Hello! My name is Ryan and I started Run Stoke because I love running, endurance training theory, and most of all helping people like you become happier, healthier, and faster runners. It all started back when I decided that I wanted to become a wildland firefighter…

I remember the first run I did after deciding I wanted to become a firefighter. I made it about a quarter mile before having to walk, then enjoyed a runner’s high for the next week. I proceeded to increase my training over the next year in hopes of getting into “good” shape, all the while hating running. It hurt. My legs ached, my lungs burned, and I dreaded my runs.

As a member of an Interagency Hotshot Crew I would spend my summers hiking around steep mountains across the American West fighting large fires. The physical demand was very high, working 16-hour manually intense shifts daily for weeks at a time.. Sometimes a single shift would last 30-40 hours. And a love for endurance was born.  After getting my butt thoroughly kicked during my first season, I became immersed in training.  During the winter I was devoted improving my running and hiking.

I started to see real improvements in my endurance capacity when I started applying well established training principles to my own program. I even started to enjoy running. Especially trail running. Within a couple years, I went from dreading runs to looking forward to them. I now strongly believe that running should be enjoyable and something that we all look forward to doing.

As a squad leader on a hotshot crew, I spent a lot of time helping younger firefighters push their limits and reach their potential. Today I enjoy helping runners of all experience levels reach their potential. I take lessons learned and skills developed during my fire career and apply them to my run coaching.

My passion for endurance training continues to grow, and I love learning and consuming all things endurance training. This lets me stay up to date on the latest training philosophies so we can apply them to your own training.