RYAN WELTS
MPF RNR Athlete
After being competitive in both Soccer and Alpine Ski racing my whole childhood and through high school I, for some reason, decided that a nice change of pace would be fast food dining, partying and cigarette smoking. I quickly ballooned to 240+lbs and lived this way for almost 10 years until I finally decided to make a change.
I began by revisiting the mountains of my youth around Waterville Valley NH , specifically, Osceola “main peak”. It was an early November day 2006, my heart felt like it may explode and I couldn’t walk right for a week after. I spent that winter in the mountains every weekend reacquainting my body with real exercise and the following summer I decided that adding in some running midweek may boost my progress and be a good start at losing some weight.
After a summer riddled with overuse injuries from my 10-15 miles a week of running I decided to pick a race in the spring to train and lose the weight for. I chose the Wapack 21.5 mile trail race the following may and adopted a road marathon training plan with hiking mixed in to get ready. In the next 9 months I lost 80 lbs and surprised myself with a 3rd place finish. I was hooked and my love of pushing my body both mentally and physically across the most challenging terrain I can find is still growing.
I also love exploring and sharing the mountains, trails and beautiful places of the Northeast with my awesome wife Kristina and dog Jack, as well as being a father to two girls 7 and 9 years old.
Rich Heffron placed 2nd (11:04:16) & Scotie Jacobs placed 4th (12:19:11), Laura Rekkerth was 9th female at the Twisted Branch 100k Trail Run! Something was happening in Leadville Colorado. Joe's encounter with a trail superhero. Natalie Thompson wins RNR’s Lucifer’s Crossing 6.6 miler in 54:30! And much more, check it out!