The Zac Clark Show - LONDON MARATHON RECAP: 70 Degree Heat, Traveling Sober, and AA Lives Everywhere

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Zac and Jay unpack Zac’s grueling 70° London Marathon: the exhaustion, the jetlag, the missed PR — and the unexpected wins that had nothing to do with time. They talk sober travel, hitting AA meetings abroad, and how running connects to the bigger work of recovery and showing up for yourself.There’s also a special appearance from Release’s Grace Adams, who traveled to London to capture it all. She shares what it was like standing sober on the same London streets where she once spiraled — and what it really means to face your past without running from it. Marathon #16 is in the books!Connect with Zachttps://www.instagram.com/zwclark/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-c-746b96254/https://www.tiktok.com/@zacwclarkhttps://www.strava.com/athletes/55697553https://twitter.com/zacwclarkIf you or anyone you know is struggling, please do not hesitate to contact Release:[phone]releaserecovery.com@releaserecovery

What's up? 16 in the, in the bag. We're back. Marathon man. Zach Clark Show. Marathon man. Why do I do these things? No, it's the best.

I'm amazed that you do. Me too. What was different about this one? They're all different. I mean, the thing about the marathons, they all, they all have their own story. It feels very weird wearing this metal. I never really wear the medals, but I figured I'd show it off while I had. it um this one was i mean like we were there with the release foundation so there's always a new

mix of people and a crew that attends and we try to cater them to the best of our ability obviously it's it's the third time i did um not obviously but it's the third time i did London so there's an element of the overnight flight and kind of some mania real road game yeah real road game and there's Not a lot of people from America running this race. I mean, it's really hard to get a bib. What's the size compared to the New York? They just, they broke the wreck. It's the largest marathon in the world now.

Oh, really? Yeah, they passed New York. Crazy. But mostly. You didn't know that, yeah, that just came out this week, that there was like almost 56,000 people that, that ran it. Most of which are local to London or Europe. Yeah.

Wow. So. But it was this. you know we i left i traveled with grace who's actually in the room with us now and her mother over we took a we took a we took a and blake and some of the other folks we took a porter who works for us grace adams i'm assuming that people know who these people are but they're folks that are here and part of the release family so we got into london on friday morning at six 45 or seven and i had to go right to an event for strife

which took two hours to get to so I missed the run I missed the shakeout what's the shakeout it was a shake you know like it's a little pre-run two or three mile run on Friday which you know was kind of supposed to be an off day for me anyway but I got to the breakfast Strava so if you don't know what Strava is there a running app that is kind of blown up right now they they have built a community it's like the Instagram or the Twitter or the you know TikTok for

runners running yeah it's awesome and it's just like the best people so I did that breakfast and then launched into marathon festivities no sleep you sleep on the plane no sleep slept on the plane a couple hours and it's just like the energy

of yeah I was texting with my buddy Ken ride out who's a runner after the race and he said dude you're an idiot because I didn't hit my time I didn't hit my time I'll get into that not that I should have hit my time based on my training but I'm a stubborn guy and I feel like I can pull miracles out of thin air which doesn't really happen in running but he said that if you're running a race internationally you should you should account for a day per hour of time change so it's a six hour time change

between New York and London, or maybe five, I forget, five. Yeah, five. So I should have gotten there five days early to get your circadian rhythm back on... Do people do that? You think people are there the week before? Yeah, I mean, serious people... And there's people that go to London, and this is their trip for the year. They probably go ahead of time, they travel, they run the race, then they go out to Paris

and Amsterdam or, you know, sky, like, wherever, whatever they want to go from there. But it's... I mean, dude, the gratitude I have for being sober. in weekends like this is, like, it's insane. Because, I mean, I imagine there's not a party culture. I used to get on planes, and every plane I got on, I was convinced was going down. I just, because I was, why is this so funny?

Because I have, because I've talked about this, I have developed this anxiety around flying. It's gotten better. I mean, it's true what you said when we went to Vegas. But it's not, you got to fly more. Dude, it's not even So I used to think it was about I used to think it was about the

How do you say it? Like not having my drugs Yeah That was always the thing, right? If you're traveling, do you get your drugs through security? Do you get them on the plane? Can you use on the plane? Right.

