Gregory Brady - Resurrection of a Junkie

 

I'm a heroin addict in recovery. I started shooting heroin at 17 and I did it for years and years and years. In 1999 was one of my worst years, worst experience. I was shooting dope every day. I got in a car accident. I was half blind. I had broken my shoulders. The doctors gave me Percodan and Valium, and I still had my dope and I was losing time. A judge put me in Bridgewater State Prison, which was a place where they put heroin addicts for 30 days just to get the drugs out of your system. It was probably the closest I came to death in my whole life. 

 

I get out of there, and I'm in my living room in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I was living in the Berkshire Mountains, and I'm with my best friend, Marilyn, and my daughter, Bianca. My daughter at this time is 11. Marilyn was reading the paper and she was talking about the Josh Billings. And I said, “Well, what's the Josh Billings?” She said, “It's a triathlon. You go 28 miles on a bicycle, 5 miles in a canoe and 7 miles on foot.” And so, Bianca said to me, “Daddy, you should do the Josh Billings.” It was a big joke. And I said, “One second.” I said, “I'm going to do it.” Okay. So, I did. 

 

I began to train, okay, a little at a time. My body mended. I came back to life. I thought it was great. The Berkshires, the foliage, the mountains, the lake. Marilyn had a bike. It was an inch smaller than others, but that was okay. She had a great big canoe that was okay. We duct taped it together. [audience laughter] We tried to make it proper for the race. I had my Converse basketball sneakers. And so, I trained and trained, and I finished first every night that I trained in my mind. [audience laughter] You know what I mean? [audience applause] 

 

I could not be defeated. I was so much feeling life. And so, I'm playing the Stones, my earphones and I'm listening, Daddy, you're a fool to cry. I'm coming right over the finish line like this. [audience laughter] It was just absolutely awesome. The day of the race came, okay? I go to the race now. I got my little bike, which is okay. I see people clipping their shoes into the pedals of their bikes and I went, “My God, that's dangerous. What are these people doing?” [audience laughter] And so, first is a mile uphill. I'm passing people and I'm feeling good, “Man, man, I might not even finish last. This is great.” And then, going down the hill, they went [whooshing] right by me. They flew right by me. And so, little by little, I was starting to understand where I was going to finish this thing. 

 

So, I get to the lake, I get to the canoe. There's canoes everywhere on the lake and I was so excited, because all I wanted to do was finish and not be last. That's all. And so, I get in my canoe, and it's like a family canoe. I have a milk crate in the center of it, [audience laughter] and I'm rowing it. You know, kids are flying by me in kayaks with their eyebrows shaved and their head [audience laughter] shaved, flames on their boat and all of that. And I'm in like the Titanic, [audience laughter] and I'm up high and everybody on my milk crate. So, I screamed, “Is this moving?” [audience laughter] A man answered me. He said, “Yeah, you're moving. I can see that you're moving.” He said, “Look at the hill. You'll see the--" [audience laughter] 

 

He took the question literally. He thought I [audience laughter] was really asking if I was moving. So, we go around the lake and go around the lake and go around the lake and go around the lake. You had to go four times. I think I went five, I might have gone five, because [audience laughter] we get to the end. I got a quarter mile left. Marilyn’s waiting for me at the end, and the lake is like ice and I'm the only canoe on it. And so, I go like hell. I go like hell. “That's all right. That's all right. I'm going to finish. I'm going to finish. I might not be last.” I get to the end, I say, “Marilyn, give me the water. Give me the water.” She said, “I drank it all.” [audience laughter] She said, “You took so long that I got thirsty.” [audience laughter] 

 

So, I get my water, and then I'm off. My sneakers are wet now, because I screwed up in the water. I'm running my seven miles to Tanglewood. Now, the race ends at Tanglewood, which is an outdoor theater in the Berkshires, and the Boston Symphony plays there all summer. When the race ends, everybody parties up there. And so, I'm running and it's like post-apocalyptic. There’re tables, nobody. There’re chairs, nobody. [audience laughter] There's just glasses of water there waiting for me. I was losing it a little bit. I get to the entrance of Tanglewood, and there's all people there. I thought they would have been gone by now. 

 

They were all there. They were all partying. And then, I looked and the finished clock was still running, the great big clock, and it said 4 hours and 42 minutes. I fell down. I hit like a pothole in the thing and I fell down. I was going in and out of it and I couldn't-- Sounds were coming in and out. I heard somebody scream, “Get him an ambulance. Make him stop.” And then, a man came over and he put his hand on my back, and I felt safe. I just felt safe. And his wife walked around me and poured water on me. I couldn't look up. I was looking at their $500 running shoes. [audience laughter] I had this attack of shame. 

 

He said to me, “Listen, buddy,” He said, “The guy that won this race in 2 hours and 3 minutes. Next week, nobody's going to remember this guy's name.” He said, “If you can get up and get yourself over the finish line, it says 4 hours and 43 minutes.” He said, “You're going to be a story for grandchildren for years to come.” And I went, “Oh, my God.” I kept getting up and staggering and falling. I could see Marilyn and my daughter at the finish line. And Bianca Lynn, my daughter, she was looking at me and she just had that awful look on her face. She was scared. She was looking at me like she had been looking at me my whole life. I was always in that kind of frigging condition. 

 

And so, I got up and I fell, and the man stayed with me and his wife kept pouring the water and all of that. To me, it was just like a whole failure. And then, Bianca got right up in front, right next to the clock, and she clenched her little hands and she stuck her chest out and she screamed, “That's my daddy.” And my God, so I stood right up and I walked over that finish line and she jumped into my arms and she said, “I love you so much, Daddy.” Thank you.