This summer, we’re asking runners to reflect on their first race. This week, Ian McGrath tells us about starting running nine years ago. He just won the 10K at the Nova Scotia Marathon on the weekend.Â
Ian at his most recent race, the 10K at the Nova Scotia Marathon.
Race: CIBC Run for the Cure
Runner: Ian McGrath
Early days of running: I was certainly not a runner. Mountain biking was my sport and I would frequently ask, “Why run when you can bike?” Once I had joined a friend on a 5K easy run around St. John’s, Newfoundland. I got just over two kilometers in to this “easy run” and told him I had to stop. I sent him on and waited for him to finish. The only other running I did before this was some light jogging as a warm-up for my Kung Fu classes.
About race day: A few months later, I signed up for the CIBC Run for the Cure. I found myself in Halifax for work and had never been before. I didn’t know the city or the route. A few nights prior, I’d met with an old friend who took me to a karate class where I ended up pulling a calf muscle. On race day, I started limping from the hotel to the start line. The muscle started to warm up as I walked, and by the time I got to there, I figured I could run.
What I remember from race day: I lined up with the others and followed the crowd. I didn’t see any distance markers, and I didn’t have even a watch. I ran along taking in the scenery and fulfilling the duty I’d signed up for: running to raise money for breast cancer research. Suddenly, I saw the finish line in sight. I sprinted the last hundred meters to the finish and waited for the awards ceremony without cooling down. My calf tightened up again. It was days before I was walking normally. My time was somewhere around 28 minutes and change.
My running now: I progressed from “this sucks” to “this is tolerable” to “I’ll keep this up because it’s helping my cycling.” I  have finally reached a point where I enjoyed it. Since starting running almost nine years ago, I’ve set a 5K PB of 19:26, a marathon PB of 3:08:08, and I’ve run Boston. My girlfriend is a runner, most of my friends are runners, and I’m a volunteer on the board of Run Nova Scotia, a non-profit dedicated to promoting running in the province.
