Start Running – Key to Beginner Success

Key to Beginner Success? Just Run

Joe Raftis didn’t start running until he was almost 50. It wasn’t long before he was hooked and travelling the world for marathons.

If only Joe Raftis could find a way to bottle his energy reserves and get it on to his stores’ shelves. The 51-year-old Toronto business owner ran eight marathons in the last two years, including a brisk 2:53 in Chicago. What is even more impressive is that he’s only been running for about two years.
In 2010, Raftis was having what he now refers to as a mid-life crisis moment. Feeling a bit unhealthy, he eagerly accepted an invitation from his sister to do a marathon and took a keen interest in running. After a month of training, Raftis had shed 30 pounds off his five-foot-ten frame. He’s now around 145 to 150 lbs and his defined physique is apparent under a tight athletic shirt when I met him behind the counter of one of his stores in downtown Toronto.
On his 49th birthday, he ran his first marathon, finishing the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront race in 3:11. A few months later, he ran another marathon in Las Vegas, finishing in 2:58. To celebrate his first sub-three hour time, Raftis and his sister hiked the Grand Canyon the next day.
Raftis owns the Toronto-based travel and adventure gear chain, Europe
Bound, and usually puts in 12-hour days during on weekdays, along with a half-day on Saturday. But the long days do little to dissuade his new addiction. He keeps a simple – but rather intense – running schedule. He tries to run almost every day, barring injury. During the week, he pops off to the gym on his lunch break for weight training and at least 8K on the treadmill. On the weekend, he heads outside for two long runs, usually about 16K on Saturday and 20 to 25K on Sunday.
“After juggling work all day, I have lots of energy,” he says. “It’s a chance to clear my head. It’s really addictive. There’s always time.
Unlike most marathoners who have a sub-3:00 time under their belt, Raftis forgoes tempo run and intervals. When asked if he’d be interested in a coach or a more modern regiment, he shrugs. “I just go out and run. I don’t try to do a fast run, or an easy run. I just literally go out and run,” he says.
He does, however, maintain a strict diet. He stopped drinking wine and admits to drinking non-alcoholic beer while at the cottage. Chicken and salmon have knocked red meat to the curb for Raftis, who plans to run both London and Berlin this year, meaning in less than three years since he started running, he will have finished the big five marathons in the world (Boston, New York and Chicago being the others). When asked about his future running goals, Raftis doesn’t mention any specific times or marathons, but rather just expresses hope to have the ability to run into his 70s and beyond.
Raftis lives in Toronto with his wife and three children, all of whom having taken after their father when it comes to strapping on the running shoes.

Josh Visser is a Toronto-based journalist.