Running Toward Redemption: Shawn Goertz’s Long Run Beyond Addiction

In Missouri Life’s story “The Long Run,” writer Andrea Kaneko follows Columbia runner Shawn Goertz, whose life was transformed by distance running after years of addiction, prison, and repeated attempts at recovery. After getting sober in 2007, Goertz discovered marathon training and later ultramarathons, using the discipline and community of running to rebuild his life and eventually become a mentor for other runners and people in recovery. For more than a decade he ran ultramarathons across the country and organized training groups in Columbia, but a recent diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has forced him to step away from the sport that helped save his life. The story reflects on how Goertz is now redefining his identity beyond running while continuing to support others in sobriety. Read the full story in Missouri Life: “The Long Run.”