Amber was born and raised in Northern California and was a competitive athlete all of her life, thriving in softball, basketball and cross-country. She started running 5Ks in high school at about the same time she first started drinking. She drank more in college, and even more into adulthood and when most people were starting to slow down, Amber was speeding up. A daily hangover was her norm, but she never stopped running. In her mid 30s, with 2 kids under 2, she eventually hit rock bottom and was living paycheck to paycheck, miserable, lost, lonely and broken. She knew something had to change so she decided to change everything.

Amber founded Recovery Road Runners in 2021 on a mission to recover out loud so that others don’t have to suffer in silence. She’s passionate about helping other people on their paths to running and recovery because those two things literally saved her life.

In 2023, Amber formed the RRR Nonprofit Foundation after making the tough decision to leave her 2nd grade teaching career in order to pursue her passion for running, recovery, and helping recovering alcoholics find community, healing, health, and vitality in sobriety.

Amber recently qualified for Boston ‘24.

Christine (AKA Tine) is currently living in South Florida. She's a recreational ballerina, German transplant, and single boy-mom who started running regularly in February 2019, shortly after her husband died of a drug overdose. She started running because she wanted to get back into shape and be healthy for her son. After 6 months of constant running she ran her first half-marathon and hasn't stopped since. She is a yogi/health nut. After decades of self-sabotaging, she quit drinking on 11/11/21 and joined RRR shortly thereafter, when we were still a small group. She considers herself a recovering grey-zone drinker who got lucky to have been able to pull the plug before things get way worse. Having experienced a lot of grief she knows all facets of trauma, the little t and the big T. She wants to help people to get to the other side and regain health and happiness through self-love and acceptance.

Vinny is from New York. He grew up playing sports and was a competitive swimmer. He started drinking as a teenager. He partied his way out of college, went into the Navy, and then went on to have a very successful career.

He retired after a series of alcohol-fueled bad decisions.

All the while he was running and competing in triathlons, swimming, and cycling races.

He managed a 3:00 marathon in Tokyo 2010 and ran Boston in 2012 with a hangover.

Then fitness took a back seat to drinking for about 5 years. He got fat and lazy. Then he got tired of being fat, lazy, and hungover every day. He adopted a plant based vegan diet, started running again. He quit drinking cold turkey one day and did 90 meetings in 90 days. Vinny created a life bigger than alcohol. He recently qualified for Boston '24 and completed his first 100 MILE race. Vinny is still alcohol-free and plant-powered.

​Caren takes joy in her roles of being a wife, mother, runner, and follower of Christ, and is passionate about sobriety and healing. Caren has spent most of her life in volunteer positions, boards, and serving others, and is currently serving in recovery roadrunners. In overcoming the challenges of sober living, Caren has strived to model and encourage others in their own journey for a more fulfilling and free life. Running was adopted in early sobriety by Caren as an outlet to challenge her and she has since completed many 5Ks, 10Ks, and half marathons.

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