Growing up in east Austin attending special Ed classes was always rough.

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I found out early on in school that I would never be like the other kids that could attend regular curriculum classes and instead had teachers just send me to content mastery to color when everyone else learned how to read and write.

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It was tough feeling like I’d never amount to anything in life given the way society put so much emphasis on traditional schooling and college. 

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I pretty much felt like the only thing I was ever good at was running and playing music, but the reality was society never really catered to those since I was not fast enough to run professionally, and my music was not mainstream enough to afford the lifestyle I dreamed of with just my music alone.

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One day in 6th grade a few coaches took me aside and gave me an impossible dream to accomplish. They showed me a video of people racing Ironman in Kona.

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I decided right then that one day I would become an Ironman. 

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Through trial and failure and getting back up time and again I eventually made that dream a reality. 

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To be fair, what I thought at the time was a failure turned out to only be a setback that would force me to say "challenge accepted."

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You see, I learned that although I loved running, I was in absolutely no way shape or form a “fast runner, “and if I was going to make this dream a reality, I would need to focus on what I was good at and hope and pray that I left myself enough time to finish the run.

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Eventually, I did succeed, and I accomplished the first step of my dream and became an Ironman.

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It took the support of so many people around me to do it too.

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Fast forward to today and few people truly know what it takes to become an Ironman.

And even less have any idea what it takes to become a business executive and manage an Ironman lifestyle at the same time.

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Looking back, they say hindsight is 20/20, and I can now see how important all those setbacks I had were to finally seeing the first part of my dream through. 

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At the time, I was so concerned with doing whatever it takes to make that dream a reality, that I was just beginning to realize my flaws and focus on what I am good at to help balance out my weaknesses. That hard work, combined with learning more about my strengths enabled me to just barely make the cut off with about 3 minutes to spare.

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Because I was only focusing on my Ironman goal from long ago, I didn’t realize how much it helped me grow as a person from the experience.

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After accomplishing my Ironman, I noticed I was starting to look within and realized that there were many things I was not good at in my career.

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But there were a few things that I really excelled at so I treated my job the same way I did my Ironman goal and started to focus on fine tuning and further strengthening those skills that I was good at and applied it to my career over the years. I became the best at what I did using this approach and it carried me to believe in myself so much that I decided to start my own company doing it.

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I knew I was not good at many things, but that was ok with me because I learned to surround myself with people that were strong where I am weak. 

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After meeting the woman that soon became my wife, I learned with her by my side we balance each other out and anything is possible if we work together.

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I can honestly say I would have never been able to build my company without my wife Mary, let alone my right-hand man Matthew who has been by my side since the beginning.
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I know I keep saying it, but I really didn’t realize it at the time, but my goal of doing an Ironman not only made me stronger physically but mentally and emotionally. It truly changed my life, and I can genuinely say I would not be where I am today if I had not set myself that goal or had those setbacks that challenged me to become more.

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Never once in my life did I doubt that I would be able to become an Ironman.

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I can honestly say I never for once thought I would be where I am today.

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On 4/22/23 I will officially start my first race with an amazing group of likeminded Ironman athletes. We will push each other to the finish line and do what we can to motivate one another on the course. 

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I can also honestly say this opportunity kind of embodies everything I have worked for thus far in to one adventure that I can’t wait to undertake.

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Ironman says “anything is possible."

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I’d like to think I am living proof of that.

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If anyone ever feels like the world is against them and things are just too far out of reach, take it from me, you got this.

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Don’t stop reaching for you goals.

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Never give up.

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Most importantly never stop believing in yourself.

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On paper I may have never been the one picked to win a spelling B.

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Hell, I wasn’t even worthy of sitting in the same classroom of as the “regular kids.” 

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Yet here I am, one of the newest members of these amazing group of athletes, about to embark on a journey that will take me one step closer to qualifying for the Ironman World Championship that I saw all those years ago back in 1999. 

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I am an Ironman. 

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I am an XC athlete.

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And I know first hand that any thing is possible. 

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I can’t wait to see what the future has in store.