Class A CDL - Marathon Trucker Jeff Clark

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Marathon Trucker Jeff Clark

Jeff Clark - the marathon-running trucker keeps fit through exercise, even on the road

Trucker Jeff Clark runs off 30 pounds and inspires other long-haulers to get fit.

Five years ago, 20-year-veteran trucker Jeff Clark took a look at himself in the mirror and didn't like what he saw. He realized that his diet of Mountain Dew and cheeseburgers had wrought havoc on his body. "Then I read a statistic that bothered the heck out of me," he says. "The life expectancy for an over-the-road trucker, one that sleeps in his truck, is 61."

He decided right then and there to get fit.

He started by walking around truck stops, and eventually worked up short jogs, and then longer runs. Clark has since completed 6 half-marathons and 6 full-length marathons, becoming an inspiration to everyone he meets. The fact that he's dropped thirty pounds in the process doesn't hurt.

The Green Bay, Wisconsin native has self-published a book about the benefits that truckers can realize from running, and carries copies with him to hand out to anyone interested. He's also written a blog about his marathon training for the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

He's also published an essay in which trumpts the need to healthier truckers.

America deserves healthier truckers. Americas truckers deserve to be healthier. The median life expectancy for an over the road trucker is 61. The average over the road trucker stays with a company about 10 months. Close to 5,000 people die every year in commercial vehicle accidents. About 4,200 of those were not operating the commercial vehicle. Over the road truckers are not subject to fair labor laws.

I am an over the road trucker. I am a 6 time marathon finisher. Get over the idea that truckers are lazy. We probably spend at least 50% more time on the job than hourly workers. We just dont get paid by the hour. We dont get overtime. Often, we dont get paid at all. We are expected to give several hours every day at work and not getting paid. Because our time is free, it is often wasted.

Over my 21 years, I have spent thousands of hours waiting to get loaded. Even if we show up on time for an appointment, a shipper is under no enforcable obligation to honor that appointment. Several times over the years I have been denied access to an available bathroom, just because I am a trucker. Do you have any idea how that feels?

We are often ignored or treated as less than human.

Extending basic fair labor laws to interstate workers would go a long way to solving all of these problems. If shippers were forced to pay for out time, we would get loaded in a timely basis. If truckers were paid for dock time they would not have to work 14 hours to get paid for 8. If our days were reasonable in length we would not fall asleep at the wheel. We would be able to get a decent nights sleep. All this would help decrease highway fatalities.

There are bad truckers out there. We need to get them better or get them off the road. To do that we need to treat the good ones better. We need the government to reform the industry, not penalize truckers. We share the road. It is where I work. I want it safe.

"Jeff has been a big encouragement to truckers," says Carolyn Mason of Truckers News. "Running is the perfect fitness choice for their erratic schedule. Jeff is proof they can make it work."

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