Ryan Troisi is training for his first-ever marathon, and it started almost by accident at a 5K he had no business finishing without a plan. The West Palm Beach runner spent most of his 20s cycling in and out of addiction, and he says the decision to chase 26.2 miles traces back to the moment he underestimated a much shorter race.
“I showed up to the 5k race here with limited experience and fell for it,” Troisi said, according to WPBF. That 5K happened during last year's Palm Beaches Marathon weekend, and it was enough to push him toward signing up for the full distance in 2026, the station reported. He will now run the U.S. Polo Assn. Palm Beaches Marathon, a 26.2-mile course that starts and finishes on Flagler Drive near 104 Datura Street, according to palmbeachmarathon.com.
Before any of that, Troisi says he spent years just trying to survive. “I spent most of my 20s in and out of addiction and I really struggled,” he told the station, adding that he tried repeatedly to get sober without success: “I tried to get clean and sober numerous times and it didn't work.”
From a Sober Home to a Starting Line
Troisi's turnaround began after he moved to West Palm Beach with, as he put it, nothing more than a suitcase. He described going from having almost no resources to riding the bus just to track down a job, a detail the station's report frames as the starting point of his rebuilding years. It was during that stretch, while living in a sober home with other men working through recovery, that he says he picked painting back up as a way to refocus himself, according to the Voyage MIA interview with Troisi.
That recovery wasn't a straight line. Troisi told Voyage MIA that he “struggled with relapse for many years” before sobriety finally held. Now, as he told WPBF, he says he carries a sense of obligation to keep pushing himself physically and personally because of how far he's come.
“I have a responsibility to pay this thing forward and push myself, because if I got what I deserved, I shouldn't be here and the fact that I am is a blessing,” Troisi said, per the station's report. This year, Troisi marked eight years of sobriety, a milestone the article notes arrived not long before his marathon training ramped up.
A Wedding, a Wife on the Course, and a Solo Art Show
2026 has been a year of major milestones beyond the race itself. Troisi got married in June, and his wife plans to run the half marathon on the same race day, lacing up alongside him even though she's tackling the shorter distance. Just days before the marathon, Troisi is also set to hold a solo art show in West Palm Beach, folding his painting practice into the same stretch of days as his biggest athletic test yet.
The timing lines up with a broader local push to get runners ready. Palm Beach Roadrunners announced marathon training for the 2026 race, with two more information sessions planned in mid-August, according to Palm Beach Roadrunners.
Race Day Details
The 2026 Palm Beaches Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, December 13, at 6 a.m., per palmbeachmarathon.com. Organizers describe the route as 26.2 miles of waterfront and historic West Palm Beach neighborhoods, and say the course is USATF-certified and ranked, in the organizer's own description, as the second-fastest marathon course in Florida. Marathon registrants must be at least 18 years old on race day, according to the event's official race information page.
For Troisi, the date now carries weight well beyond a finish line. A man who once counted survival in bus rides and sober-home nights is preparing to count it in miles, with a paintbrush and a wedding ring added to the story along the way.
