Short Version
I’m Ryan Fulmer, not the Parkour guy from the west coast, or the financial adviser from Ohio, the husband and father of 4 boys from the Philadelphia area who’s an insurance professional by day, a former Ironman triathlete, a current Spartan obstacle course racer (mainly to hang out with my other crazy endurance/adventure buddies) and aspiring adventurer.
Long Version
I have to note that adding an extended bio in here was at the suggestions of several friends to put things into context. It’s with their guidance much of this was added.
My racing resume is frankly ridiculous for someone of my talent level and age, but only because of an amazing opportunity to work for a company that supported and sponsored Ironman and other endurance events.
Over the course of 10 years raced-
Ironman Florida 3x, Ironman Canada, Ironman 70.3 World Championships 2x (qualified), Ironman Hawaii, various 1/2 Ironman events, Leadville MTB, various other running races up to 50 miles, various Spartan races… Should have done a Spartan Ultra Beast but inadvertently booked a trip to Aruba with my wife after signing up.. Still don’t hear the end of it, or have an extra large belt buckle.
Some of these were before kids, but a good deal of the races were after we had our twins. I may have raced a week after they were born, they are 6 now and its still brought up. However it helps remind me that their birthday is coming up when the Philly Triathlon is advertised. I then trained for and raced Ironman Florida 5 months later. You can’t win father of the year every year… My amazing wife and I are still happily married, needless to say she was very supportive.
For so long racing and endurance sports defined me, both to myself and others. It wasn’t until the last several years, after reaching the ultimate goal I had set for myself in racing, and having 4 sons in 6 years that I really started to reflect on who I was, why I was doing this and who I ultimately needed to be to raise 4 boys into men.
I spent the 2 years after college partying and drinking on most nights until 2,3,4 in the morning. I vividly remember being in a bar talking to a friend of my sisters, conversing about the bar people and how we had had it with the drinking scene and never wanted to be the 30, 40 or 50 something people who hung out at the same local bar every weekend. From there I started playing soccer and running, made a drunk bet (Apparently didn’t entirely stop going out) with a female friend who had run several marathons that I could beat her in the Philly Half marathon. Ran the Philly half marathon, then ran the Philly Marathon and was hooked on endurance racing.
While running with a local running club, several of the members raced these things called triathlons. I had only scene the Ironman Races on TV, thought it was totally nuts, got a bike and joined them. It was here that I met my soon to be wife Meg and a great group of riders. We had an amazing group where we would regularly do 20 and 40 mile rides on weeknights and on weekend’s we’d do 50 to 100 miles. It was one of the best times of my life.
An important part of this starts when I got my first iPhone. The moment I found the podcast button, this insane world of all different types of information was opened to me. While I was a terrible student in basically all of my schooling, I quickly learned that when listening to interviews and conversations while riding or running, I retained information like never before. While riding and running 10-15 hours a week I’d rip through podcasts and audio books on training, racing, nutrition, life, any any other health and wellness topics Ben Greenfield or Rich Roll or whoever else I was listening to at the time was covering. It fundamentally transformed who I was and how I saw the world and myself.
All along the way writing and storytelling has been there. There are folders on multiple computers, and physical journal’s a notebooks of writings that have not seen the light of day.
This early midlife crisis of sorts comes after a combination of the passing of two friends, and listening to “The Obstacle is The Way” by Ryan Holiday at least 5 times, especially where he goes into dwelling on your own mortality, and realizing that if not now, then when?
I’m the last person to say I know everything, ultimately this is a forum to start conversations and document some experiments to get better at whatever the heck I’m working on at the moment.
To close the loop on the races with my friend, I beat her in the half marathon, and she smoked me in the full marathon. Experience is very valuable in long distance racing!