Paul Johnson

Hi, I'm Paul.

In 2018 I commissioned as a Naval Officer and immediately went overseas forward-deployed to a ship homeported out of Rota, Spain where I lived for the next 3 years. While it led to some amazing opportunities, it was an extremely difficult tour that weighed heavily on myself, my peers, and our Sailors in more ways than many can imagine. Alcohol was certainly the coping mechanism of choice.

My next duty station took me to San Diego in 2021 and once removed from the constant stressful environment that was my first ship, I began noticing a lot of issues I had been dealing with: persistent sleep problems, nightmares, anxiety, depression... the list goes on. Alcohol remained a constant, but the narrative began shifting when one of my friends, a Marine Officer, asked me to train for and run the Marine Corps Marathon together in 2022.

We trained for 4-5 months and both ended up finishing the marathon under 3 hours and qualifying for the prestigious Boston Marathon. During that period of focused training I realized how much the running helped me cope with some of the symptoms I was experiencing with the anxiety and depression. While I tried to start addressing the issues it was time for my next station and I moved to Newport, RI at the very start of 2023.

January 2nd, 2023 I started a run streak and began running every day. This very quickly evolved into the ultra scene and I was running 100 mile races by April. Running was my therapy. It gave me a release and escape from everything I was feeling and in a positive manner that contributed to my overall well-being, rather than detracting from it.

As both my running and social media presence developed I have done my best to share my journey but also inspire others to get up, engage in physical activity, and find their own positive outlets. The military and veteran communities are particularly prone to struggles with mental health due to the nature of everything they do and experience. Team RWB's mission to enrich veteran's lives helps us find purpose in sense of community and encourage and provide opportunities for everyone to engage in the power of physical activity while improving our mental health at the same time.