If you're away for four days, how are you going to ration it out? That used to be the anxiety. But the real, the real reason Like, I think I'm just okay flying now it's because I'm okay like if that plane goes down and this is knock on wood like just but like that I had a good run like I'm actually content yeah I mean I look I think what you're saying is that if if the plane it's highly highly unlikely that plane will go down yeah but you are comfortable and

and with the the reality that you only have so much control you know that's it and you fly a lot you travel a lot like you've been in you know flights where things have happened and everything so you have the proof and experience that everything's good. But, like, what you're saying about being sober is that, like, you are awake for this process, right? You are as present as you can be. Yeah. And there's so much energy, which is what I feel when the New York City Marathon is here, you know. And I imagine that is amazing, even for people like me are like, I'm not going to run.

You're not going to make me run. Yeah. So the running is part, and I want to get into sobriety. I think we're actually going to change you out here in a couple minutes with Gracie, who's here. I don't want to go. I was traveling. No. Well, she's, you know, she was there.

We want to hear from Grace. But I want to get through the run first. So I was there. Reebok is a supporter of the foundation and me. And the thing I'll say about Reebok is, one, their gear is, like, legit. Yeah. And that matters. Ten years ago, I think, you know, they were, they've, like, done some serious.

I fell in love with Reebok when Alan Ivers was on the Sixers. I mean, I wore Reebok growing up. So the fact that they're, like, supporting us and sponsoring me. the whole thing is insane to me. That's cool. And really cool. And I have to kind of take a moment and acknowledge that. And I didn't pack one article of clothing outside of Reebok

and I look good the whole trip. So that tells me that they're doing something right. So we were there with them. We had 20 runners. And the first two days, you know, the marathon, if you've never done one, you got to go to the expo. You got to get your bib. There's a lot of energy in that room. So for me, I'm kind of trying to get in a.

in and out as quick as possible, ran into, some of you guys might know, Dan Churchill, who was a celebrity chef turned kind of amazing hybrid athlete who was there running for release and was trying to run a sub three, but he unfortunately stepped on a water bottle about 15 miles into the race and his day blew up. So he'll be back. But he was at the expo. Yeah, he finished. He walked he finished it was cool yeah true grit and then you know so you get in and out of the expo you take a couple pictures we were having to create a decent amount of content because of our relationship with reboc and just kind of documenting some of it which you know people people look at shit online and they they just assume that it's easy and it's not you know it's a grind um to put

that stuff together and so we were working a little bit but then the day came and i leading up to this So I trained for the half marathon I ran like six weeks ago and I got through that and I was disappointed with my time. So I texted my coach and said, dude, I think I want to give London like an honest shot because it was, it was going to be more of a party race. And he said, let's do it. And I actually felt pretty good about the work I put in from the end of that half marathon until London. And the goal was to, you know, he's always to PR, which would have been 311, 310, 311. obviously under 310 would have been great for me but you can train your ass off

I mean there were people that trained for 20 weeks really hard and then got dealt a 70 degree hot sunny marathon that starts at 10 o'clock in the morning literally in the middle of the day and so a half a mile into this thing my sweat broke and I knew it was probably not so you're trying to delay sweating as long as possible

possible. Anything that is exertion, you want to... If you start working out, your sweat breaks within a half out, like within a half a mile, that's a pretty good indicator that you're going to be exerting a lot of energy. Yeah, I mean, it was on from the beginning. And I felt actually really good. My legs felt good. Heart rate was good. My coach said, let's go out and, like, try to keep it, you know, 715, 720, 725 miles for the first, you know, half or so.

and then kind of dig in a little bit and see if you have something left in the tank for the last 10K and it went the opposite way. Like I got to the last 10K and it was a bloodbath. I mean, there were people being carried off the course. Really? Yeah. And the temperature really shifted things for people

because it's so hot. Marathons are disgusting. I mean, if you really think about it, how much... Oh, dude. Like, what a street sees in a marathon in the way of urine and feces and vomit and sweat and goo and banana peels and all the stuff is gross runners are gross people but it's all to get to that finish line which makes us the best because like when we get

there none of that shit matters so when you got to the finish line yeah when do you know when are you really like okay my time is not going to be what i hope i'd hoped well the goals change the goal is I mean, I knew 310, like I did, I think I went like 137 on the front, which over two times is 314. Like, I'm already, you know, you're already out of reach. And in your mind, and you can't make that up. You can. You can run a negative split. I've done it.

