Heavy lifting: CrossFit brings new purpose for Moore Co. woman overcoming alcoholism

Madeline Smith knows exactly how long its been since she indulged in her addiction.

"Four years, eight months and 30 days," she said recently.

With sobriety becoming one of the focal points of her life, the mother of two and self-made entrepreneur is always busy these days. Still, she's just as much consumed with what she hasn't been doing. For nearly five years, that's been drinking alcohol.

Smith, 37, is shooting to be on the cover of Muscle and Fitness HERS magazine and collect a $20,000 prize. She's in a group of around 550 competitors after starting out as part of around 27,500 women participating. Diving into CrossFit headfirst has produced a refreshing splash of light into a life that's only gotten brighter as her family has grown and her sobriety prolonged.

All of that has been great, but as far as the contest, she wants others struggling with addiction to hear her story. It's a mission to help dispel the stigma around alcoholism and the grip the disease can have on those who suffer from it.

"I just want people to see that hope is only lost when you quit looking for it," she said. "There's always an opportunity to better yourself and all you have to do is ask for help."

The improvement didn't come without its share of heavy lifting. Alcoholism ran in her family. Drinks became more accessible at 21 and she waited tables at a restaurant, where she was consistently around alcohol.

"I was always someone where I didn't drink at all or I drank until I couldn't remember," Smith said.

Smith said she was a fun, jovial drinker to a point before she left the social situation. When she got home and returned to isolation, the wheels would come off.

"I just became, for lack of a better word, an absolute jerk," Smith said. "I was not a nice person and was not someone I was proud of."

She avoided drinking during a pair of pregnancies, but a rough stretch of postpartum depression after having her second child along with her husband being away for duty with the Army made for a particularly rough time.

There was no defined rock bottom experience with her alcoholism, though she admits there were hurtful things she said that still bother her. Smith's success as a businesswoman and fitness enthusiast is building her comeback story. Smith insists she had no final straw-type moment, but the continual presence of alcohol in her life reached a boiling point.

"This is a way of me paying it back," she said. "I remember thinking oh i can't be an alcoholic ... if I hadn't come to a realization of yes you are an alcoholic, I feel like I would have gotten help sooner."

She started attending classes at CrossFit Baile in Carthage. Coming from a sports background, Smith played field hockey, softball, tennis and basketball growing up. She's been a consistent runner throughout adulthood, so the intensity of the classes were a change of pace.

Since regularly doing CrossFit, Smith said she's gone down from 23% body fat to 11% and wears a size 4, down from a size 8.

"CrossFit has given me a sense of community when I needed it the most," said Smith.

Smith said if she wins, she'll donate some of the money to the Shields & Stripes Foundation.

"If one person could relate and think 'hey, this girl sounds like me, I can improve my life,' that would be a win for me," Smith said.

You can vote for her here. Quarterfinal voting for the contest started Monday and runs through June 22.