The CFO who ran her own race but didn’t run (or swim or bike) alone

On LinkedIn, the congratulatory messages poured in for Janice Stucke, CPA, after she completed an Ironman triathlon in October. Those messages all had named authors — her LinkedIn contacts.

One message, from a still unknown author, attached to her bike on race day, continues to resonate with Stucke, the CFO of CREW Network.

In an earlier podcast episode, Stucke detailed her nontraditional path to becoming a CPA and, later, a CFO. In this conversation, Stucke recaps the obstacles she faced in the race, how problem-solving skills played a role in her crossing the finish line, and why she is thankful for a group of friends she first met at the Future of Finance Summit.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• A recap of Stucke’s “exhilarating” day completing the triathlon.
• The reason Stucke felt nauseous during the run segment — and strategies she tried to overcome the feeling.
• The message that inspired Stucke — one that an unknown person put on her bike.
• The meaningful support of a group of finance leaders Stucke first met at the Future of Finance Summit.
• How completing the race helps in her role as a CFO.
• What her next big goal might be and why technology implementations will be prioritized this year.
• Why Stucke enjoys being around others who set audacious goals.

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Neil Amato: Live at the Future of Finance Summit, this is Neil Amato with the Journal of Accountancy podcast. I’m recording today in San Diego with Janice Stucke, CFO of CREW Network. Regular listeners may recall Janice’s name. She was on a September episode as we talked about a host of topics, including her career journey, dealing with fear, and her preparation for an Ironman triathlon. Well, now it’s time for the follow-up about the triathlon and what it’s like to search for new goals after accomplishing such a momentous one. Janice first, welcome back. Good to meet you in person.

Janice Stucke: Nice to meet you, too, in person, and it’s really exciting to be in San Diego with so many amazing leaders.

Amato: I’ll first set the stage about the race that we previewed in the September episode, which we’ll include a link to in the show notes. You were competing in Ironman California, late October in Sacramento. And the event, again, 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles on the bike, and then a full marathon, 26.2 miles of running. That sounds like a mouthful just repeating it, so, how’d the race go?

Stucke: It’s so interesting to hear you say those mileages because, honestly, in starting the race and going through it, I could never really think this is 140.6 miles. It was just too much to comprehend what the day would hold. 

It’s still exhilarating. Like when I started, I just had no idea if I’d actually be able to finish, and it’s one of the top five moments of my life. I just was exhilarated, exuberant. My mom was at the finish line crying. It was everything I could ever want and more, and I’m so excited that I went on this journey and even more excited I actually crossed that finish line.

Amato: I bet. There have to be a host of emotions. And going back to that 140.6, I don’t like to drive 140.6 miles. That’s a lot. This may be obvious, but was there a moment where you thought, “I’m not going to finish”?

Stucke: You know, the day comes in so many different phases. I jumped in the water at 8 a.m., and I finished at 11:48 p.m. A lot changed in that time trajectory. But really, there were so many points I had to pivot in order to continue through the day. But at one point when I got off the bike, I made the transition into the run, and I took off, and I was really excited to be on the run because running is my specialty. Around mile four, I just started feeling really sick. I realized I had just gotten behind on my nutrition. The second half of the bike was 22 mile-per-hour winds, 30 mile-per-hour wind gusts. I just couldn’t stay on top of the drinking the way I needed to for 56 miles, and I just hadn’t realized how far behind I’d gotten.

Around mile four into the run and, granted, I had 20-plus miles to go after that. I just was so nauseous. I didn’t even know how it was going to continue, but just going back to really trying to calm my mind down, really meditate, really trying to dig into all my best problem-solving skills. I tried to eat some pretzels to calm my stomach. I tried to drink water; that wasn’t working. I tried to just walk slowly and take some deep breaths; that wasn’t working. And eventually I came to “just find some ice and suck on it.” Sucking on ice just helped me get enough hydration back in that I could start doing intervals and get back into the run, but that took me several miles to come up to that solution, and I just had to keep going, so I didn’t get behind on the time.

Amato: Do you have a time cutoff? It wasn’t midnight, was it? Or maybe it was? I don’t know.

Stucke: There’s time cutoffs throughout the entire race. There’s no time to dally. You have to — I was explaining today — you have to keep eating. You’re eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snack all while doing cardio. There are four or five time cutoffs on the run. I just really stayed focused on making sure I didn’t want to be close, so I really tried to stay on top of making sure I cleared those. I think it’s like three, six, nine, 12 — you know, every three to four miles, there’s a time cutoff you have to make.

Amato: That thing you said about how much you actually consumed, I don’t think a lot of people understand that. But you truly have to practice that.

Stucke: You have to train your brain to eat and do extensive cardio at the same time. That’s against everything we normally do. We usually clear our stomach and then go for a run. We eat and then run several hours later. I’ve had to train my brain on how to eat and run simultaneously for 26 miles. It’s a big shift in focus.

