Life & Work with Josh Wolf

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Wolf. 

Josh, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

In the summer of 1998, at the age of 16, I attempted suicide by taking my car 70mph into an embankment. The fact that I am still alive alone is pretty miraculous if not impossible.

I’ll tell you about it in a second but first, I want to tell you about a great day. One that happened recently. This Summer on June 26th my crew of 4 helped me to set an Ultra-Distance World Cycling Record by averaging 23.8mph 193I miles across Missouri from West to East. Yes, on a bicycle. 😊

What’s even cooler (in my opinion) is my very good friend and training buddy John(ny) Arneson trained with me for this event (and when I road across Kansas in 2020…but that’s a different story) and ALSO TOOK a World Record the very next day.

It was planned…this year I convinced him to read the 50-page rulebook, do the gobs of paperwork, and train to ride for the Fastest Kwon Time record across Missouri. I would go West to East from St Joe to Hannibal on Saturday, June 26th, and he’d come back East to West the next day.

Have you seen that sign that says “That’s a horrible idea…what time?” That pretty much explains Johnny and me on bicycles.

The good news is we trained for it, having many “mini-adventures” along the way. One that comes to mind was when we were riding to meet friends 200 miles away in Dutzo Missouri. We were 70 miles in and we both ended up with flats. We went through 3-4 tubes and somehow had on only one that actually worked. Out of tubes on the side of the road, a good Samaritan stopped and she offered us a ride to the Walmart 5 miles down the road. But not before saying really odd things like “you can leave your bike on the side of the road” or “how about you go into Walmart and leave your bike in my car”. I think she was trying to steal my bike lol. Somehow, we made it to Walmart alive and with both bikes and got what we needed to make it down the road for more adventure.

So on the weekend of the World Record Attempt, John was in my official and I was his the next day. (The WUCA requires you an official to write downtime/distance/location every 10-15 miles and verify the ride was legit).

My day was such a great day. The temps were low for the Midwest in the upper 60s, it was perfect. They forecasted storms that never manifested, but instead gifted me with cloud cover protection from the sweltering rays in front of the sun and with a wind at my back! Even better I had an incredible crew follow me/help me along the way. Lots of funny stories of dropped earbuds for music (4 times), missed bottles of coke (check out the pics on the Gram), and strava segment games (geeky cyclists like me know what I mean).

And to me, that’s not the story.

John(ny)’s turn the next day. Couldn’t believe it. Another great day of cloud cover, low winds, and clouds winning the constant game of shadow/no shadow. He takes the record…SMASHES it averaging 23.6 miles per hour and I could not be happier.

And though, that’s still not the story. Well, all of it…

The story was that I, the kid who wore his own self-made shirts comprised of all the “cool” bands in high school (think Marilyn Manson, NIN, Dead Kennedys) in high school, set a record.

The depressed and broken teenager who used black “eyeliner” (quotes ’cause it was actually permanent marker) and thought it was cool to pierce his own ears with a safety pin. Turns out it wasn’t…who woulda thought that would cause a terrible infection?

I, by the grace and strength from above, accomplished that?!

Not only that. Many crazy feats of endurance.

Have you heard of the Ironman World Championships (Kona)? It’s the biggest 1-day endurance event in the world. Athletes from across the globe train their whole lives to try to qualify for this race that takes place every year in October in the small town of Kona, Hawaii

In fact, it is so hard they say that it’s statistically more challenging to qualify for Kona than get into Harvard, I’m grateful and blown away to say I’ve been there. Twice. I’ve qualified 6 times (expensive/out of our means to get there), winning many races completely 100+ events along the way.

As I tell you all of this, I stutter on the keyboard… I don’t want to come across conceited. Sure, it’s cool that I’ve won some races/records and I get to work with fantastic people, but that’s not the point.

The point is that I turned my biggest weakness into my biggest strength. That World Record reminded me of all the times I have overcome. I’ve failed. Which, by the way, are so many. For every race, I’ve won or goal I’ve met I’ve failed probably 10 times earlier. That’s the thing though failure is nothing more than an opportunity to redefine success. To learn. To grow.

The story to me is that I’ve grown and had the opportunity to change my mindset so much that I have been able to accomplish things I thought I could not do. Once you do what you thought you cannot, the world looks a bit different. A bit more open. A bit more possible and a lot less impossible. My mission in life is to help others do the same!

How? Rewiring, reframing, and cultivating a “don’t quit before you try” mindset. For me rewiring my brain consumed with negative thoughts allowed me to create an unbreakable mindset of joy and become one of the most positive people you’re going to meet. It was hard. It took years and lots of support and therapy.

When you do things like try to ride across a state faster than anyone ever has, it’s going to be hard. Sometimes I feel like we forget that, and that we assume it was going to be easy. It doesn’t even need to be something crazy like that. It could be something that happens to you at work, at home with your family. At some point, we are all going to be faced with a hardship that rattles us so deep, we are going to need a really good reason to keep going.

The truth isn’t that those who achieve great things aren’t afraid. Or that it it isn’t challenging for them. The truth is that they find a way to keep going EVEN THOUGH it is incredibly challening. For me, often times the finish line is hours or days away. Instead of focussing on the seemingly impossible task of comitting to get to the finish, I focus on one more mile. One more minute. One more foot forward. Not only in racing, and also in life!!!

That is what my “biggest weakness” taught me. And it this lesson started on not-so-great day. In fact, was my worst day: the 28th of August in 1998.