Like you can, you can, Margaret, who runs for us here, like she ran Chicago and went like, she hammered the last 6K and made up a ton of time, but it's not likely in those conditions. And so the goal changed from kind of, okay, like, I want to. be three one something so like 319 would have been good 316 and then what were you 323 05 which you know it's a step back man it's just it is and it's really you know humbling if you if you run and you're on instagram you follow a lot of people that are runners and they are all pushing the limits i mean these guys are people are fast i follow a lot of people that are very fast and so there's definitely a good deal of imposter syndrome but then i will you know

kind of make a post about it and people will be very impressed by the time so it's all you know it's all it's all relative exactly can you and then i'll go for grace to come in here but um can you in terms of your relationship to running and recovery and life you know like what what have you really gotten out of beyond like you know you get that initial you get that adorphan hit like you it changes your you know your body and your mind after doing a long run but like in terms of just relating it to recovery in life like what have you learned from running like this uh you know i i i don't say it lightly that running has truly saved and changed my life i mean i don't there have been many many moons where i do not

feel well and i go out and and run to clear the junk out of my head it's that simple like in payments terms i go out my head is confused my head is cloudy i can't manufacture a clear thought and running allows me to so so that alone is makes it worth it i also think that as human beings as as you know recovery or not doing something hard going through that experience yeah is it tells me a lot about myself and i try you know i'm sitting here being you know but like i'm not a victim in anything like my time is my time it's all good you know like yeah how lucky am i to get up i mean it was my 16th marathon i was in london i was with friends i you know i had a guy come up to me in the corral before that was sober and like thanked me for

what i do that stuff makes it all you know makes it all worth it and the other thing that recovery teaches me is like I'm going to get out of it what I put into it I did my training was not honest it wasn't I had plenty of training runs where I got to you know two or four miles into it and a phone rang and I picked it up and I paused the watch that stuff all adds up and so in recovery and running and working out and diet and sleep it's all it's all about what you put in and my time match my effort. Yeah. And it seems like it though it teaches you or someone who's really committed to it a lot about the process, you know, of being in the process. Like I even know that when you talk about long-term recovery, whether it's coming to release or something like, you're like to give yourself

the best chance, you need to really be in the process for a long period of time, you know, really for the rest of your life. And I feel like if you're running five, ten, 15 miles like at some point you can you tell me you know your brain shuts off and you are just connected to this thing that you've built by running over and over and over again and i bet that feels good you know like to not have all the noise and to know that like you are now connected to something that is just going to take you to the end and then you're committed to going to the end and and so having that you know that that full circle completion uh also feels good you know from even just from a self-esteem perspective the thing i think about when so there's a lot

in recovery talk around like prayer meditation spirituality and that prevents a lot of people from getting sober this god complex this idea that they're going to have to pray or meditate or tap into this higher power yeah i think for me running has in a lot of ways replaced meditation I do meditate, but my true meditation, my true quiet time happens when I'm running. I mean, I mean, fuck, I made a playlist for this marathon. It was on the entire time. I couldn't really tell you one moment where I was like into the song because it's truly me and my thoughts and reflection and that, yeah, that zone you get into, which I never would have found if I never got sober. Right.

All right. Travel and sober. Let's bring Grayson. What do you got? Are you anything else? No. Are you going to run one? How was the solo episode?