Amato: The headline on the episode we recorded that aired in September was “Never Give Up: A CFO Tackles Tech Implementation and Triathlons.” Let’s focus on that “never give up” part, because obviously that was part of it, but I guess you also got a secret message with that phrase.

Stucke: When I came out of the swim, which was 54 degrees, so I was quite cold.

Amato: Whoa.

Stucke: I was trying to towel off and transition onto the bike, which, it’s still a bit nippy and you’re about to hit the winds on the bike. I got to my bike, and there was a bracelet that said “never give up” on my handlebars. I don’t know who put it there. I don’t know where it came from, but, at that moment, it was like, that angel message that I needed for, “No, I’m not going to give up.” I’m really going to power through, and I could see it on my wrist throughout the whole race. 

I still have it. It’s on my computer because it’s just the CPA world, the CFO world, being a part of LinkedIn, being a part of these boards and thought leadership coming to that moment when I really needed it in the triathlon and help me get to an Ironman finish, which, I don’t know who you are, but thank you.

Amato: The outpouring of support on even business-related LinkedIn was amazing to see the comments. What did those mean to you?

Stucke: Being a CFO and having started a new CFO position and training for an Ironman, less than 20% of competitors are women, and there are similar stats in the CFO, finance world. To have this outpouring of support, showing to the starting line when I’m a significant minority, I’m mostly out there competing with men, who are usually bigger and stronger than I am, and often at finance events, you can feel like you’re the minority in the room. 

To have this amount of love from the community and just uplift me and feel so strong amongst this community really helps me show up even when I am the minority to feel like I’m courageous enough, strong enough. I have the support to get out there and do this, and I use that in the CFO world as much as I use it in the triathlon world.

Amato: That was after-the-fact praise and support coming in, but I also want to ask about the during-race support that, while you didn’t actually see, you probably maybe felt. And that’s from the group that I guess was formed through this event, the Future of Finance Summit, the Finance Sisterhood. They’re tracking your progress live and commenting on WhatsApp. What was it like to have that support from those people who were close to you?

Stucke: Having the support of the Finance Sisterhood just in day to day is amazing, but knowing that these women throughout the country took their time to track me throughout the entire day in the middle of their busy lives and keep each other abreast of my progress, when I got to see the messages when I finished, my heart was just so full to know that there was that much love just from meeting these women here. We’ve now been friends for three years, and we’re just so involved in each other’s day-to-day lives. I just really felt that love and support in order to keep going. I feel their love and support, too, when it comes to just being CFO and managing the big decisions. It’s very special to keep this group and keep it growing.

Amato: Now, one of the founders of this event, Tom Hood, supplied this question because I said, “Tom, if you could ask her just one question, what would it be?” He said, simply, “What drives you?”

Stucke: I got into triathlon because I had just become director of finance, and I honestly didn’t know any other women in the director of finance role. Triathlon helps me have courage. I need to constantly tackle those training hurdles to remind myself that I am much stronger than I realize and much braver than I can even imagine. 

When I tackle a big thing like the Ironman — right now, I’m facing several big digital transformations in my CFO role, and I have a rough recollection of knowing the end goal, but it’s a lot of gray zone and a lot of unknowns. I know: I got through an Ironman, I can get through these digital transformations when it all feels very murky right now. 

I keep going because I constantly want to remind myself that I have the courage and I have the strength to really tackle anything. There’s nothing that I feel like after that that I can’t tackle, whether I know what the end goal is or not. It’s just I have the tools to get it done, and that’s why I keep going and keep doing it.

Amato: You clearly like to go after those audacious goals. I think there are so many lessons in the planning, the training, and just the grit that’s needed to accomplish such goals, but now that you’ve done it, now that you’re beyond the race, how do you reflect and then you come up with a, “Gosh, what’s next?”

Stucke: I’m definitely asking myself that right now. Do I do a hillier or even harder Ironman? Do I go international? But since I started this job and trained for the Ironman at the same time, 2025 is definitely going to be focusing on work. I have some really big, pivotal projects that I need to implement and make huge headway on that’s going to take a significant amount of time in 2025. But after I get some movement on those, I’m not sure, but I’m definitely contemplating what my next big goal will be. I’m definitely not done. Now that I’ve invested in all the gear and I have the experience, I’m definitely thinking more long term, what’s next?

Amato: I have some friends who are either those 50-state marathoners or 50-state half-marathoners. I know someone who’s just completed her state number 47, so maybe you just start ticking off continents or whatever. Could be fun.

Stucke: No, and I think it’s the community that comes with triathlon as well. A lot of the triathlon community as well as attendees here. They dream big, and they’re going after big audacious goals, and those are the people I want to surround myself with and continue to do that.

Amato: That’s a great tie-in to this event and that triathlon community. Janice Stucke, thank you very much.

Stucke: Thank you. So happy to be here.