#whywerun - Ryan Bolton

Ryan's been a loyal supporter of Fractel since day 1 and has a serious passion for running and adventure. A quality man, husband and runner, Ryan shares a bit about himself. the reasons why he runs and what's coming up next below. Enjoy the read..

"My name is Ryan Bolton and I’m your average bloke, 27 years of age living on the Gold Coast and grew up in the Logan area. It’s strange because I never saw myself taking up running or grew up with no ambitions of running. Dad was always a mad keen runner when he was in his 20’s, after giving up smoking he needed a new drug and running was it. From an average of 10kms a day after a big day at work and half marathons on the weekend he soon found himself addicted. 

I tried a lot of other sports such as football, cricket and golf just to name a few, none that I could see myself excelling in. Up until recently I raced go karts which I really enjoyed on and off since I was about 16. 

After gaining a heap of extra weight and enjoying food way more than I should, I decided something needs to change. My parents convinced me into running a Parkrun one Saturday morning at Main Beach. It’s a 5km free timed event every Saturday all around the globe. My first Parkrun took me well over 40mins to complete. I stupidly wanted to go faster the next week, a bit of competition against myself. Slowly but surely I chipped away at my weekly time. I started to enjoy running as I got fitter. The running community is an epic way of meeting new people. They’re a like-minded group who strive to better themselves each day through time on feet. Facebook and Instagram are great social media platforms and through Facebook and word of mouth I entered a trail run event which opened up a whole heap of new adventures. Trail running is a form of therapy for me. A way to forget about daily troubles and work life and just run. After 3 or so years running I still love it as much as the first few events I raced in. I have been running shorter distance trail races and only the last year have I focused on training for ultras. I first had my eyes on UTA50 which I have just completed last weekend and loved every minute of it. 

I have plans to step up my training and nutrition over the next few months as I have two more 50km events planned this year including the Guzzler Ultra and Costal high 50 Ultra. I will use these events to see what my body can handle and have eyes on my first 100km event in 2020. I hope to run the Tarawera ultra marathon early next year.

I have dreamed of one day running an Ultra or 100 miler in Europe somewhere also, it is a goal of mine and one day I hope to make it a reality."

You can follow Ryan on Instagram HERE.