“Ultra” means “outside the norm” or “beyond.” And the life-journey of one local man who’s known as an “ultra” or long-distance runner is truly beyond expectation, and beyond any probability.
For Alhambra resident Tim “T.J.” Davis, sport is not a game. And, with the exception of watching the Olympic Games this week, he’s far from being a spectator. As we go to press, he’s pacing a friend as a participant in the 100-mile Angeles Crest endurance race. Key insight: running this 50-mile leg of the race is his 50th birthday gift to himself.
The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat
Competitive athletes know this spectrum intimately. And sports fans experience it vicariously by watching the Olympics on television. Some of us even believe that, by donning our best gym togs as we sit on the couch munching salty snacks while Simone rakes in the gold medals, we, too, are young, agile, disciplined, motivated and impossibly buff, experiencing the moment of truth on the beam, bars and mat.
Davis says that he and his family have been watching swimming, gymnastics, diving, track and field, surfing, skateboarding, rugby and water polo. He and his son take a particular interest in USA men and women’s basketball. Davis modestly describes himself as a “mere amateur athlete.” He’s also an author, a 12-stepper, and a mental health advocate who teaches and coaches how physical training promotes mental, emotional and spiritual healing.
Davis says, “I don’t train people, but I share experience, strength and hope for free.”
His path has not been easy, to put it mildly.
Davis says, “I broke my addiction by getting sick and tired of being sick and tired. I crashed cars and almost killed my baby brother in an intoxicated driving accident. I lost job after job, and my wife had just about given up on me, and I finally told her, my sponsor, and my therapist that I would go to rehab and commit to sober living for a year or longer or whatever it takes. And I made a deal with God. I said, ‘God, I am going to actually work through all 12 of the 12 Steps this time in earnest, but if I still want to get drunk or high after that, then I am going to do so!’ Lo and behold, somewhere around Steps 6 and 7 (asking God to remove our character defects), my obsession was lifted and I haven’t taken a drink or a drug since June 15, 2007, the day after my 33rd birthday.”
And again, it’s not all about setting a time-record or hammering one’s glutes into Athenian perfection, although getting and staying fit stripped 70 pounds from Davis’ 5 foot- 8 inch frame as he recovered.
As the author of “TRIPOLAR: The Story of a Bipolar Triathlete,” Davis explains that exercise, especially long-distance running, serves as his sword and shield again depression and addiction. Most of us have heard that daily movement is good for our mental health and well-being, as well as good for toning up those loosey-goosey bits. But for Davis, it’s absolutely a matter of survival. Speaking of the addictions that killed his father at age 44, and his younger brother at the age of 32, Davis says, “This disease almost killed me, too. It’s cunning, baffling, and powerful and most addicts don’t find recovery, unfortunately.”
Family and genealogy
Davis grew up in West Virginia, one of seven kids of a hard-drinking father. His account reveals that he got drunk with his older brother the first time at the age of nine. A few years later, Davis’ intoxicated father was chasing him around the balcony and accidentally fell to his death. The shock and trauma were compounded by the fact that Davis’ older brother blamed his younger sibling for the tragedy.
Davis says, “This was the point in my life when I first sought drugs and alcohol to cope and escape pain because I didn’t know any better at age 12.”
At the time, Davis seemingly self-medicated in response to the loss of his father, a way to numb the pain, shame and guilt. But another unseen element was at play that made the siren-song of alcohol and drugs even more enchanting: he was bipolar, undiagnosed until 2002, when his suicide attempt brought him to the place where he was willing to seek professional help for his addictions.
“Before I was diagnosed as bipolar, I was self-medicated with drugs and alcohol, especially marijuana until it stopped ‘working for me.’ I sought harder drugs and things spiraled out of control pretty rapidly. I went in and out of rehab for about five years, was diagnosed as bipolar after threatening to commit suicide and being put into a psych hospital on a 5150 hold for seven days. Eventually, my psychiatrist found the right combination of medications to help stabilize my moods, and I began earnestly working 12-step programs,” says Davis.
Davis had moved from West Virginia at age 18, studied at USC, gotten married, attended his first Narcotics Anonymous meeting and decided “I wasn’t an addict.”
He was wrong, and says that today he attends meetings almost every day, works with a sponsor himself, and currently sponsors six men who are dedicated to maintaining their sobriety. As with building and defining muscle and maintaining endurance, daily consistency is the key to success.
Getting and staying sober
Davis describes joining Marijuana Anonymous in 1999, the year that his first son was born, and how he went in and out of rehab for several years. His second son was born in 2001, and Davis had been sober between 2004 until 2007, when he relapsed. From there, in the process of getting and staying sober, he gained 70 unwelcome pounds, a common experience when addicts get clean.
The weight gain, followed by a new health issue, put the spark to the fuse and sent Davis on a lifelong mission of fitness. In his first year of sobriety, Davis was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and living the life of a couch-potato, remote in hand. Then his doctor diagnosed him as pre-diabetic, warning that he might not live to see his 50th birthday. He was clean, but still unhealthy.
