I didn’t make it to the peak of Mount Langley last year.
Weeks earlier, I had climbed Mount Whitney. Partway up, I passed a father and son struggling through the same stretch of snow and ice. On the descent, the son became delirious from the altitude and had to be rescued. He survived, but only after being in a coma.
Obviously, an experience like that sticks with you. So when my son Bennett and I set out on Langley the same summer and he hit a wall about two-thirds of a mile from the top, I thought about what happened on Whitney.
I’m a competitive person by nature. When I set a goal, I want to reach it. But I’d just watched what altitude sickness can do to a kid, and my own was struggling in front of me. In the moment, making sure he was safe was the only thing that mattered.
This year, we went back and finished what we started, just two weeks after I completed my first 50K ultramarathon.
Achievements will always be there if we put in the work and keep moving forward. The choices we make when conditions get challenging are often the real wins.
The choices we make when conditions get challenging are often the real wins.
Back in college at Pepperdine University, I made a lifelong friend in Rob Balucas. After graduating, I started training for an Ironman, a pursuit that piqued Rob’s interest in triathlons too. He trained for his own, completing Malibu’s Zuma Beach triathlon in 2011 and vowing to return every year after.
In 2015, while training for Santa Cruz, his first Ironman 70.3 (Half Ironman), Rob was on a routine training ride when he lost control on a stretch of downhill switchbacks, crossed into the oncoming lane and went over the side of a hill.
He broke his collarbone, cracked several ribs, collapsed a lung by 70% and suffered an L1 burst fracture in his lower spine. Surgeons performed a spinal fusion the next day. Rob woke up paralyzed. He’s now what’s medically classified as a T10 complete paraplegic.
Rob watched his friends race the Half Ironman he had trained for. But instead of quitting the sport, he set a new goal to race the next year, just differently than he’d planned. He started swimming and handcycling as part of his rehab. His community helped him crowdfund a handcycle and racing wheelchair, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation stepped in to support him too. Within a year, he raced in three triathlons: Oakland, Santa Cruz and Malibu.
When he crossed the Zuma Beach finish line in 2016, I was there waiting for him.
After that, we kept racing together. From 2017 to 2019, we competed at Zuma Beach as a team. Rob met his future wife through the sport, a fellow triathlete. In 2019, she joined our team and ran the final leg herself. Rob has since raced at the world championship level, competing in Hawaii and New Zealand.
Our friendship continues to build upon a handful of principles that guide everything I do, from my work as CEO of Mutual Group to returning to Mount Langley after a failed first attempt: Prepare, even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed. Keep moving when stopping would be easier. Go back and try again after falling short. Surround yourself with people who push you further than you’d go alone. Show up for someone in their hardest moments. And when things go right, look for a way to turn that into something for someone else.
At Mutual Group, I often talk about advisors taking the long view. Advisors who want to grow from $30 million to $150 million in assets under management get there through focus, consistent partnership and what I call stick-to-itiveness. Progress compounds, sometimes so slowly you don’t even realize it’s happening. Take it one step at a time, and you’ll soon see you’re much farther along than you thought you were.
Progress compounds, sometimes so slowly you don’t even realize it’s happening.
I have an upcoming personal goal of my own: 10 marathons before I turn 50. The TCS New York City Marathon this November is next on that list, and I’m running it for and with Rob. We’re raising money together for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, tied to both the marathon and my training race at Zuma Beach in September. If you want to support the cause or learn more about the organization’s work helping athletes with physical disabilities get back into sport, visit my page here.
Aaron Jasper is CEO of Mutual Group.
This article is published under WSR’s partner program and was not written by WSR’s staff or editors. For more information on how to participate in the partner program, contact zack.drew@wealthsolutionsreport.com. Views expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of WSR.
