Portrait of Ramona, Vegan Trail Runner & Ironwoman

I am very excited to present this article. It is very special because it introduces two projects that we will be telling you about in the coming months.

The first project is a series of interviews with people who have opted for a vegan or vegetarian diet which we are going to call: “Portraits of the deficient”.

The second is a wish to sponsor and highlight vegan sportsmen and women.

We particularly like people who go above and beyond. People who do extraordinary things and who share our passion for nature and the great outdoors.

Ramona, a vegan trail runner from Lyon (by adoption), let herself be interviewed and above all did us the honour of being the very first Bio Frères ambassador!

I had the pleasure to meet her over a Buddha bowl from My Petite Factory a few days before a big trail run to talk about veganism, marathons, trail running and especially, to talk about Ramona!

Jérémie :
Can you introduce yourself in 2 or 3 short sentences?

Ramona :
My name is Ramona, I am 28 years old. I am a saleswoman at Decathlon. A job that I love that I’ve been doing for a year. And that’s why I came to Lyon.

I originally came to Lyon for work because I wanted to be close to the mountains to be able to access the biggest trail runs and those in the region are considered the biggest in Europe.

What else do I do in life? Sport. Sport and sport. That’s all I do.

I work, I do sport and apart from that I don’t have time to do much else!

Work takes me between 35 and 40 hours a week and sport between 20 and 25 hours.

Jérémie :
So what is the daily routine of a trail runner?

Ramona :
It’s getting up very early in the morning, sometimes even a little too early, especially in hot weather like right now.

It’s waking up at 4am to go and train. A typical day? I go to work. At noon when I have a short break, I go for a run. I go back to work and in the evening when I come home I’m usually a bit tired so I avoid training. Otherwise it’s 4 to 5 training sessions a week… in addition to cycling.

Because there’s that too. It’s not just running, there’s also swimming and cycling.

Jérémie :
Oh yes, of course! Are you aiming for a triathlon or something?

Ramona :
I already do triathalons.

Jérémie :
That’s great! How long have you been running?

Ramona :
Since 2013. It all started after I realized that I had gained a lot of weight during a relationship and I couldn’t go on like that. I said to myself: “why not run?”.
I started running 2km, 3km, 5km, until I signed up for my first official race in 2015 and then it clicked. I got hooked. Addicted to the bib.

In the same year I signed up for a lot of other races and started to give myself challenges like a half marathon… for me that was already huge!

I had never thought about the marathon, it was much too long, 42km wow! And then, in 2017 I signed up for my first marathon.
I finished it without even training. At that time I wasn’t training much but I thought “Come on, a marathon would be pretty good”…

And then it all happened one after the other. Triathlon training, my first trail, it went so fast that today when I look back it’s a lot, it’s really a lot.

Jérémie :
For the people who are reading this, and especially for the “laymen”, can you tell me the difference between a trail run and a marathon?

Ramona :
The marathon, it’s just a distance, it’s 42,195 km and it’s on a road. So there is not necessarily much elevation and it’s on tarmac.

The trail run is beyond anything else. It’s a race in the middle of nowhere with often a lot of elevation gain.

You have to accept that you have to walk during a trail run. Especially during the big trails, you can’t run for 70 to 80 km non-stop. It’s not possible. So there are moments of acceleration, there are moments of walking and moments of pause. That’s what it’s all about: unstable ground, nature and elevation changes.

That’s the difference.

Jérémie :
Everything you love!

Ramona :
That’s right, because nature is part of who I am.

Jérémie :
And as a trail runner, you have the added “constraint” of being vegan, how you deal with it physically?

Ramona :
Well, pretty well ! I started with vegetarianism in 2014. Same thing, a realization. I stopped eating meat little by little and started asking myself why?

It came naturally. Then I asked around. Why does one stop? Why doesn’t one eat meat anymore?

I came across the vegetarian way of life, which I didn’t know at all. I had friends who were already vegetarian and who accompanied me a little bit. I was very afraid to become vegetarian.

I told myself that I would be giving up all my little daily pleasures and it was a real fear at first.

Until the day I watched a video that gave me a shock. I don’t remember which video it was but it shocked me. From one day to the next I became a vegetarian. And veganism came naturally afterwards, as I went along.

II started by stopping milk, then eggs I think. I don’t remember the exact order. It came naturally, it was a logical progression.

Jérémie :
So you didn’t just say to yourself “Hey I’m stopping everything, I’m going vegan”?

Ramona :
No, not at all. With vegetarianism I had already stopped drinking milk. And veganism came gradually because I had to sell all my clothes. I had to renew all my cosmetics. I gave almost everything away. I didn’t throw anything away, I gave it away.

Well, there were some things I threw away because they were too old, and I didn’t see the point of giving them away, but that was the hardest part, having to turn my life upside down to start living again.

Jérémie :
Did you experience it a bit like a rebirth?

Ramona :
Totally! It was a total rebirth that I don’t regret today. On the contrary. I want to be vegan for the rest of my life.

Jérémie :
And how did your family and friends feel about it? Did you get any objections? Did it go smoothly?

Ramona :
It was very complicated, I lost a lot of friends over it. I lost a lot of people close to me.

At the beginning, it was very complicated for my mother. She took it very badly because she is a great cook. She is very much into the “traditional French gastronomy”, so logically, in her eyes, life would be impossible without meat.

At the start she was saying to me “you’re going to have deficiencies”…
The same goes for my father-in-law. He was a great sportsman, he told me “you’ll never make it”, “in 2-3 years you’ll die of deficiencies”, “you’ll die of over-exertion”…

And in the end, I’ve been vegan for 5 years and I’m still alive!

