Featured Member - Don Stoeckly

23 ½ hour Service

Almost everyone knows Don Stoeckly. What I didn’t know about Don was that he was one of the  founding fathers of the Bluffbusters.

It all started, Don jokes, in 1998 when he weighed 248 lbs. Realizing that the waist size of his pants was getting greater than the length, he and his wife Diane decided to start an exercise program.  A 10 minute walk every day. “After work I was tired” Don said “and sometimes I just walked around the block.  Diane was timing me and if I walked 5 minutes one day, I had to walk an extra 5 minutes the next day”. In addition, Diane would pack a lunch of health food, and one day a week the two would walk to Walgreens for weigh-in (since they didn’t own a scale)

The pounds started coming off. The walks turned into a run/walk eventually he was running. “The Running club wanted me to run with them” he said “but I didn’t think I was good enough”. So he set a goal to run a half marathon on his own. Once he did that first 13 miler, he was ready to run with the group and was literally off to the races.

While in the running club he was was inspired by Greg Olson and Barry Clark who were going to try the new Ironman Wisconsin triathlon. Don was so inspired that he signed up for the following year. The fitness thing was definitely taking hold.

As a novice, Don relied on the help of the veteran triathletes, of which he had a long list of names. There were a few missteps along the way though. He fell numerous times until he realized he had to unclip his pedals before stopping (but we have all been there haven't we?) . His first flat tire had to be changed by Maggie. His first half IM swim took over an hour, but Don said  it was real easy to find his bike in T1. But he managed to put it all together and he successfully completed his first Ironman.

Don has since done 3 ironmans, marathons, ultra runs and too many other events to keep track of. Now he changes tires for others, which he did in an IM event when he saw a fellow Bluffbuster with a flat, he thoughtfully stopped to change it. The Don’s Towing slogan is “23 ½ Hour Service”. Apparently that applies during races too!

Don graciously thanks his family, and all of his fellow athletes for supporting him in his pursuits.  

He is a humble, kind, caring, thoughtful, businessman, family man, and fellow triathlete. He has sponsored the Bluffbusters as long as I can remember, and he played a major role in the formation of our tri club. Although Don thanks everyone else, I think we owe him thanks.