Motional Intelligence 36. Ken Rideout: "I Ran a 2:28 Marathon Age 50 After Years of Drug Addiction..."
Mar 26, 2026
Ken Rideout, former Wall Street trader turned endurance athlete and author who overcame a decade-long opioid addiction. He recounts using running as withdrawal therapy, transforming pain into a 2:28 marathon at 50 and masters titles. He also talks about family, training routines, tough failures that forged resilience, and writing his memoir.
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Competitive Mindset Fuels Success And Cost
- Ken frames life as competition: he never participates, he competes and pursues goals to the death.
- That mentality produced elite-level training output but carries trauma and personal cost.
High Earner Hiding A Decade Of Opioid Use
- Ken became a functioning opioid addict for about 10 years while making millions on Wall Street.
- He hid his habit at work, using pills daily to stay 'functional' until it escalated into suicidal ideation.
There Are No Shortcuts To Getting Clean
- Do the painful work: Ken stresses there's no shortcut to sobriety or beating serious addiction.
- He describes white-knuckling withdrawal as unavoidable and the hardest thing he's ever done.
