Meet Ryan Miller, Runner and Klean Team Sponsored Athlete

If you were to come over to my house and rip open my medicine cabinet, you would be astounded. I don’t have any of your typical sleep aids, and the space lacks shaving cream because my cheeks still resemble those of a coming-of-age high schooler. There are no OTCs and definitely no sugar-encrusted gummy vitamins. Instead, you would find a floor-to-ceiling vault of white pill bottles with the name of an unheralded but highly effective supplement company named Klean Athlete^®. The multivitamin is prominent, but you’ll also find half-empty bottles of the probiotic, antioxidant, and omega supplements. I’ve been using Klean Athlete products since graduating from Texas A&M University four years ago, and I’m SUPER excited to finally be joining the Klean Team as a sponsored athlete, as I build toward the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. But how did I get to this point?

I grew up in the small, Texas Hill Country town of Boerne, where my love for distance running started. I helped lead the Boerne Samuel V. Champion High School cross country team to back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009, as well as the 2009 Nike Cross National Championship. I was lightly recruited out of high school with PRs of 4:20 in the 1,600 and 9:40 in the 3,200, and eventually accepted a preferred walk-on spot on the Texas A&M University cross country and track & field teams. While at Texas A&M, I produced top 10 all-time performances in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter distances, finished 6th and 7th in the 10,000 at the 2014 and 2015 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and was a NCAA Championship West Region preliminary qualifier at 10,000 meters in 2015. I graduated magna cum laude in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Distribution from the Dwight Look College of Engineering, a minor in Business Administration, and certificates in Engineering Project Management and Engineering Systems Management.

Post-collegiately, I qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials by running a 1:04:35 at the 2016 Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon. Unfortunately, I was unable to compete at the Olympic Trials due to emergency appendicitis surgery three days before the race. The couple of years thereafter were fairly mediocre as far as national-level competition. I finished 23rd and 16th at the 2016 and 2017 USATF Half Marathon Championships, set five course records on the roads in Texas in distances ranging from 10 miles to half-marathon, and ran a 3:57 at the 2017 State Street Mile in Santa Barbara, California.

Most recently, I qualified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials by running a 2:14:27 at the California International Marathon, taking 12th place in the 2018 USATF Marathon Championship field. I also recently set a new half-marathon PR, running 1:04:06 at the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon. Which brings us to now…

I’ve always aligned with Klean Athlete’s mission to build a clean sport, specifically in the endurance sport world. I want to have confidence that what I’m putting into my body is within the guidelines set forth by the governing body of our sport AND provides the utmost competitive advantage to drive me toward the ultimate goal of having the word “Olympian” forever associated with my name. And that’s what this team does. I’m looking forward to sharing how I have been using Klean Athlete products the last few years to up my running game, while also giving insight into the mindset of a national-caliber distance runner. Be on the lookout for more blogs to come, and follow me on Instagram at @ryanmiller34 to keep up with my journey toward the 2020 Olympics!

You can follow Ryan on
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanmiller34/