honestly say I have never been in front of a more professional, attentive, polite and respected audience of this age group. The questions that were asked were very thought provoking and intelligent. I could tell many of these individuals were relating my past to what they were currently going through and they also were seeing what a bright future was ahead of them and that is what counts.

I want to thank Kathy for arranging my talks at both schools and all of the amazing people I met for having me. This is my life and it is times like these were I truly know this is what I am meant to do.

I am staying with Kathy (mentioned above) and her daughter Marcia who just was released from Skyview. Marcia is an amazing young girl who is now ready to take on life being drug free. I am very impressed with her and want to personally thank her for helping me see some things in myself that needed changing. For example, I told her yesterday I was really nervous about the speaking engagement. She told me that was my “piggie” talking, meaning my self-doubt and that I should be excited about the talk because I was confident in who I am and that I was going to help improve lives. That was so profound to me and so right and look what happened, I had a great presentation. Thank you Marcia for helping me. I do so many of these talks and always think I am there to help the audience which I am but sometimes you get the benefit of improving yourself as well.

So now for the next 2 days I will be at the Las Vegas Marathon expo doing book signings. Thanks to my friend Steve V for arranging all of this and for arranging to have 20,000 Racing for Recovery fliers in the participants race bags.

I am also looking forward to Scott (reality show) coming in from Los Angeles to do some filming for a new promotional clip.

To my family back home, I miss you guys badly and will be there soon. No travel for me over the holidays.

Todd

Hello from Long Island New York,

I had the honor and pleasure of speaking at Rikers Island Prison in New York yesterday. I was very humbled and moved by the experience. I also had a lot of gratitude because that could have been me sitting in there. Actually I have sat in that seat just in a different place and that was my point to the guys is you can come over to the good side and enjoy life. I want to thank Richard and Mark for making this happen.

Last night was a nice dinner with my friend Craig and Kathy who I always stay with out here (you are lucky to have me Craig lol) along with Ryan and his wife Kathy. Recall that I Kathy and Ryan are implementing the Racing for Recovery mentoring program out here and this weekend is the kick off. They all are great people who are donating their time to help kids and share the Racing for Recovery program. Thanks for all you do and the sweatshirt.

Tomorrow is a 4 mile run that I am going to do and I just hope my leg is healed and I can run because next week is the half marathon in Las Vegas that I am registered for. I am also doing some speaking engagements along with a book signing as well. Then I have a few weeks off for the holidays before the new year kicks in.

I am pleased to announce we will have a new support group starting in Las Vegas in February. Details will be posted soon and thanks to Steve V for making this all happen.

There is so much going on and a lot of it are things that I do not have the experience in. I want to thank my manager Carri for all she is doing on a personal and professional manner for me.

On a recovery note, I again want to remind people out there who are struggling that With Sobriety Anything is Possible. This sobriety thing is not always easy but it is a great way to live and I would not trade this life for anything. Life is about choices and if you make the choice to stop using and put pursue a new life, things will be much better.

We are going to be doing a fund raiser to help with the half ironman and mentoring program. Please support this program but making a donation to Racing for Recovery today. All proceeds go to improve our program and further share our mission.

I am off to a book signing.

Take it easy out there and enjoy what you have been given.

T