Phil McCammon

Age: 57;      Height: 5'8      Weight: 188
Hometown: Tempe, AZ
Sports: Golf, Cycling;
Goals for next year: To stay employed and fit into a size 32 again.
Athletic Achievement: I spent several years as a competitive cyclist, raced with four different cycling clubs and was a founding member of the Landis Cycling team back in the 80’s. During my years of cycling I estimate that I logged around 75,000 miles of training. After getting back into shape through CATZ, I still try to log between 40-50 miles each Sunday.
I was also involved in the first mountain bike races held in Arizona. The first race was several loops around one of the small peaks in Papago Park. The road racers in those days had the advantage of miles of training, so the early mountain bikers made sure that they would throw plenty of technical obstacles our way in hopes that we would fall down and hurts ourselves, in this regard we would frequently accommodate them.
I also spent about four years as a competitive in-line skater and was a member of AIR (Arizona Inline Racers). Races were normally as short as a 5k, all the way up through a Marathon. This passion has also led to an accumulation of war wounds as we attempted to lose weight by scraping off most of the outer portion of our skin.
How you got started with CATZ: As with a lot of the adults, I was referred to the program by a parent of one of the kids going through the program with a soccer team. Actually, I was sort of shamed into it because of how much I had let myself go.

The CATZ approach has been truly remarkable. I had begun to resign myself to a very sedentary lifestyle with no chance or regaining some of the fitness levels of my earlier years. I’m addicted to the program now, and only hope that I can continue for many months and even years to come.

Getting to know Phil McCammon:

Most memorable moment.
This is a tough one; I guess from a personal perspective, it was my first stage race championship in Los Alamos, NM. I won the road race in a sprint finish, lost 34 seconds in taking 2nd on the second stage hill climb time trial, and had to win all the time bonuses and the final sprint in the final criterium race, and won the overall by 6 seconds.
From a team perspective, it was when I was coaching a girls soccer team and playing in the semi-finals of one of the summer indoor sessions. Our team had a single goal going into the season, and that was to make it to the championship game. The team we were playing in the semi’s had cleaned our clocks earlier in the season, and usually dominated us every time we meet them outdoors as well. We were down 4-2 midway through the 2nd half, when that magically momentum shift took place, with our girls scoring the winning goal in the last 10 seconds of the game.
Oh Yeah, can’t forget the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl also!!!!!!!

Describe a moment or obstacle you have had to overcome. What did you learn from that experience?
Just over a year ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery to remove it. While this type of operation is normally fairly straight forward, I was one of the unlucky few who ended up with some severe complications. I think this was about the point where I began to look at my life and started to resign myself to an outlook of slim hope of turning things around. The CATZ Adult Fitness challenge was a godsend to me, and has reminded me that all it takes is a few small steps forward in the right direction to make the right changes. It doesn’t hurt to have BLee and BClark in your face pushing you to your limits (well maybe it hurts a little).

Who is the most influential person/people in your life?
Being the excessive compulsive that I am, it is extremely difficult to point to one person. I have been involved sports and in the workplace for over 35 years, and I am continued to be amazed at the talent and gifts possessed by those who find it to the top whether in sports or business. But most of all, I am in awe of those who have achieved supreme happiness no matter what their station in life is.