The Pease Brothers' Story

One thing about me is when I put my mind to something; I’m going to accomplish it. And to accomplish it with your brother is more special.We grew up playing sports – three boys. Kyle has a twin and then I’m two years older than the both of them. Kyle is technically the baby by two minutes. Pretty typical of what you expect of three boys in a house. Everything that we did, we always did together.My mom and dad never took no for an answer. So I go out with that attitude.There was never ever any question that Kyle wasn’t going to do the things we were doing.I grew up a swimmer and so I was wanting to get back in the pool and thought why not a triathlon. So I bought a bike and signed up for my first Olympic distance triathlon.I worked up the ladder of the shorter stuff into a full Ironman and Kyle was peppering me with questions of “What did it feel like?” and “What was it like out there?” and then he hit me with the big one, which was, you know, “Can people in wheelchairs do Ironman?”When Kyle finished his first triathlon, the minute we hit that carpet, Kyle started screaming. I think, you know, he had a big a-ha that was like “We need other people with us”. The Kyle Pease Foundation provides individuals with disabilities the opportunity to participate in and enjoy sports.It’s what Kyle’s done his entire life. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it, you can do it and that’s really what happened.Where there’s a wheel there’s a way.The first real race that we had planned was the Publix Half-Marathon, which was in 2011.In 2012, it was the race where we supported our first athlete.In 2013, we had 12 athletes participate with us.And in 2014, we had 17 athletes. You know, so it’s continued to grow. So, this year we’ve got 28 wheelchair teams participating with us, which is just unbelievable.This is our hometown and, for the athletes, it brings on a whole new meaning of how we want to be included.The first few races, you know, there’s a lot of coaching from me to Kyle as he was learning the sport.But in the last few races, there’s a lot of coaching from Kyle to me of Kyle saying, you know, “Push a little bit harder” or “come on, you know you can do this”.I really want to focus on the idea that anything is possible. Because we all have something to offer. We all have something to give.You know, it’s amazing to see and to be able to share my gift with the world and the community. So, I truly love what I do. It’s just a real blessing to be able to do this with my brother.