Ronnie Staton: If I can Walk, I can Run

In 2018, Ronnie Staton was fit and running well. He’s previously traversed across countries in a non-stop format, taking on challenges like Sir Alfred Wainwright’s coast-to-coast. He’s twice traversed Wales and the Southern Uplands of Scotland. 

However, on Christmas Eve 2018, he stepped on the treadmill and suffered a stroke mid-warm-up. This would set in motion a change in his life, including a complete shift in mindset and ambition.

“I felt like my life was going where I wanted it to go; in retrospect, I’m not so sure now. I think I was going to make some errors and walk a professional path that wasn’t right for me, but my health and fitness was certainly on track. That same year, 2018, I’d run the Race across Scotland in August, which is 215 miles.

“I was 38 when I had the stroke. I always felt like my forties would be my best ultra-running years being such a strange endurance sport. Normally somebody getting towards their 40s would think I’m going to decline now, but I felt like they’d be my relative glory years.”

“I was just so excited for the following year for all the improvements that I wanted to bring in with the coaching I offered, we had many runners on the books, and it was all going well, again in that area of my life everything felt in its place, and I was full of it, I just love it.”