Well, now you're putting out your own minisode against my minisode, so we're going to see what's up. Is it competitive? Everything is competitive. I would, I want nothing more than for you to go viral, get all the, like, take my job. Please, dude. I'm, I'm good. My, my, my, you're here talking about what happened. I mean, we, you know, I will say that you, you ghosted me on the, on the, on the Minnesota, because I was, expecting to get you on you know to get a live stream in on where you're at and and sort of

ask you a couple questions i think i texted you and you said you're at dinner l-o-l dropped in l-o-l and i never heard from you and i was like all right man i'm just going to roll on then we'll get you on the flip side and we did well it looks like you had fun i heard sarah chiming in a little bit she was in the mix when's the next marathon it's going to be real man new york new york yeah i'm i'm I'm gonna lock in You're lock in Yeah I don't want to say nothing now

But I'm gonna I'm gonna The other thing about And this may be victim shit or excuse Like public training Putting a goal out Yeah Has is like has its Pluses and minuses

Well there's the accountability There's the accountability But then there's also the sense of like failure But who am I really failing Yeah Who am I like No no one Right

No one cares I mean really no one cares no i mean some people do i mean like it's ammunition for some people but that's fine right i mean there are people that probably like you know got a little derived a little pleasure out of me not not not achieving the goal yeah yeah all right well the last thing i'll say is did you have any thoughts because we had talked about previously you know whether it was on dr poland where you sometimes question am i going too far with the running is it oh dude i mean like i look and I agree with that.

I think, you know, what is happening right now in the running world is, is, look, man, you look around the world, there are very few things, like the fact that our world is so crazy right now and one of the simplest things that a human can do is literally blowing up. I mean, brands are having the best year, year over year,

big running brands are continuing to expand, new running brands, running brands, why can't I say this shit? Running brands are coming to market. And you don't need to be. anything you need a pair of shoes a shirt and a pair of shorts to go out and move around it's all the other bullshit that the mirrors and the plank this and the hang from that and the stretch this like running is the purest form of exercise and that's why i mean it's caveman shit i love it yeah yeah

so all right gracie grace would your mom call you grace i'm told not to fidget i have nervous energy London, through a spectator's eyes, what was your, what were your takeaways? I didn't realize there were going to be that many people there. Like, I know it's a major, but it had great energy. I mean, nothing like New York, but. Is that, no, no? No. Is that true, though?

I felt some energy out there. Yeah, as a spectator. It wasn't constant, though. Okay. Like when you were passing, yeah, of course. but standing there for four hours, there were periods of time where there's no one cheering like around me.

Four hours. So she says four hours. So my fans, my people that came to cheer for us in London, we had this beautiful dinner the night before. We had the release foundation crew. We were mapping out on the, you know, this is the, this is my promise to spectators. You're not going to see your loved one four times.

You're not going to see him five times. Grace and her mom and, Dougie Kempner and some of the other folks that were running around the city they're like we're going to see you at mile eight and a half 11 and a half 15 and a half and 25 and a half I'm like oh you guys are going to see me five times I saw them eight and a half and I did not see them again

okay tube to be fair first time taking the tube sober and we got stuck on it for 45 minutes but we definitely overcommitted for sure I think if we did eight and a half and then 25 went straight there, we would have been fine. But also the fact that you started an hour before, an hour and a half before Blake, we wanted to stay and wait to see.

It all is fair. I'm breaking stones. I know, but I'm saying, you know, if you have one person you're tracking, it's so much easier than like 15 people trying to get all of that content. So you're what, almost three years sober. It's one of your, you've traveled in it. You've traveled a little bit. Yeah.

but this is your first time I think working traveling your mom is there like there's a lot kind of swirling for you yeah and you're with sober people which I think is which is helpful we landed went to an A meeting the first day I mean that meeting was sick it was so good yeah like ancient room what were your takeaways um it felt like holy yeah like the names written on the walls and the tea and the coffee like in real ass mugs I was like this is so legit and just the people that filled the room too

like you knew you're getting a good meeting yeah so if you go if you've been to meetings in New York when you announce your day count or your anniversary they clap or they'll give you one of these is in London and I'm like I think I'm going to change the world you say you're like you say you're visiting or you're and they say well done well done and so the whole meeting you're just like you're hearing well done and I don't know it was a vibe for sure yeah you shared just so you could hear someone say well done to you

I actually said yeah I said like I actually put my hand up just to say oh oh no when you say yeah like I'm X amount of time sober and they clap or they say well done and then I'm like I just said that so you guys would say well done yeah yeah there's also no clapping like we clap a lot yeah here like at the end of the meeting at the beginning of nothing it was just like one here. Yeah. And real tea, real tea in the meeting. Oh, yeah.

