Woman Runs Boston Marathon For Gym That Helped Her Get Sober

BOSTON (CBS) -- This marathon runner's story is designed to help others: it's about one woman's iron will to overcome addiction.

"I'm excited, I'm nervous, but I'm very stubborn so even if I have to crawl, I will finish this race," says Kelley Balbi of Ashland.

Kelley Balbi of Ashland (WBZ-TV)

She's traveled a hard road to get to her first Boston Marathon.

"I am an alcoholic. I grew up surrounded by addiction." Balbi says her parents and her brother have all struggled.

"My college partying didn't stop. I realized within the four years, from the first time I took a sip of alcohol to the last time, that I had the gene, too. I was an addict," she explains.

But when she ended up drunk and hospitalized, that changed. "I got sober a little over eight years ago," she says.

Balbi credits joining a gym for some of her success. "When I was two days sober, I joined a gym. And I didn't know it all the time, but it was really what kept me sober."

Balbi's t-shirt from The Phoenix (WBZ-TV)

That's why she's running the Boston Marathon to raise money for The Phoenix, a sober gym in Boston, a place where people struggling with addiction can not only get healthy, they can also find a community.

"I made it to the other end and I have a house, I have a husband, I have a beautiful daughter. I have a lot to be grateful for," Balbi says.

Kelley Balbi with her husband and young daughter (WBZ-TV)

It was that knowledge that kept her going, training through the winter and the rainy spring, focused on crossing the finish line.

"I think I'm going to be proud. I think I'm going to be excited. I think I'm going to be overwhelmed. I have a feeling there might be a few tears in there."

Balbi says she'll be ready on Monday, rain or shine.

Support Kelley Balbi's cause here

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