Back on Dwight's Feet

This was my final project for Backpack Journalism, as part of my Interactive Journalism master's program at American University.



Runners will tell you all the time: Running, rather than something else, is their addiction. Running, they claim, is what holds off their demons.

That wasn't how when it went down in Dwight Scriber's first running life. But in the past few months since Scriber has reconnected to running through a nonprofit organization called Back on My Feet, the sport - and more so the community surrounding it - has proven to be transformational. The 45-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., is on a mission to stay drug free and claim his own place to call home.

Growing up in St. Mary's County, Md., the youngest of 10 siblings, Scriber fell into the wrong crowd at an early age. But for many years his talent - both in athletics and academics - kept him on a solid enough path. At Leonardtown High School, Scriber was most interested in basketball - but a falling out with the coach, he said, led him to pursue track and field his junior year. Scriber, in short time, became one of the best high school runners in Maryland; he would go on to earn Division III NCAA All-American status at Frostburg State University.

For most runners, reaching such heights in the sport requires a kind of eat-sleep-train focus that keeps them on the straight and narrow. Scriber, on the other hand, was able to train hard and party harder. By the time he left Frostburg his junior year, drug addiction was taking hold and his downward spiral was only beginning.

A couple decades later, attempting to evade arrest, Scriber found himself in a high speed chase with police. He was charged with first and second degree assault and traffic violations, and ended up serving six months in jail. It was not the first time Scriber had been locked up, he said. He had tried rehab before, too. But these days Scriber is serious: "It's my life," he often says.

In jail "I had looked at my age," Scriber said. "I had looked at what I had lost, what I had gained, what I didn't gain. I looked at the whole perspective. When you are in jail, there's things you can get into, and I chose not to be around the negative people; I chose just to focus on me. I chose to reflect on what I've done - and I just didn't like the picture, man."

After his release, Scriber left his native county and moved into the District. He lived for several months at La Casa, a transitional recovery program for men who seek to permanently end their homelessness. It's there, meanwhile, that Scriber found out about Back on My Feet, which engages participants in La Casa and other transitional facilities in distance running as a stepping stone toward recovery.

"I had always prayed to God that one day I would get back into running," Scriber said.

Although he has since moved into an apartment with his brother, Scriber has continued to attend Back on My Feet's three weekly 5:45 a.m. practices at La Casa. After 30 days in Back on My Feet, members with 90 percent attendance become eligible for educational and job training opportunities as well as financial aid.

"Things happen for a reason," Scriber said. "[God] is my director. He's going to lead my paths. But there are certain things I must do for him to meet me. He's put a hedge of protection over me, man. You're talking about a guy who had guns pointed at him, high speed chases ... I'm way ahead of the game to be honest with you. I'm grateful, truly grateful."

Scriber is not entirely back on his feet yet. Though he has found part-time work in telemarketing, the wages are roughly half of what he made before his last arrest, after which he lost his commercial driver's license.

"My goals are to go back to school," he said. "I want to be in the human services. I want to be able to help somebody who has been through my situation."