That was strong tea, too. Strong tea. I found it interesting. There was a guy that pulled me aside after the meeting. He was probably 87 years old, which I respected that he was like there and still going to meetings. And what came out of his mouth was amazing because you've been very vocal about your sobriety.

You have your TikTok so we're not boring. You obviously share about it on your own personal Instagram. You run some of the socials for release. You've kind of thrown yourself in. to the public-facing world of sobriety from early on. And this guy said, I hear in America you guys are being a little bit more forward-facing about your recoveries.

I mean, this is a guy who's seen it all. And I said, do you like, I thought he was going to like start to go in on America. And he's like, I love to hear that. Or like the traditions or like anything like that. Right. And he's like, I love to hear that you. And he doesn't know who I am.

He doesn't know who, you know, we were just to him. an American group and he said in London it's still just so don't talk about it which leads me like why did you decide to be so vocal about your sobriety because I saw no young women online doing it yeah um and I knew if I saw someone that looked like me or sounded like me that got help or was showing that they were trying to get help or any kind of thing like that it would give me hope that like that life is available to me yeah I love that I'm fidgeting and Sarah's pointing at me I I love fidgeting okay well we're going to bring you back for a full one but I wanted to focus really on a moment that I picked up on so for those you guys that don't

know grace she went to SMU and then you did a year or a month where three London you were oh yeah I studied abroad in London for three months when you were black and you told us It was a hilarious story. So we went to our shakeout run on Saturday morning, and then we were near Regents Park, and we all decided we were going to go take our release flag into the park and get content, fine. But what actually happened is Grace had this moment

where we were about to step into Regent's Park, and you could feel this kind of, what was going on for you? So the university that I studied at was in the middle of Regents Park is Regent's University. and so immediately when we got off and we just got like a block or two away I knew exactly where everything was I just like had full body like flashbacks of the craziest things I've done in that park on those streets and in that university and it was very interesting to be there I mean not with like my coworkers because I share so openly with you guys.

guys, but like with my mother, um, who doesn't know like a lot of the details. Like she knows that I was in pain and I was struggling and I did some probably not so great things. But really like opening up and sharing like this is what I did exactly right here. Um, and like owning it and feeling like, wow, like I have come so far. And that girl is like I have so much compassion for her. she was so sick and did not know what the hell was going on. So the entire time we were in London, I just kept seeing things that I, like, remember from being there. I tell the ridiculous story. So first of all, your mom's a hang.

She, like, Grace tells me three days before my mom's coming, I'm like, all right, cool. She's like, do you care? No, I don't care. Like, it doesn't matter. I'm like a more than merrier, always kind of guy. and Gina Adams rolls up and like does not miss a hang I mean she was in it the whole time

so shout out Gina anyway we were walking out the park and what is the story you were blacked out you told them that you were a famous oh yeah the the pub that's right by the park I frequented a lot

because it was the closest one to the to my dorm and it was like super busy one night and they wouldn't let me in so I told them that I was this famous actress from um from america and then my bodyguard was like waiting outside and like i just wanted to like go get a drink like i made up this whole elaborate story they believed me let me in um

and the night went on from there i'm not going to get into any more details but um what actress did you want to be in your mind millie bobby brown melly bobby brown yeah wow from stranger things did you did you did you did Did you communicate that name to them because they did not believe that? No. No, no, no. And they're like, well, who are you? And I was like, I can't tell you.

Like, I'm too high profile. Like, such fucking bullshit, you know? But I also probably just thought I probably should be some more safe because I was so fucked up. So, so bringing this all full circle, because this is supposed to be a mini-sode and we'll get you back for a fully-sode. Just wanted to, obviously, you know, for me, old man Clark here, like I've traveled a bunch in sobriety, I've busted that myth time and time again. Traveling is much easier in sobriety. It's a lot more fun. My days are fuller. I'm up at seven in the morning to have tea and walk around the city and experience like the full thing. Can you can you just share

