Crystal Wise
Among the most excellent outdoor adventures John Loyd has taken away from the office, the swim across the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay was among the most rewarding because he went without a wetsuit.
An analytical businessman, Loyd pulled out a T-chart to analyze the pros and cons of wearing a wetsuit. The reasons not to wear one outweighed the other, what many probably would consider the more reasonable, side.
For one, the sense of accomplishment would be that much greater, going 1.2 miles in the renowned choppy, freezing water first discovered by European explorers, at least, in the mid-18th century. Two, there is a widely accepted — and widely discounted — belief that wetsuits attract sharks.
And three, and perhaps the decisive reason he chose not to wear a wetsuit: “If I did it without the wetsuit, I could say, ‘Hey, it was very possible for those folks who escaped Alcatraz.’”
History can’t record with any assurance that the three guys who escaped Alcatraz in 1962 made it to the freedom of the shore. But, for Loyd, it was mission accomplished.
Curiosity was how Loyd eventually founded The Wealth Planner, a financial services firm in which he guides individuals and families through all manners of wealth management. As a 16-year-old, having read up on finances, he tried to open an account with Dean Witter — which later merged with Morgan Stanley. The financial adviser told him he was too young, but if he still had an interest at age 18, he could open one then.
Loyd did and later served an internship with the company while a student at Texas State University. Last year, Loyd, who also has an MBA from Purdue, was one of Fort Worth Inc.’s Entrepreneurs of Excellence, an annual program that recognizes the vision, creativity, and integrity of those unique entrepreneurs who have made Fort Worth a great place to do business.
The swim at Alcatraz is the kind of thing Loyd does to simply get away, that valuable time the medical professionals have said is essential for one’s mental and physical well-being.
“Business owners are under a lot of stress,” Loyd says. “It’s important to disengage from the business. It frees your mind and helps you think more clearly. In the long run, it helps you better serve your clients.
“I think as a business owner, we’re so busy, if you don’t have something on the horizon or a reason and for some folks that reason might be, ‘Hey, this makes me feel better, or it’s good for my health.’ But for me, you need some reason to keep you going.”
A big project away from the office, like, say, a marathon.
In the late 1990s, Loyd decided to do the Honolulu Marathon.
“I swore I would never do that again,” he says, a very typical response when you consider he did no preparation for the 26.2-mile trot. None. No coach and very little in terms of a “training regimen.”
“I didn’t do any other races before that,” he says. “I didn’t train that much, and my body felt it. I was sore for a month.”
After that, he started swimming for exercise.
In addition to the Alcatraz swim, Loyd was also part of a four-person relay team that swam around Key West. Each member going 3 miles. One of the team members cycled from Key Largo, a distance of a little more than 100 miles.
“I thought, ‘100 miles! That’s crazy. How is that even possible?’” Loyd remembers thinking at the time. “With anything, you have to see it in your mind first. He was the one who told me about the Ironman. I thought that would be pretty neat.”
The Ironman is the ultimate challenge for triathletes. Triathlons come in varying distances, but the Ironman is the pinnacle. Competitors are required to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and, ahem, run 26.2 miles.
All in one day.
As it so happened, the Ironman in The Woodlands was upcoming in 2019.
“I always put the cart before the horse,” Loyd says. “I just signed up for that thing. I know if I sign up and have a deadline, it will force me to make it happen. That’s what happened.”
Loyd did do some training for that, hitting stationary cycling workouts and jogging afterward. And he swam, of course. He also kept notes on his progress and left notes of the goal around the house, near the bed and even laminated in the shower.
“It helps to see it,” he says.
The 48-year-old Loyd, a black belt in the World Taekwondo Federation, has a list of 50 things to do before 50. He’s done many of them; another Ironman is on the list. He’s driven a bulldozer, and he’s memorized a deck of cards (so has his 12-year-old daughter).
Driving an 18-wheeler is also on the list. That’s been a bucket list item for many years, he says. And he’s having a difficult time making that one happen.
“I don’t want to do a long haul. Just even in a parking lot. Do I need to take a class? Maybe I’ll just go to a truck stop and offer a trucker $100 and go around the block.”
Like the deck of cards, many of these outings now involve his wife, Courtney, and children, Celia and Sarah. (Loyd and the children have aced the Rubik’s Cube.) Loyd and Celia did a 2.5-mile open swim in St. John’s, while Courtney and Sarah did the 1-miler.
“I have my kids writing goals every year,” Loyd says.
On Celia’s list of goals last year: the Honolulu Marathon.
Despite swearing off marathons decades ago, Loyd made good on another.
That’s now three total, including the Ironman.
Don’t bet against him doing another.