The King of Moab: Ultrarunner Max Jolliffe On Winning Moab 240, Recovery From Heroin Addiction & Why Suffering Is His Greatest Teacher
Max Jolliffe shares his journey from heroin addiction and homelessness to becoming an elite ultrarunner, winning the Moab 240 after only a few years of running. He discusses how his recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous provided tools that transfer to ultra endurance racing.
Summary
Max Jolliffe recounts his transformation from a troubled youth battling heroin addiction to becoming the 'King of Moab' ultrarunner. Growing up in Newport Beach, he came from a family with generational alcoholism and drug addiction. His father was a functioning alcoholic who eventually lost everything, leaving Max and his sister essentially homeless during high school. Max began using drugs at 14 after a skateboarding accident that introduced him to prescription opioids, which eventually led to heroin addiction when pills became unavailable around 2010. After multiple arrests and failed probation drug tests, he spent three months in jail, which became the catalyst for his sobriety journey beginning April 6, 2012. Through Alcoholics Anonymous, he learned life skills and found male role models he'd never had. Max discovered running at age 25-26 almost by accident after breaking both ankles skateboarding and needing rehabilitation. Despite having no athletic background in endurance sports, he showed immediate talent, running his first marathon in 3:27 in 2019 and quickly progressing to ultramarathons. His breakthrough came winning the Saddles 50-miler on short notice, leading him to focus entirely on ultra running. He won the prestigious Moab 240 despite being relatively new to the sport, coming from five hours behind at mile 200. Max discusses how recovery tools like surrender, inventory-taking, and accepting powerlessness directly apply to ultra endurance racing. He struggles with imposter syndrome and online criticism while maintaining that suffering has been his greatest teacher. Currently training for Badwater 135 and other heat-focused races, he emphasizes that anyone can achieve dramatic life changes through willingness and consistent right action.
About this episode
Max Jolliffe is the Moab 240 course record holder, elite ultrarunner, and one of endurance sport's more unlikely origin stories. This conversation explores Max's multi-generational family history with addiction, the opioid crisis, his decade-long battle with heroin, the moment in a jail cell that changed everything, and how the tools of sobriety – surrender, teachability, the daily reprieve – became the foundation of an athletic career. Along the way, we get into what it looks like to take an obsessive, addictive mind and aim it at something that gives back. Max is the real deal. Enjoy! Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today’s Sponsors: BetterHelp: Get 10% OFF the first month👉🏼https://www.betterhelp.com/richroll Rivian: Electric vehicles that keep the world adventurous forever👉🏼https://www.rivian.com WHOOP: The all-new WHOOP 5.0 is here! Get your first month FREE👉🏼https://www.join.whoop.com/Roll Mill: Get $75 off your fully automated food recycler with code RICHROLL + 90-day risk-free trial👉🏼https://www.mill.com/RICHROLL Birch: For 27% off ALL mattresses👉🏼https://www.BirchLiving.com/richroll Noble Mobile: The first phone carrier that pays you to use your phone less. Try it for just $10 with code RICHROLL👉🏼https://www.noblemobile.com/richroll Find out more about Voicing Change Media at https://www.voicingchange.media and follow us @voicingchange
Key Insights
- Max argues that his family heritage is essentially alcoholism rather than any ethnic background, with addiction spanning multiple generations on both sides
- He claims that getting prescribed OxyContin at age 14 after a skateboarding accident set in motion a 10-year addiction spiral that was nearly inevitable
- Max contends that Purdue Pharma's OxyContin pills could be easily modified to smoke like heroin, making them extraordinarily addictive and dangerous
- He describes being literally beaten into a state of willingness for sobriety, with every day feeling like the worst day of his life before getting clean
- Max argues that nothing will ever be as difficult as getting sober, making ultra running challenges feel manageable by comparison
- He claims that ultra runners have an unusually high percentage of people in recovery from addiction, suggesting a connection between extreme experiences and recovery
- Max discovered his running talent completely by accident at age 25-26, having never run competitively before and showing no prior endurance athletic ability
- He argues that the 200+ mile race distance is essentially uncharted territory where no one has truly figured out optimal strategies yet
- Max contends that his obsessive addictive personality, when redirected toward running, becomes a competitive advantage rather than a liability
- He describes experiencing every possible human emotion during multi-day races, calling them spiritual journeys rather than traditional competitions
- Max argues that recovery tools like surrender and powerlessness directly translate to ultra running success, where accepting lack of control is essential
- He claims that trail running and ultra running are growing faster than any other sport currently, with more elite marathoners crossing over to ultras
Topics
Transcript
So a little over nine months ago, I underwent spinal fusion surgery. And since then, my focus has shifted away from chasing these really big, audacious performance goals like I did in the past, to now accepting my limitations in this current reality and learning how to build a daily rhythm that actually feels sustainable for where I'm at right now, today. And Whoop, this wearable health and fitness coach that you see right here on my wrist every time you see me, is this amazing tool that gives me insights into all the things that influence how I feel and how I perform, my sleep, my recovery, my strain, and my overall health, so that I can better understand…
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