- June 16, 2025
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Jeff Muddell, 49, president of the Sanibel office of The Sanibel Captiva Trust Co. He’s been in that role since October 2019, overseeing daily operations of the Sanibel office and working with clients.
Distance running. Muddell took up the pursuit after finishing treatments for testicular cancer in November 2015. “I was trying to have a sense of normalcy, and I knew I needed a spark,” he says. Inspired by his three children, he set a goal to run the 2016 New York City Marathon, which he’d previously run in 2006.
Start from scratch: During his cancer treatments, Muddell had been fairly sedentary and had accumulated some extra pounds by the end. So once he secured his spot in the 2016 marathon, he didn’t take off sprinting. “I started building back slowly, just getting back the endurance and losing a few of those pounds I had packed on during that time,” he says.
Memorable race: Completing the 2016 New York City Marathon topped his 2006 run. “What I don’t think I appreciated previously when I ran it 10 years earlier was that everybody has a darn good reason why they are subjecting themselves to running 26.2 miles,” he says. “Everybody has got a story to tell…You’ve got probably 40 people who are actually trying to win the thing, but the rest of us are trying to win these individual battles or conquer this individual goal. That’s what’s so powerful.”
Set a new goal: Muddell at first thought two New York City Marathons were enough. But then a friend told him about the Abbott World Marathon Majors, a series of six world-renowned marathons in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City. Runners who complete all six receive the Six Star Medal, and his friend said she’d do it if he would. "A challenge from a friend was just enough for me to sit down in front of a computer and map out the strategy on how I could potentially do all six of these races,” says Muddell.
Man with a plan: Muddell’s original goal was to complete the five remaining marathons by the time he hit his five-year cancer-free mark in 2020. He ran the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2018 and the London and Berlin marathons in 2019. That left Boston and Tokyo. But the pandemic upended his plans for 2020. He was able to run the Boston Marathon in 2021 and the Tokyo Marathon in 2023.
A major accomplishment: Less than 18,000 people worldwide have completed all six major marathons, and now Muddell is one of them. “It’s just a personal thrill to say wow, I did something that only a small number of people in this world can say they did,” he says. “I got to see the world a little bit, experience things, challenge my body physically after what it went through and celebrate my recovery. And I got to prove to my kids that when you’re feeling pretty down and things are not looking good, you can conquer this.”
An island fixture: Sanibel Island is an ideal place to train for a marathon, as it’s about 13 miles from the Sanibel Lighthouse to Blind Pass. “I ran so much, all my neighbors would honk because they knew I would be out there,” he says. “You can’t get away with not running when you know everybody on the island.”
Fitting in 40 to 60 miles a week between work and family time has meant a lot of early mornings. “Between avoiding the heat and having to get to work on time, my runs usually happen very early in the morning in darkness,” says Muddell. “I have shoe lights, head lamps, all kinds of things to make running in the dark of Sanibel a little more palatable.”
Favorite footwear: Muddell’s a fan of Karhu running shoes, which he purchases at Fleet Feet in Fort Myers. “They’re durable, cushioned well and fit your foot well,” he says. His advice for other runners? “Find the shoe that works best for you and stick with it.”
Tone setter: “When you go out and run six, eight, 10 miles at four in the morning in the middle of a hot Sanibel summer and show up at work at eight a.m., you kind of start the day shockingly refreshed,” says Muddell. “It’s tiring, and you feel that fatigue, but you already feel like you’ve had this sense of accomplishment. You’ve already stared down a goal that morning, so whatever comes your way during the day kind of seems like a cake walk.”
New perspective: After running 1,200 miles last year, Muddell feels up to almost any task. “No distance seems too far when you know you’ve got the endurance to do something like that,” he says. “No challenge seems too great. Any challenge in life seems small. That’s cliché, but I honestly feel that.”
What’s next: The TCS Sydney Marathon has been added to the majors for 2025, and Muddell plans to accomplish that one day and hopefully bring his family along. He’d love to run it with his daughter, who’s currently a high school junior and runs cross-country. “I want to wait until she has the time and effort to learn and train for a marathon, so I think that will be the goal in the next five years,” he says. He also plans to take on the Boston Marathon again. “It kicked my butt, but I had a great time doing it,” he says. “I’ll tackle that one again.”
Get moving: Muddell’s advice to wannabe distance runners? “Like everything, there’s a learning curve to it,” he says. “You start by taking the first step, by taking that first jog and understanding how your body works and how to build up your endurance. You’ve just got to get out there and get the body moving.”