Jérémie :
And do you feel tired, depressed…

Ramona :
Well, I’m not going to link my fatigue or depression to veganism because I had a lot of problems when I was young. Whether it was health or even mental health. But it’s not related to veganism. On the contrary.

I was able to heal myself through veganism, to lose weight and to purify my body and eliminate all animal fat and detritus from my system. I call it that because for me, eating industrial rubbish is not food.

Jérémie :
So, practical question, what do you always have in your fridge?

Ramona :
Water, fruit and vegetables…and there’s some stuff that’s a bit weirder but never mind…

Jérémie :
Tell us everything, we want to know!

Ramona :
Well, it’s cosmetics that I have to keep in the fridge or else they’ll go bad. As they are fresh and raw ingredients, I have to keep them in the fridge.

Otherwise what else is in there? Well, anything that’s plant-based yoghurt, I’m a big fan of those. They’re really nice.

Jérémie :
Do you have a favourite brand?

Ramona :
Alpro! I love what they do. Their big yoghurts are just killer. I eat a whole one by myself! Even thought it’s 500g! But that’s my daily dose of protein actually. There’s a lot in these little products.

Apart from that there’s plant-based milk.

Also, During a time when I am doing lots of running, my fridge is full of patties and other products for vegans.

Jérémie :
What’s a comfort food that you cook for yourself when you’re feeling a little down?

Ramona :
(laughs) pizza!

Jérémie :
Really? I still haven’t found the right formula for vegan pizza “cheese”!

Ramona :
You have to find it, but it’s available! And spaghetti bolognaise too! Only fatty things in fact!

Jérémie :
And apart from all these foods, do you take food supplements? Do you take vitamins?

Ramona :
In the period of intense preparation, yes. Because I ask a lot from my body. The efforts I make, I call them superhuman efforts.

When we are born, we are not designed to run 70-100-150-180km. Our body is not normally made for that.

So in the main preparation period I take magnesium. As girls, we have to push the bar a little bit.
I also take calcium.
And iron because I’ve had deficiencies since I was very young. It’s not related to veganism. I’ve always been supplemented with iron to reduce fatigue and build up energy reserves.

Jérémie :
I see! Speaking of energy, let’s go back to the marathon and trail running. Can you tell us how you feel when you’re at the starting line? What’s going through your mind?

Ramona :
I often think: “What am I doing here? Honestly, on big challenges I ask myself “What on earth am I doing here?

And then I remember everything I’ve been through since the beginning, for years. Everything I had to endure to get to this point. All the training, all the injuries I had to heal and I say to myself “You’re there now. You’re here, you’ve got the number on the bib, and you’ve got to go.

I often have a feeling of dread in my stomach. So I have my little ritual: at the starting line, about 2 or 3 minutes before the gun goes off, I close my eyes, I hope very, very hard and I replay all these images in my head.

Then I go for it.

Jérémie :
And on the other hand, when you cross the finish line, what’s going through your head?

Ramona :
I cry. I cry very often. It depends on the race. On small races, no.

It’s not that there’s less emotion, it’s just that there’s less preparation.

It’s just that, but it’s often a relief too. It’s still an effort, whether it’s an 8 km or a 40 km trail run, we still ask our body to make an effort.

In general, on small trail runs, I try to perform. That is to say that I always try for the podium.

And on the long trails, I’m just looking for endurance and to surpass myself, that’s the difference.

Jérémie :
Until now, what is the longest trail you have run?

Ramona :
54 km, for the moment.

This Saturday it’s not the distance that scares me, it’s the elevation.

Jérémie :
What are you preparing for this Saturday?

Ramona :
A 70 km with 5400m of positive elevation. That’s all. It won’t mean much to many people but if you look it up on the internet, it’s massive.

Jérémie :
Around Val d’Isère, right?

Ramona :
It’s in Val d’Isère. We’re going to pass over the Grande-Motte, over the glaciers… It’s going to be magnificent.

Jérémie :
It must be an extra motivation when you have a beautiful landscape?

Ramona :
Yes, especially since when I came to Lyon it was really for that. It was to run in the mountains because nature and the mountains are a great passion for me. And I know that once I’m up there, I’ll cry. I know that. I am very emotional.

And actually, it’s when I’m up there that I’m going to say to myself “I belong”. This is what I’ve always wanted to do and I want to do it until the end of my life.

Jérémie :
You have a little tear in your eye when you say that.

Ramona :
Yes because I know where I started from. I know all the concessions I had to make. There are not many people who would do it I think.

But, we all have our own story. I don’t want to put my story forward particularly, but I know what I’ve been through. And I am extremely proud of it today. I really wish everyone to have happiness like that. Even beyond sport. I really want people to excel, professionally, emotionally and/or athletically.

That’s what I do today, those are my three pillars.

Jérémie :
Great! Any final words?

Ramona :
Above all, be true to yourself, don’t listen to others. Don’t be influenced. I’ve experienced this a lot.

Many people have told me “be careful with veganism because you will have deficiencies”, “you will be ill”, “you will lose your teeth, your hair”, “you will be infertile later”. I’ve been a vegan for 5 years now and I’ve never been so healthy.

And to finish, just live your dreams. That’s all.

Jérémie :
That’s beautiful!

Ramona :
I feel like crying!

Jérémie :
(laughs) Thank you very much!

Find Ramona on her instagram : https://www.instagram.com/running.ramona

Illustration : https://rosaliedelabre.com/