MICHAEL WELBORN

I was a non-athlete until introduced to rucking in 2017. Since that January, I have logged over 2,400 miles carrying 30 pounds or more in my GORUCK Rucker ruck sack. To date I’ve completed 13 GORUCK Light and 1 Tough challenge events including 1 back to back series, 4 Constellation survival events, 2 12-mile GORUCK Star Course events and 5 26.2-mile distance challenges. In the 2019 Williams Route 66 Marathon, I rucked a 14.5-minute mile on the second leg of the Marathon Relay as part of a ruck crew of 5. I am currently the leader of my local ruck club, Green Country Ruckers, as well as Ruck Crew Team Lead for Team RWB Tulsa, the local chapter of the national veteran support organization. For both organizations, I provide weekly fitness opportunities where we ruck, do ruck exercises and ruck challenges.
Formerly a self-proclaimed “Olympic-level couch potato” for 45+ years, I now LOVE staying active. Now with Team RWB and my local ruck club, I lead others to do the same.
My “sport” is fairly new! RUCK•ING [VERB] To put weight on your back and go for a walk. Urban hiking. Check out GORUCK.com for more information on rucking.
With such a late start to serious fitness, my knees may never support me running much less running a marathon. Rucking gives me the opportunity to stay active, sweat hard, crush challenges and improve my personal fitness condition. Being the leader of a Tulsa ruck club, I want to bring more and more people into the broader fitness community, particularly those who see running as the only option to loose weight and improve cardiovascular strength, and even more so, veterans who need physical and social activity in order to reintegrate into civilian society.
Being part of the Route 66 Marathon weekend was electric, and definitely one of the highlights of my ruck athlete journey. I see the annual Route 66 Marathon as a recurring milestone in our local ruck crew’s fitness journeys, from the 5K for starters, the Relay and Half or most of us walkers/ruckers, and even the Full for our more ambitious and determined ruckers. Make no mistake, ruckers are not all just walking pace- we had a rucker from GORUCK headquarters crush the full marathon in 5:34. With over 70 ruckers having experienced the Route 66 Marathon as a rucking challenge in 2019, more will be joining in coming years.