I’m Gary Stark, the Old Mountain Goat of age 64. My wife, Lynne, and I moved to Estes Park, Colorado in 1985 and raised our four wonderful kids here. I taught high school and college level math, science and statistics for 37 years. We enjoyed family hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park, just minutes away. It was hard getting on new hiking trails as I usually had just a couple of hours of personal time. Living here for so long, it was tough exploring new trails when I didn’t have any more time to hike, so I needed to increase my pace. I started jogging and then running the trails. When I was running up a trail and bounding on the rocks past a resting family, the teenaged boy commented, “Look at that old mountain goat run!” The name “Old Mountain Goat” stuck.

My dad started having heart problems in his late 40’s and cancer in his late 50’s. He was on lots of medications, with one always affecting another; the doctors just couldn’t get a good balance. He never had a good quality of life after that and he died from a stroke in his early 70’s.

At age 51 I had my first of seven bouts with malignant melanoma skin cancer. Then I found out my bloodwork numbers (cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and blood pressure) were bad. I knew I had to do something if I wanted to walk my daughters down the aisle, play with my grandkids, and enjoy traveling with my wife during retirement. I trimmed down and got fit as I started running, but I was shocked that my blood levels didn’t improve. The doctors wanted to put me on a maximally tolerated statin and two different forms of medication for my blood pressure. I didn’t want to go down the same medication path as my dad did. After a lot of research and lifestyle changes, I improved all of my numbers tremendously in a couple of years. As most trainers will tell you, it is 80% nutrition and 20% training.

I am a certified fitness nutrition coach now and enjoy sharing the research I used to get myself in shape. Find out what keeps this Old Mountain Goat feeling younger and competing younger. And be sure to check out THE Better Aging Guide and the FREE nutrition course.