Denver Rescue Mission Marathon

One of those stories that show that people are salvageable and that with support they can get past the "demons" that chase them. There is a saying that recovering from addiction isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

Crack addiction burned almost every relationship in Shannon Chandler's life. He hurt most of his friends and family. But through it all, his mother, Nancy Chandler, stood strong and supported him.

On a sunny Sunday morning, amid cheers and banners and balloons, Shannon Chandler, 41, lumbered across the finish line of the Colorado Colfax Marathon. With tears running down his face, he still had the energy to embrace Mom, waiting at the finish line.

"She stuck with me through my addictions, and she was there for me at the end of the race," said Chandler, one of 17 men in the Denver Rescue Mission's drug rehabilitation program who took on the race.

trickled in wearing their bright yellow Rescue Mission T-shirts - all completing a goal they set out to accomplish when they began an intense training program in January.

A few who had started the program dropped out before the race.

Some, like Chandler, ran/walked the half-marathon. Nine men took on the entire 26.2-mile course from Aurora west through Denver and Lakewood, finally finishing at Colorado Mills mall.

DENVER POST