PIX11
By James Ford
One of the tri-state region’s largest addiction recovery programs, Odyssey House, is centered around a concept of a devoted, steady, long-term course of recovery.
That mission was embodied on Saturday by hundreds of program participants and their families at the organization’s Run For Your Life, which is supported by PIX11 News.
“It relates, really, to the principle of recovery,” said Odyssey House CEO Peter Provet. “If you stick with it, you win.”
It was the 20th anniversary staging of the event, which features a 1.5-mile family walk and a 5K run around Randall’s Island. The event raises funds for the organization that helps thousands of people overcome addiction, while keeping their families intact.
As Janira Mussenden, a member of Odyssey House’s running team, pointed out, Run For Your Life also builds a further support network.
“I’m so happy that I get to meet a new family, new friends and we just run together,” she said, just before running the 5K. “We help each other, we train together.”
Spending time outdoors engaged in athletic activity is also part of the recovery process for many Odyssey House clients. The Run For Your Life also features other activities for people in the Odyssey House program and their families, including carnival games, face painting, dancing and information booths on health programs.
For the event’s two-decade anniversary, the weather was just about perfect, but as resident staff intern Max Eisenstat pointed out, no matter what the weather, Run For Your Life is an opportunity for people with a common purpose of overcoming addiction to encourage one another publicly.
“It’s not just my facility of running,” Eisenstat said. “It’s all of Odyssey House, it’s all of New York City coming together for a great cause.”
PIX11 News has been invited by Odyssey House for most of the 20-year history of Run For Your Life to have an on-air personality host the event. This year, reporter James Ford emceed the Run For Your Life.