Davis re-joined his local gym, decided to stop eating seconds, and denied himself video games and television until he had already exercised for at least one hour per day.
“Then I signed up for a Half Ironman Triathlon,” he says. “Once I saw what I could do with a stronger, fitter body, I was hooked. After successfully completing that Half Ironman, I started doing Full Ironman Triathlons every year for several years until I moved up to ultra endurance racing events that are even longer and more grueling than Ironman triathlons. I have scaled all of the tallest mountains in and around Southern California, including going to the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states. I have gone in caves and up canyons. My passion for fitness is based on a passion for living life to its fullest, and it helped and continues to help me manage my recovery from drug addiction and bipolar disorder.”
In 2012, Davis and family welcomed a baby daughter, his first child born into his sobriety. He also completed his Master of Science degree in Education at USC that year. In 2015, he did the Oregon Double Ironman Triathlon (swim 4.8 miles, bike 224 miles, run 52 miles, all in less than 39 hours). In 2018, he completed his seventh 100-mile endurance run, and began working on his memoir which was published in 2020. In 2022, he completed his 15th Ironman Triathlon, marking 15 years of sobriety.
“Sports is the best medicine ever, in my opinion.”
He says, “Sports is the best medicine ever, in my opinion. I have used swimming, biking, running, and other exercise as medicine since I’ve gotten sober. There have been many difficult times in my life over the last 17-plus years where I had anxiety or stress and I wasn’t able to always find a meeting or other help, but I was able to lace up my running shoes and go for a run and clear my head. I always felt better afterward and most often found a solution to my problem while I worked it out, or I should say while I was working out!”
Davis did, indeed, celebrate his 50th Gemini birthday. He alternates swim and run days, swimming 2,000-4,000 yards three times a week, and running 5 to 6 miles on weekdays and longer mountain trail runs of 10 to 25 miles on the weekends. He is active in Alcoholics Anonymous and Debtors Anonymous fellowships, and just celebrated four years of financial solvency on May 11 of this year. He organizes Tripolar Trail Run Events in Joshua Tree and other parts of the region, and—could life get any sweeter?—he and his family are currently fostering five male tuxedo kittens through www.Kittenrescue.org.
He calls sports a “panacea” and adds, “I encourage everyone to get out there or get to the gym and do at least 30 to 60 minutes of moving your body to whatever type of exercise you enjoy, and your body will thank you for it. Not only will it improve your physical health, but it will also improve your mental health. Any medical professional will tell you the same thing, so it is a simple fact for all of us.”
Few of us possess the talent and drive of Simone Biles. But the story of T.J.Davis serves as a reminder that struggle and victory take many forms.
For more about T.J.’s memoir, visit www.ultratimdavis.com
AA Meetings in our area
- https://lacoaa.org/meeting-details.php?id=6315
- https://sober.com/aa-meetings/california/pasadena-california
- https://www.aasgvco.org/contact_us.php
- https://lacoaa.org/meeting-location.php?a1=1118+Allen+Ave&a2=&c=Pasadena&s=CA&z=91104
- https://betteraddictioncare.com/meetings/california/pasadena
- https://www.aa-meetings.com/aa-meeting-location/california/pasadena
NA Meetings in our area
- https://sgvna.com
- https://www.narcotics.com/na-meetings/california/pasadena-california
- https://www.drugstrategies.org/NA-Meetings/California/Pasadena
- https://addictionresource.com/na-meetings/pasadena-ca
- https://todayna.org/todaynawp
- https://www.narcotics.com/na-meeting/pasadena-line-by-line-group
DA Meetings in our area
- https://socalda.org/in-person-meetings
- https://socalda.org
- https://aging.networkofcare.org/riverside/services/agency?pid=DEBTORSANONYMOUSSOUTHERNCALIFORNIA_38_1_0
- https://debtorsanonymous.org/
Hi – I’ve read TJ’s engaging, nspiring book, “Tri-Polar.” Here’s the 5 star review I left on Amazon.
‘I’d put it off – a book about an addict bipolar man doing extreme triathlons. Then I finally picked it up and I loved it, page after page, chapter two’s punch in the gut underlying the reality of Tim’s journey that is extraordinary but also full of elements of my story, others’ journeys, probably of your story too. The trajectory moves with a natural ease and is never boring, always engaging. And always kept 100% . . . real. Throughout, in an unforced way, a deep vein of truth about how we are vitally, spiritually interconnected, and how needed and healing this connection is, speaks through, is in fact the voice and reach of this excellent book, and continues to stand by ready to inspire. Tim moves to keep a needed balance in his life. The story moves as well. It isn’t about a static fix. It’s about finding a way to fully live. Thank you Tim for putting this into the world. I feel like I’ve been in those special rooms where the presence of something greater than ourselves manifests. And thanks for the beautiful and balancing Afterward, honest and fearless, from your wife Mariah, who has her own powerful tale of recovery. And love.”