Injured dog in Hawaii rescued . A hero's inspiring journey transforming lives through movement.

This dramatic dog rescue is nothing short of a miracle. Over 1,000+ feet up on a steep Hawaii trailhead was Stevie, the dog, curled up, injured, scared and trapped between two precarious cliffs. Her being alive was a miracle. It's estimated she had been injured and stuck at cliff's edge for over several days and was deteriorating quickly. Enter our hero, Sergio Florian , who went out for a late-in-the-day training run and came upon the injured dog. Sergio is not your average Joe. Far from it! He is an endurance athlete, an ultrarunner and a neuro spinal cord physical therapist. Sergio's mission and passion is transforming lives everyday in a big way, not only at his clinic, Wellness Neuro & SCI, but throughout his local community and beyond. Because of his elite physical fitness and mental determination that day, he was able to bring Stevie safely down the mountain, find the owner and reunite them. And because he always journals and videos his training sessions, he was able to share this amazing rescue with us and pretty much the world via social media!
Any movement at all, however small, is better than no movement at all, he says. His goal is to bring movement to the masses, and he is diligently succeeding. He organizes local events to raise awareness to movement, such as one that included him running the perimeter of Oahu, 135 miles, which, coincidentally, was three years to the day that he rescued Stevie! Sergio challenges himself in much the same way as he challenges his clients; whatever movement is attainable, that's the goal! His inspiration is contagious. He definitely walks the walk and talks the talk.
Sergio initially got into running because of his own health issues, and it morphed into competing in ultra marathons and endurance runs, both locally and throughout the world. His last race in October 2023 was a 100 miler, The Kodiak Ultra Marathon UTMB in Big Bear Lake, CA. He mentioned the hardest and longest race he participated in was the Puerto Vallarta Mexico UTMB race, which was 33:41:53 hours! Aye Caramba! He is currently training for the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc aka the UTMB World Series. This mountainous endurance race follows the route of the Tour du Mont Blanc through France, Italy and Switzerland. It has a distance of approximately 106 miles and a total elevation gain of around 32,940 ft. More of his super powers at play here!
Sergio told me people tell him he's crazy! I beg to differ. I see a driven, passionate and dedicated individual who pushes himself to the outer limits and gives it back in the same fashion to carry out his fitness philosophy: Movement is Life.
Hawaii is rooting for you this August, Sergio!!
Mahalo for being such an inspiration to us all!
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