Jasdeep Singh got into running in his early 40s, in the scenic area of Riverside, after first trying other ways of getting healthier and stronger.
Now, the Windsor, Ont., man, who’ll turn 50 this weekend, has run numerous marathons — including ones on each of the world’s seven continents.
And, according to Ice Marathon, that’s a feat not many can claim.
The event lists roughly 450 runners across the globe who’ve accomplished it.
Singh got his seventh under his belt last month in Antarctica.
“Unbelievable … just amazing,” said the retail sector worker.
“There’s no airport there. We literally landed on the ice. They actually turned the temperature down in the plane itself. We had all the coats, all the layers on because they wanted us to get used to the cold before we stepped out of the plane.”
His training for marathons starts three months ahead of time with interval training.Â
“Run, walk, run, walk so I can complete the distance, and then I slowly increase the distance,” he said.
A cold snap this past fall really helped him prepare.
“I got really lucky because Windsor got really cold just a week before I was about to fly to Antarctica. Right before I flew, I actually did a half marathon just locally … putting on multiple layers.”
When he first began to run, Singh says he couldn’t finish a five-kilometre race, but he eventually made his way up to 10 kilometres. Then, he finished his first marathon in Detroit — with races around the world piling up ever since.
“Marathons just became an excuse to take my kids, travel with my family,” he said. “My wife has been so supportive. I’ve been very lucky that she lets me do this. And then we get to travel the world.”
‘He’s made an incredible story for himself’
Essex’s David Stewart has trained Singh in Windsor on and off for the past several years after being approached by him at the gym they were at.
“He liked how I was working with other clients,” said Stewart.
Being middle-aged and having young kids at the time, Stewart says Singh was fixated on improving his quality of life.Â
“He’s tried some various strength activities, and then when he stumbled on to running, he fell in love with it,” said Stewart.
“He’s made an incredible story for himself pursuing this for so long.”
As for marathon training specifically, he says they’ve focused on improving tempo and stamina.
“A lot of people have a tendency to start off almost setting the bar too high for themselves for what they want to hit,” he said. “Start off with just being able to get it done and working on getting better at where you’re at.”
Stewart says Singh has a lot of passion for everything he’s interested in: that’s family, travel and running.Â
“[He’s] a person who kept trying a lot of different things until he found what he was passionate about,” Stewart said. “And when a person finds that passion, the hard work isn’t so hard anymore — because it’s meeting other needs in a person’s life.”
According to Singh, his inspiration for running comes from Terry Fox and a U.S. marine he met at a race in Germany who lost both of his legs in Afghanistan — and still runs in marathons.
“I just want to inspire my kids,” he said. “I want them to live healthy lifestyles. And at the same time, I want to engage my kids and in the community. We can with some of these efforts … run fundraisers.”
But Singh says that even having accomplished this feat, he has other goals ahead: Running the Boston Marathon and climbing some of the world’s biggest mountains such as Mount Everest remain on his bucket list.
