Colin Owensby Is Building a Life Beyond Endurance

For Colin Owensby, reinvention has never meant leaving one version of himself behind. Across careers as an NCAA swimmer, international model, Hollywood performer, endurance athlete, and wellness entrepreneur, each chapter has become part of the same evolving toolkit. He sees little separation between creativity and athletic performance, approaching both as disciplines built on preparation, curiosity, and the willingness to keep testing what comes next.

That outlook was shaped early. At 15, Owensby survived a near-fatal car accident and, only months later, lost his brother - experiences that gave him an acute awareness that time is not guaranteed.

Decades later, that perspective runs through everything from his Ironman training and modeling career to his Resilience Toolkit, a framework centered not on becoming hardened by adversity, but on developing a deeper understanding of yourself before hardship arrives.

For Owensby, strength is ultimately less about enduring alone than building a life filled with enough purpose, connection, and fulfillment to keep moving forward.

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You’ve lived several lives professionally: NCAA swimmer, international model, Hollywood performer, endurance athlete, and now wellness entrepreneur. When you look across those chapters, what feels like the thread connecting all of them, even when they might have seemed completely unrelated at the time?

I know that from the outside my career path might seem very non-linear at first glance, but for me it has all been completely connected. From a young age I’ve always loved exploring both creativity and athletic performance. I even view being an athlete in general as a creative outlet. It takes creativity to navigate a play with your teammates, or to build a race strategy to outperform your opponents. I love the challenge that comes from both sports and creative pursuits. So for me, everything that I’ve done in my career adds to my toolbox, and opens the door to the next iteration.

At 15, you survived an accident that left doctors unsure whether you would walk again, and only months later you lost your brother. When something that profound happens so young, how does it change the way you think about time, and the kind of life you’re willing to settle for afterward?

Fifteen years old was an incredibly difficult year for me. I would never wish those events that I went through upon anyone. But both of those catastrophic traumas made it impossible to not recognize that today is an absolute gift and tomorrow is not promised. It made me profoundly grateful for the abilities that I do have. I’ve also learned to give myself the permission to fill my own life with things that bring me joy, energy and fulfillment. Because if I can show up with a full cup, I can share my energy, joy and fulfillment with those around me.

There’s an interesting contrast between modeling and endurance sport: one world asks you to be looked at, while the other can become an incredibly private battle between

you and your own mind. What have those two worlds taught you about identity, confidence, and your relationship with your body?

That's an interesting question. I was an athlete first. And as a competitive athlete I was always hyper aware of my physicality, performance optimization and preparation, as well as my surroundings and proprioception. I never viewed modeling as a “center of attention” type of thing, even though it definitely can be. I always viewed my role as a model in a very professional light. My job off-set is to stay physically fit, eat a great diet and stay hydrated everyday so that I show up to work and have lean muscle mass, clear skin, bright energy and confidence every day. I have to stay the same sizes every day. I have to show up to my job every day in perfect form. If you think about it like that, it's very similar to that of a competitive athlete.

You’ve completed two Ironmans and a 100-mile ultramarathon, but you’ve been careful not to frame endurance as simply proving how “tough” you are. When you choose something that difficult now, what are you actually looking for on the other side of it?

I’m actually finishing up a training block right now for my 3rd full-distance Ironman triathlon. I’m so excited for it. And you’re absolutely right. I never try to prove toughness to anyone with these challenges. There are definitely a lot of competitors out there who will tell you that they’re competing to prove toughness to themselves and I completely respect that.

For me it’s totally different. I genuinely love the entire process and the routine of training for these events. I’m a huge believer of regularly setting goals for yourself that are a little scary. I love having those committed on my calendar because it gives me a reason to dig in a little deeper at the gym everyday and reach a little further on my runs and bike rides. I have fun with a regular run in the park, but I have a lot more fun if there’s an intention behind it.

I’m also not a glutton for punishment. I’m not going to go run on broken legs to cross a finish line. For me it’s all gratitude and all fun. I like finding out how strong my body is and what I’m capable of. Also, knowing that I’ve run 100 miles at once and finished multiple Ironmans and swam across the San Francisco Bay in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon and countless other challenges gives me so much confidence going into everyday day to day tasks.

Your Resilience Toolkit grew out of roughly 25 years of thinking about habits, relationships, movement, environment, gratitude, purpose, and community. Was there a moment when you realized resilience wasn’t just something you had experienced, it was something you could actually break down and teach?

My philosophy that I’ve come to is that hardship doesn’t make someone resilient. A deep understanding and confidence in that understanding of one’s self is what gives a person the ability to navigate any hardships that life might hand you. I’ve had many people over the years give me praise for my positive outlook on life, but I never thought or realized that my outlook was unique.

Within the last decade someone very close to me asked me to try to boil down my thought process and think about why I am the way I am despite the trauma and heartbreak that I’ve experienced. They believed that if I could decipher that code, that it might help others navigate hardships and traumas as well. So that’s what I did. I spent a lot of time thinking back on those traumatic events and how I navigated the aftermath.

I thought about who I surrounded myself with, what activities I was drawn to, what outlets I pursued, my relationship with spiritually and religions, my role in my community, etc. and I boiled everything down to a pretty actionable set of tools that anyone can utilize to build that deeper understanding of what brings you fulfillment.

You’ve also been talking more about masculinity, vulnerability, and the importance of men asking for help. In a culture that can still confuse resilience with handling everything alone, what do you think we misunderstand most about what being strong actually looks like?

I think in the actual moment of suffering or grieving, most people revert to isolation. And I don’t think that behavior is “wrong”. It’s a natural reaction. I think many people tell themselves in that situation that they have to “be strong” and fight through or bottle up whatever it is that they’re going through. And I think the misconception there is that maybe you think that you have to not show any emotions for the benefit of those around you. Or maybe you’re scared of the emotional side of yourself too, because it’s uncomfortable.

I’m drawn back to the idea that I mentioned before of putting your oxygen mask on before helping others, or filling up your cup so that you have enough to share with those around you. I think that strength is having the courage to give yourself what you need including emotional exploration, and the confidence to know that no matter what happens in your life, you are still capable of living a fulfilling life and sharing that fulfillment with those around you.

You’ve been building your personal brand as a 40+ year old creator, using your experience and perspective to shape how you show up online. How has leveraging the creator space allowed you to take greater ownership of your story and connect with your audience on your own terms - and what do you want this next chapter of Colin Owensby to stand for?

I think that I can easily connect with my audience because I show up online as the truly authentic version of myself. I post about what I love. I share things that I find funny. I share my experiences as an endurance athlete because I know that it’s not a normal thing and people tend to be curious about what training and mindset looks like for people like me. I also share behind the scenes from photo shoots and on set for tv shows and commercials for the same reason. It’s not a normal job and often times people want to see behind the curtain. It’s funny, even though I’m a participant in both the endurance sports world and the entertainment and fashion industries, I still find them to be so exciting and cool and I’m grateful to even be at the table. I’m genuinely giddy about all of it, so I like to share as much of it as I can for others who may be interested too. As far as the next chapter goes, I’m going to continue exploring, building and challenging myself. I hope to cross paths with lots more people, expand my community, share my passion, energy and gratitude with the people around me, and hopefully inspire others to build a life of ultimate fulfillment of their own.