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Former addicts running toward a goal with Flying Pig

Recovering addict Mark Hudson looks back on the day when alcohol controlled his life. "I was merely existing. For the previous four years I was just getting up everyday going to work, coming home, no routine. I wasn't giving back. I was just taking."

Credit City Gospel Mission
Recovering alcoholic Mark Hudson goes for a run.

The 48-year-old is sober now. He went to school, got a job, and is running in the Flying Pig Marathon's 10K thanks to help from City Gospel Mission. Hudson says he feels like he now has a purpose.

One program, called "Step Forward," encourages addicts, both men and women, to run or walk. According to the group's David Pinson, "In a sense, the training for the "Step Forward" program is a metaphor for going through a recovery process. You have to want to do it. You gotta sign-up. You have to walk through those doors."

Vincent Harrell-Singletary walked through those doors after years of addiction to drugs and alcohol. He says he wants to start taking better care of himself. "I started off by just walking one lap around Washington Park. Now I'm up to five laps around Washington Park." This weekend Harrell-Singletary will walk the Flying Pig 5K.

It's up to volunteer and coach Bruce Kazich to mentor and train the former addicts. He says, "They've run from something. They've run from the police, they joke, or they've run from problems in their lives. Now they're actually able to accomplish something."

For the last three months Kazich's motivated the group by telling them he's 60-years-old, drives from Dry Ridge early on Saturday mornings to train with them, and if he can do it, so can they. He'll be running the 10K this weekend.

On Saturday, look for the City Gospel Mission participants running and walking  in royal blue shirts with the words "Step Forward." They're looking forward to finishing and hearing people cheering them on.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.