2025 July VFE Featured Athlete – Charlie Ramirez. Sport: Ultra trail running

Hey my name is Charlie Ramirez and my sport is ultra trail running along side with weight lifting.

The grit and grind.. is where I find the best version of myself when I’m pushing myself in some sort of way whether that is out on the trails or pushing my self in the gym.

My first introduction to fitness was weight lifting at the age of 13 I was overweight, got picked on and on a path to getting dangerously unhealthy, so I made some changes I started weight lifting and started playing sports. In high school I played football and I did wrestling my focus was on building muscle and being strong. I didn’t like running for a long time and was anti cardio. But after a few years my views on fitness changed. I picked up running as a hobby in 2017 then was inspired by a friend of mine to run a marathon (background on him he’s an ultra-runner). Ran my first marathon in 2020 and from there I was hooked on running.. I thought to myself what’s next so then I started trail running and ran a 50k did a handful of those for a while then I ran a my first 50 miler and I’m still continuing to BUILD brick by brick. That endless cycle of how can I push myself even further… “what’s next” is what I enjoy. And I get to enjoy the great outdoors while trail running now that’s hard to beat.

But just like many others there’s been some speed bumps along the way from ACL/meniscus tears, a pectoral tendon tear, life in general and random aches and pains associated with running/lifting. Spending countless hours running, lifting and working a physically demanding job in the fire service my body gets pretty jacked up, my buddy told me about VFE so I thought I’d check them out I got put in contact with April and went in for some body work (never had gotten worked on before in my life) and it was night and day difference.

I’ve been going to her for 3 years and I go weekly when I can or bi-weekly. Love the VFE team they keep me healthy and they care about all their clients. I’ll leave y’all with this quote “The finish line is not the end just the start of what you now know you’re capable of”.