Meet the 77-year-old Toronto man who's about to run his 400th marathon

When the Toronto Waterfront Marathon takes over downtown streets on Sunday, one runner will be marking a milestone.

Rick Rayman, 77, of Toronto, will run his 400th marathon this weekend. Rayman says he first started running marathons in 1978 when he was 32. He finished his first marathon in three hours and 55 minutes. Now, he says he's still going strong but he's not quite as fast as he once was.

"I'm really running slowly now but I'm blessed that I can still finish a marathon," Rayman said.

Alan Brookes, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon race director, says Rayman is "the only male on the planet who has run the Toronto Waterfront Marathon every single year since year one."

On Sunday, Rayman will run his 11th marathon of the year. To keep in shape, he says, he runs at least 30 minutes a day, rain or shine, snow or sleet — never missing a day even when he is sick. He's even run when he had COVID-19 and in in snowstorms, he says.

On Tuesday, he said he marked 44 years and 10 months without missing a day of running. Ten of the marathons he has run were indoor, while the rest were outdoor.

Rayman has never run the Boston Marathon even though he has qualified for it many times, but he has run the New York City Marathon twice.

His best time is two hours and 47 minutes, recorded when he says he was "really running competitively." His last marathon was in Corning, N.Y., the Wineglass Marathon, and it took him three hours and 13 minutes to reach the halfway mark. The temperature was 34 C and he came in dead last, he recalled.

"I really had a tough day," he said.

Rayman said he keeps running because it is fitness and for his ego.

"I'm in decent shape because of running," he said. "I'm blessed that I can still do it."

When people ask him how long he plans to continue competing, he says the answer is always the same: "As long as I can do it."

"Hopefully I'll know when to stop but I don't think about it," he added.

About 25,000 runners and walkers have registered to participate in the 42-kilometre marathon, a half marathon and five kilometre run. The participants come from 78 countries and the marathon route cuts through more than a dozen neighbourhoods.

"It's a big weekend with lots of energy and excitement and passion and people in tears at the finish line, tears of joy," race director Alan Brookes says.

"But it's also so much more than just a weekend. It's about being part of the community. If you are not running, you must cheer. It takes all of us to make this really happen and be such an exciting, thrilling and successful weekend."