On that day every “trigger”, something I refer to in my “Surviving Suicide” talks as a precipitate to a negative thought or chemical imbalance, was activated. Not enough sleep. Too much stress. Too much caffeine. Not enough food…these and more were all present.

Suicide ideation is part of a disease. It isn’t something that is rational. It doesn’t discriminate…once it takes over it feels like it’s the only option.

That’s what happened to me and the fact that I survived a 70mph impact into a tree got my attention. A man stopped me that day when I asked him why I didn’t die, and he told me “Because God has a special plan for you”. Purpose. I began to believe I had a purpose. That there was a purpose to this life.

And I started to believe it.

Years later, lots of therapy and deciding to rewire my brain, my habits, and life… I noticed something about myself while racing/training for endurance events: I tend to not quit.

It’s a small thing really. However, it’s the biggest thing we can do to be successful at anything: decide not to quit, especially before we try.

You see most people quit when it gets challenging. Some people think it’s because someone is “stronger” or “fitter”. I don’t think that’s the case. I think it rather it’s a matter of perspective.

For some, an Ironman (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run…one day…no breaks) is the hardest thing they’ve ever done. That’s okay if not wonderful. For me, it’s nothing compared to what I’ve been through.

In my talks I also often share “when you’ve been to hell and back, deciding to go another mile doesn’t seem so hard”. And that’s the beauty of perspective, of what I feel like was transformed: my biggest weakness of trying to quit life led to my biggest strength from then on of never quitting.

And now I spend my time trying to others do this same.

As a coach, I work with athletes of all levels to train triathlons/crazy endurance feats, which it’s my hope gives them: purpose, hope, and joy…not just in sport AND also in life.

For me, the endurance world inspired self-efficacy. It kindled self-discipline. It paved the way for me to develop unyielding determination and resilience. That’s what I want for athletes…that they realize all of this and know they truly are stronger than they think. Which I say all the time… because they are. We all are. YOU are.

As a Speaker, I give my powerful story of Surviving Suicide to empower people who are suffering, lost in dark, or even want to learn how to rewire their brain/begin to THRIVE instead of merely survive to hold on for one more day. I talk to institutions, businesses, and schools on how to break down stigmas, close the physical to mental health disparity gap, normalize conversations around and speak openly about suicide/suicide ideation, depression, and addiction. For me there were signs, for some, there are not, and understanding what we can do to truly help someone or even ourselves is SO important.

I’m not going to lie. I’m excited about taking a World Record. I was even more excited when my buddy Johnny got it the following day.

What I’m MOST excited about life though isn’t records or races. Instead I’m excited about helping others find joy, hope, and purpose. For me, these words are full of energy and life. They describe what I want people to feel, think and know by spending time with me. Who knows, maybe others could change their biggest weakness into their biggest strength. I believe it can happen. It happened for me, and it can happen for all of us!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
To do great things we need to have a great support system. Having a huge support system is not only helpful, it is critical to achieve your dreams. I am surrounded by so many wonderful people (and two crazy dogs), the srongest of which is my incredibly supportive wife– Tricia. When I do a race or record, it isn’t that “I am doing” the race.

“WE” are doing the race. “We” are doing the record. We are doing life.

Without her I could not be as strong, dedicated, and passionate as I am today.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up was a bit rough. I had many learning disorders that made school uber challenging, one of the primary ones being a form of dyslexia that was missed (hooked on phonics did not work for me lol).

With an alcholic father who smoked 2 packs a day and a home riddled with depression/finicial insecurity, I didn’t have the support or stability I needed to thrive. Looking back, I was just trying to survive.

I remember studying for spelling for 1-2 hours a night and still only getting 70% on a test and listening anxiously to people read in class, heart racing knowing that when they called on me I would “screw up”. And I remember feeling like that is exactly what I was: a screw-up. Not good. Not normal.

It’s interesting even at a young age we tend to gravitate towards others who feel/look/seem the same way as us. My friends often had similar struggles, and they were the first ones to get into drugs when we grew up (something I told myself I’d never do).

It wasn’t all doom and gloom… I used to ride my bike everywhere. Like literally everywhere. When I was really young my parents said I rode the big wheel into the ground. When I was 5, I decided I wanted to learn to ride my bike with no training wheels because there was a cute girl next door who already had this skill mastered.

I couldn’t be left behind! So, I spent a few days crashing around the front lawn until I figured it out. After that, I never looked back and rode like an animal around the city until my teenage years.

Funny though I was terrible at sports. Like pitiful. I did have a lustrous baseball career where they put me in center field. It was kinda boring out there so I would usually play with the dandelions the whole time. My coaches didn’t approve so I changed my focus away from baseball into the more important practice of dandelion picking and quit all organized sports when I was in 3rd grade.

When I’m giving a talk sometimes, I’ll ask the audience what sports they thought I played in middle school/high school. I’ll get the usual track, cross country, football…one time a kid decided that would be a great time to inform me I should be on ninja warrior ha…

Truth is I didn’t play any. Nothing. I didn’t even own a bike again until I kinda got my act together when I was a Senior in high school.

A friend said I should buy a mountain bike. So I did and that’s really how my whole love for endurance started. Fast forward a good 10 years more and another friend invited me to a Triathlon. 100+ triathlons and almost two decades later here I am no longer just surviving.

I’m thriving and hopefully helping others do the same.

Isn’tincredible that one invitation, one sentence can completely change the trajectory of someone’s life? With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to do that one thing that you’ve been thinking about. Make that change. Try that thing. Call that person. Nelson Mandela says it best: “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coachjwolf.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjwolf/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshua.jwolf/