Rolling Strong Inspires President to Triathlete

As the president of Rolling Strong I had to dig deep and find something that could truly inspire me to a state of optimal health. As a former driver and veteran of the industry, I have experienced my own challenges in maintaining my health. Not to mention a harsh accident when I was younger that left me with longer term joint and vertebrae damage, and I also fought my way through cancer in my early thirties. Years on the road as a driver, years in the seat of a dispatch chair and eventually thousands of miles a week in a plane, left me struggling to find a way back to good health. A little over a year ago, while working endless hours to deliver a solution to my fellow drivers, I found myself lost in the creation but not applying the solution. I had become 55 lbs overweight, was on blood pressure medicine, I had developed a chemo induced cardiomyopathy and struggled with chronic Gout. I really never thought a year later I would have a marathon under my belt and become a third place division champion in a sprint triathlon.

I woke up one day during the month of June, 2018 and was looking through the upcoming industry conferences. I saw that ATA MCE was a few months out. This quickly reminded me of the 5k Rolling Strong had sponsored the previous year. I had the feeling of fear as I dreaded another year as the president of Rolling Strong would struggle to make it across the finish line. My Gout was inflamed and I could barely walk. I didn't feel authentic and I felt like I owed it to my company, my investors and the industry to get this turned around. A friend at the time told me, "Look my friend, you don't owe it to anybody other than yourself and your son Giovanni". Believing in my own truths about self image, I asked him, how much weight do you think I need to lose? He replied, "50 lbs". The truth hurts sometimes, let me tell you, but reality set in. I knew this was my time. I knew to achieve the feeling of personal authenticity I was striving for, to be healthy long term and to be around for my son, I had to dig deep and move forward.

The turning point can come at any time for any of us. Sometimes we have to hit a bottom, sometimes it's a moment of clarity and sometimes there is something greater than us that has a hand in it. I believe I had all three. On June 18th of 2018, I had my first coaching call with my Director of Operations and Rolling Strong coach Joni Allen. Joni said, "Steve, you have sacrificed everything to build this for the drivers. Your answer is right in front of you. You just need to use it for yourself now." We recorded my biometrics, set short term and long term goals and committed a daily focus using the Rolling Strong mobile app. I was to log food so I could track my daily calories, my macros and share with my coach to review and focus on healthier ways of eating. It created an immediate sense of accountability. I maintained weekly coaching calls, checked in and refined goals based on progress and immediately began to see success.

As the blood pressure and Gout started to normalize, I started to feel like I was ready to start exercising. In the past, my go-to for exercise was boxing, kickboxing, Jiu-jitsu and weight lifting. All great options, but a little tougher to maintain on the road. Knowing the MCE 5k was around the corner, I had this crazy idea that this old boy would become a runner. My girlfriend Linda said, "You are not built like a runner, you are built like a linebacker." However, I was determined and went outside one day in July of 2018 and tried to run a solid mile without stopping. I only made it 1/2 a mile. So I added a running coach and committed to being able to run a 5k without stopping. In October of 2018 at MCE, I ran a full 5k and finished with a decent time. I think I even hung with Chris Spear for a while before he pulled away. In November I ran a 10k and eventually ran a half marathon that December. Still maintaining my nutrition, sleep and exercise focus, I had now seen my biometrics change for the better. A doctor's visit showed that my triglycerides had normalized and cholesterol had significantly dropped. The motivation was incredible. On Christmas I reached out to my running coach, Logan Franks, and asked him if he thought I could run a full marathon by March. His belief in me as a new athlete never waivered. He said, "If you keep following the plan and maintaining your rest and nutrition, you can absolutely run a marathon." On March 24th of 2018 (my 46th birthday!), I crossed the finish line in 5h & 32m at the All American Marathon at Fort Bragg Military base in Fayetteville NC. I felt like I had accomplished the impossible. All I could think about was how incredibly blessed I was to have the support of so many wonderful people. I also couldn't get away from the obsessive feeling that I was going to dedicate my life to showing others how this can be done.

At that point the dust was settling, I was approaching 9 months of dedication to this lifestyle and the results were life changing. However it was time to set a new goal. I called my running coach who is also a former professional triathlete and a current triathlete coach. I asked him the question, "Do you think I could do a triathlon?" We all know the answer to that question. Joni my Rolling Strong coach continued to document my progress and goals. She was ecstatic when I told her I was going to do a triathlon. The date was set. I had 4 months to train as I had signed up for the North Carolina YMCA Lake Norman Triathlon. I purchased my first road bike in May, got a national membership at the YMCA so I could swim anywhere and invested in another pair of running shoes to wear out. Nutritional requirements changed as I was now 45 lbs lighter and burning on average 1,000 calories per workout. The Rolling Strong app allowed us to monitor these metrics and make the necessary adjustments with nutrition, exercise and sleep.

In July it was time to revisit my doctor. He and the nurse practitioner had been closely monitoring my health as well and were also very pleased with what they had seen. On my last visit, I was taken off blood pressure medicine, gout medicine and reported a total of 55 lbs of weight loss. My resting heart rate had gone from 95 to 49. After doing a full cardiac workup that included a stress echo and EKG, there were no longer any visible signs of cardiomyopathy and my pump function had returned to normal. The feeling of joy ran through my veins when they both shook my hand with huge smiles of satisfaction. They were proud of me as their patient.

On August 24th 2019, 14 months after starting my journey, I took 3rd place in my division in the Lake Norman YMCA Triathlon Sprint. When you question how important the discipline of training is, think about this... You will never know how far you can go until you take the first step. Discipline allows you to keep moving forward. I have seen disabled veterans and disabled children cross the finish line. My story - is my best effort. What is yours going to be?

I have been inspired to keep moving forward. My mission is to share this experience with others and especially the professional driver. My hope is that it will spark their personal journey for optimal health. With all the challenges we face, where to eat healthy, what to eat, where to get exercise and when, how to get good sleep or enough sleep, professional drivers have the biggest obstacles when dealing with these challenges. However it is not impossible. I too still have work to do. I still have a few belly lbs, some toning to do and YES I have to get ready to move on to an Ironman! Join me in my journey by defining yours.

In closing, I want to give a very sincere thanks to all the people that supported me throughout this journey and continue to do so. This is not something that can be done alone. It requires us to be vulnerable, honest and brave. I truly believe something much larger than me allowed me to find this journey as a way to pass it along to you.