some closing thoughts on like being three years over, being in a foreign country, going back to where you blacked out and kind of like busting whatever miss you had about being able to travel in sobriety or what that looked like yeah yeah it was so much better um and you have all of these like notions that you know like you can never you know go to a party you could never go to a bar you never go to a club you're not going to do anything if you're not drinking um and traveling being one of them like i was terrified especially like flying i was always drinking before um and on the plane and so that's something i've had to you know deal with in sobriety and then just being there I can't even fathom, like, being under the influence and, like, experiencing and

seeing all of those amazing sites that we got to, that we got to, see. And it just makes me, it brings me a lot of regret and sadness, if I'm being honest, about my, like, college experience, because I missed so much. And I know everyone takes their time and getting where they need to be, but I missed on so many opportunities to experience. I mean, it sounds like you had some fun nights. I mean, Millie Bobby Brown in London. That's not, I mean.

Like the real cultural things. Of course. Of course. But yeah. I love it. Glad you're sober. I'm glad we're sober. Jay, you want to come back up here?

What are you got? Just come up here. Kick Grace out. Grace. Thank you. We'll see you soon. Great job. Three years.

that was grace bobby brown so yeah i mean look morally a story here i mean you just heard from grace she's a fucking legend you know doing the deal really open about her sobriety and you know has

receipts of people that have reached out to her yeah and that's what it's all about and i can tell you that in that meeting we went to in the corrals walking down the street interacting with certain people. There's a lot of sober people in London, just like there's a lot of people sober in New York City, and, you know, you will find them. Yeah, I mean, when she was talking about

her college life and missing out on a lot of it or thinking like you missed out on a lot of it, and I think we all, I can relate to that. And it goes back to what I even said when I was solo, is that I thought that alcohol and drugs and these things made life better. I thought it made me better, you know, but it really took for me, you know, it took time, it took me showing up, it took away from experiences, you know, it definitely stunted my, my emotional life. And I I try to imagine, you know, what it would have been like if I had been sober and then I just, you know, that was my path and it's all good. But thank God today, you can show up for life and really be present. And I know that's very cliche, but it's the truth, you know, waking up a

seven in the morning and ready for the day to really grab that experience is is uh that's amazing i can't stop thinking about the jewish jordan the jewish jordan went to towson you oh me there was a jewish jordan though around the time i know did you remember that dude yeah you were that guy i was yeah you're an athlete i was what is preventing you from running a marathon i said to i said to sarah i said I said if I say this I mean after I said it I said They're going to try to get me to run a marathon And you're not about try I don't try

Did I can make you A part I started running I get it Dude I A part of me probably would want to be pushed Into running It's not like because I As an athlete

I get the benefits of Of movement And also of a goal And of a of You're kind of soft though Like you would have a sickness Or an injury or I've gotten

I've gotten softer in my older day days. I wasn't soft back in the day. I mean, we can call your coach, but I just, here's the deal, dude, you need to push yourself to do something. The thing about a marathon, man, is that everything I'm going to say right now is an excuse. Exactly. So I'm aware of that. But it is a lot of time. Where? Even going out to say, I got to run 16 miles today. Brother. When are you doing that? Brother, it's not that much time. Your wife will be thrilled when you leave the house for three hours on Sunday.

Thrilled. I mean, I would be. So let me break it down for you. Beginner marathon. You need to give me four days a week. Oh, God. Three of those days initially are one half hour to 40 minutes. And all you need are shoes, pair of shorts, and a shirt. You have that time in the day. I promise you. And then you do a long run on weekends. When you get into the last two months, yeah, it's between four and six hours. a week but I had this guy in my early recovery he told me guys grace he told me you know what he told me what he told you he said how long did you spend getting drunk and high kiddo and I said to that guy who happened to be named Jay I said kiddo every hour of every day he said well then can

you give me a couple hours a week to get sober yeah and I did that and guess what happened I got sober so can you give me a couple hours a week to run a marathon Whoa. I will think about it. What if we started with the... Oh, my God. No, just rip the... I mean, dude, come on. Don't be a pussy.

Don't be a pussy. We're going to end there. Jay DeVore, ladies and gentlemen, is going to contemplate running a marathon. Marathon man. Soft, injured, and sick often. But... I'm not responding.

I'm listening. I'm taking it in. We'll talk to Hannah. We'll talk. We'll talk. That's it. Cheers, everyone. Thank you for listening.