Jack Who?
Jack Everly is a normal dude, just like you or..em..Jack Everly, one not interested in conquering the universe or acquiring ungodly amounts of wealth or driving a P—y M-gnet, or even having super powers – there’s enough of all that in Hollywood, and Jack still has to get up every morning and do his “duty”.
Those of you hoping to find that sort of thing, or any kind of special life secrets, for that matter, have my eternal sympathy, because while you’re doggedly pursuing any of these unattainable and truly ridiculous, even selfish goals, the person you really are, who has to get up every morning and do his/ her/ its duty, wastes away a lifetime of opportunities without ever making any progress where it matters:
Your Core.
There are so many sick people out there who aren’t doing themselves or this planet any good, who are down for the count but still not yet out; I have taken it upon myself to show people a different, more effective way to make progress, surprise oneself, and do something amazing one can truly be proud of.
I have, over the course of the last twenty-odd years or so, consistently and consciously transformed myself from the inside out, and gone from hobby athlete/ weekend warrior that’s done sports and fitness activities for fun to someone capable of running 1oo miles. For fun.
My ultimate goal is to provide as many people as possible with the information and inspiration to come out of themselves, go out of their comfort zone, transform themselves and thereby become the best version of themselves they can possibly be.
The How of Jack
Around 2001 my wife started doing Pilates in front of the TV with some DVDs she had found. I was impressed right away with the strength needed to perform the exercises, the kind of strength I hadn’t experienced since doing gymnastics before I had any facial hair. The kind of strength, incidentally, that can only come from one’s core. I was naturally even more impressed when I tried, with embarassingly little success, to perform some of those very effective exercises.
I was sold, as it seemed to me an extremely advisable way to undo the mess I had made of my body since getting out of the Army about ten years before that. For a while I just did the exercises in some of the classes my wife started offering, then I started offering my own. It wasn’t long before I caught “the bug”, and I began wondering what else my body could do.
Then I remembered that I had always been fascinated by Triathlons, and that there was a great Sprint Triathlon (a short one) that was held every year in the next town over. In 2009 I competed in my first Triathlon and had a blast, despite finishing aeons off the victor’s pace.
For several years I continued offering my Pilates classes, even became a Personal Trainer, continued competing in Triathlons and entered myself in a handful of 10Km races. I was always interested in seeing how far I could go in this exciting realm of sports and fitness, but somehow the time and energy left over after my other two jobs were finished was not enough to make a deeper commitment to any kind of exercise.
In 2016, my wife and I rented the movie “Everest” and were blown away. Something about the weight of that mountain, as well as the desire to climb it, awakened something in me I had never felt before – a purpose.
The desire to attain great heights is something we all can relate to, but few seem to be able to reach their lofty goals. Others who do plant their flags atop their chosen peak tend to attach a meaning to their accomplishment, as if they’re somehow better than this mountain, that woman, these or those persons, whatever. What came over well in the movie was that the mountain has the final say. We may measure ourselves in relation to where we are upon our climb, but if the fates decide it’s not your day, then it ain’t.
We watched the movie two nights in a row to drink it all in, especially the part about about the mountain having the final say. You’re not here to win something or to receive a prize no matter how special your accomplish-ment; you should be making the most of your trip there.
So I had that burning in the back of my brain for a day or two, then I happened to make a fateful trip to the bookstore, where I found a.. book? about the best and most beautiful Ultramarathons in the world. I opened it up and found the race around Mount Fuji almost immediately.
From an early age I had been fascinated by that mountain, not only by its beauty but also because of the way most Japanese revered it. It was a holy place, and its climb was to be done religiously, and with the utmost respect. And when I saw that the race was not to the top and back, but rather around the mountain, I had my Everest.
Along the way I have had hundreds of adventures and misadventures – the trip to London with my father-in-law was legendary in this respect (see the movie!) – met great friends and other persons I wanted to have as little to do with as possible. But one thing united them all: no matter where they stood or where they were going in life, most were messed up in the core. False priorities, narrow-mindedness, flaccidity, shallowness, greed, hopelessness, conceit, deep scars, bitterness, ignorance, obesity, anger, frustration, and hate were all symptoms of a core sorely in need of maintenance, symptoms that would sooner or later be the reason for not getting everything out of their lives as they should.
I have spent the last twenty-ish years helping people, starting with myself, to get their bodies back to a point where anything is possible, the way it is for most children out there before office chairs, improperly distributed and excessive weight, and poor nutrition turn their bodies into shells of what once could have been. I feel called upon to perform this impossible feat: 168 Kilometers around Mount Fuji, with over 8000 meters of cumulative altitude gain. I feel called upon to share the experience with any and all who are interested, and to show everyone, including myself, what one can really accomplish with the tools one is born with. Why should their be excuses when you want to do something spectacular with your life?
The Team
Paul Fitzgibbons
..is a fifty year old American who has spent most of his adult life with his magnificent kick-ass Kay and their two awesome daughters, Alison and Josephine living in Germany. Sometime in the near past he came upon the wacky idea of having an alter-ego, and will henceforth in these pages be referred to as someone named “Jack Everly”, and hopefully not “The Person Who Only Recently Was Known As Jack Everly” anytime soon, because that’s like way too long.
Kay Fitzgibbons
..is Paul’s soulmate for the last twenty-six odd years and the creator of ever more insiduous trainings plans, the emergency masseurer, the nutrition expert, the expert for getting one bummed-out athlete back up onto his feet, and the person without whom’s (?) help all of this would notbe possible.
Bob Dylan
..is awesome.
Mickey Mouse
..is way overrated and how is that even still a thing? Bugs Rules!