We’re proud to announce that Philadelphia Giant Jack Wittenstein is Gentle Giant’s Athlete of the Month for June!
Jack ran the Boston Marathon in April, finishing in an impressive 3 hours and 14 minutes. This was Jack’s second full marathon, and he’s continuing his training with plans to run the Berlin Marathon this September with a goal of breaking three hours.
Running is just one part of Jack’s active lifestyle. When he’s not working or training for a race, you can often find him rucking, cycling around the city, or lifting weights. For Jack, it’s all part of a lifestyle centered around building toughness by embracing challenging things.
Jack grew up in Connecticut with an active family but found his own path into endurance sports through rowing. While in high school, he had the opportunity to meet Dan Walsh, an alumnus of his rowing team and an Olympic medalist. During a visit to one of the team’s practices, Dan spoke about some of his formative experiences rowing at Northeastern, working summers at a moving company, and running Harvard Stadium after work.
Jack didn’t realize at the time that the moving company Dan worked for was Gentle Giant, but the story stuck with him. During his second year at Temple University, Jack joined a group of Temple rowers who spent their summers working at GG.
After graduating from Temple, Jack took a full-time position as a business analyst at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Eventually, though, he found himself missing the Gentle Giant work environment. In 2022, he returned to GG for regular weekend work, drawn back by the physical challenges of the job and the lessons that come along with them.
The physical nature of moving became an important part of Jack’s training for the Boston Marathon. He also sees the job as reinforcing many of the same lessons that have shaped him as an athlete, including respect, teamwork, accountability, and approaching difficult situations with a realistic but positive mindset.
We’re excited to highlight Jack as our Athlete of the Month for June, proud to see him representing Gentle Giant on marathon courses around the world, and thankful that he continues to make time to be part of the GG team.