Rick Rayman, 77, completes his 400th marathon at TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon

On Sunday at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Rick Rayman, a professor of dentistry at the University of Toronto, marked his 400th marathon finish. Rayman is 77, and not only has he now completed 400 marathons, but he has participated in every single Toronto Waterfront Marathon in the race’s 34-year history.

As if that weren’t enough, Rayman has also run every single day for the past 44 years and 10 months–a daily run streak that’s topped by only one individual in Canada, according to runeveryday.com. (That’s Simon Laporte of Notre-Dame des Prairies, Que., whose streak is three years longer. Rayman is #20 on the international run streak list.) “I don’t know if the 19 runners ahead of me have run as many marathons as I have, but who cares?” he says, adding, “The older and slower I get, the more notoriety I get.”

On Dec. 10, he’ll celebrate 45 years of running without missing a single day. He runs for at least half an hour, though some days he runs for an hour or two. And he takes care to add that he never runs on a treadmill–though he has participated in 10 indoor marathons in the past, including six at York University, three at the University of Toronto’s Hart House and one the SkyDome (now the Rogers Center).

“It’s such a great marathon!” Rayman says of the Toronto race, even though he struggled with back pain in the second half, most of which he walked. “I can run 12 miles (or 20 km) without any pain,” he says. When asked if he’s ever considered switching to the half-marathon, he replies, “Never.”

“It’s a good question,” he concedes, “because my half marathon time is considerably better than my full. But I enjoy the challenge of the marathon.” Rayman was the only individual in the M75-79 age category.

Over the years, Rayman has seen a few changes at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The technology for tracking runners on the course, in particular, has evolved considerably since the early days, and he enjoys the recent changes to the course, which allow midpackers and back-of-the-packers like himself to see the elites running past in the other direction on Wellington Street and Eastern Ave. He credits race director Alan Brookes and his staff at Canada Running Series with putting on a world-class event.

Rayman admits he’s slowing down. “I’m not going to do another marathon this year,” he says, adding that next year, he has plans to run the Fort Lauderdale Marathon in February, Ontario’s Georgina Marathon in the spring, the Buffalo Marathon in May and the marathon at the Niagara Ultra in June. “I did 11 [marathons] this year; I might cut that in half next year. Maybe six or seven.”

Regardless, you can catch him running every day, rain or shine, from his home in North York. “I’ll keep doing it until I can’t,” he says.

posted Tuesday October 17th
by Anne Francis