Hurt Artist: suicidal junkie to Ironman

interview with Shane Niemeyer

Shane Niemeyer is an Ironman triathlete, but it’s been a long road, longer than his 38years.  His autobiography The Hurt Artist – My Journey from Suicidal Junkie to Ironman begins with a description of the day he tried to hang himself in the Ada County Jail (Boise, Idaho).

“The moment before I jumped, I wanted to end my life.  Having come through that, as the hours turned to days, I was very grateful to have come through it,” Niemeyer told Steve Chavis and George Peck on “First Take with Lando and Chavis.”  “It changed everything.”

The book details his inspiration to become a triathlete (an article in Outside Magazine), his trials as he turned his obsession from drugs to training, and his gradually normalizing life.  Niemeyer trains and coaches in Boulder, Colo.

Shane’s coaching and motivational speaking goes through the website www.TrueAmbitions.com.

Music on this feature is by Bob Devos, “Pause for Fred’s Claws,” from the CD Playing for Keeps.