Tough Girl Podcast Ingrid Walters - Competitive swimmer turned marathon runner. PB of 2hr 48 mins. Breast Cancer Survivor. Inducted into The National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame.
Ingrid has loved competitive sports since a young age. Originally swimming was her passion and she began swimming competitively at 6 years old, she swam throughout high school and attending UCLA (a division 1 school) where she swam competitively for 2 years, while studying Sociology.
After leaving college, Ingrid made the transition from swimming to running and also decided to become an actress. Played lifeguard Sheryl Whelan, on Baywatch as well as having roles on Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, Castle, and Parenthood, to name a few!
At the age of 47 after running her fastest marathon ever, 2hr 48 mins in the 2019 LA Marathon.
Ingrid was feeling the strongest and fittest she’d ever been.
However, while training for her next challenge, she started to not feel well and after seeing her doctor was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ingrid underwent a double mastectomy, and continued to run while undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy as well as radiation.
Ingrid is a member of Janes an elite women’s running group based in LA and in 2021 Ingrid was inducted into the National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame.
RUNNING CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
2014 3rd Place Masters Female Chicago Marathon 2014 2nd Place Female Overall Orange County Marathon 2016 USATF Masters Half Marathon Championship: 5th place Masters Woman Overall 2021 2nd Place 50+, 12th Overall USATF Masters XC Club Nationals Tallahassee,FL 2022 1st Place 50+, 8th Overall USATF Masters XC Championships Mission Bay, CA
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Show Notes
- Who is Ingrid
- Being based in Santa Monica, California, USA
- Racing for the past 10 years
- Starting out as a competitive swimmer
- Swimming for 2 years in College at UCLA
- Hating running when she was younger
- Transition to running at 18/19 years old
- Starting to work as a lifeguard for LA County
- Running on the beach and doing her first marathon
- Running marathons and improving her times
- Joining the Janes’ an elite running team in Santa Monica and wanting to break 3hrs in the marathon
- Always loved training and competing
- Liking to challenge herself
- Working as an actor for 26 years
- Finding her niche in life
- What was Ingrid like as a little girl
- Being taught to swim from a very young age
- Being a junior lifeguard
- Studying Sociology at College in the early 90s
- Getting into acting and booking her first commercial
- Acting in Baywatch
- Gradually falling in love with running
- Hal Higdon - Marathon training plan
- Deciding to join the Janes Elite Running Club
- Taking 5 years to run under 3hrs
- Being fully committed to her running program
- Getting a running coach and running 70 miles a week
- Breaking 3 hrs when she was 45 years old
- Starting to change her training and wanting to go faster
- Running 100mile weeks for 3 months before the LA Marathon
- Running 2.48 at the LA Marathon!!!
- Starting to not feel well and being diagnosed with Breast Cancer
- Feeling shocked
- The next steps to follow
- Being supported by the running community
- Running throughout her treatment
- Having surgery in August 2019
- Getting into cross country races in 2021
- Having a baby heart attack at a race in New Jersey
- Figuring out what happened
- Looking at running in a different way
- Reframing the situation in her mind
- Advice for new runners starting out
- The joy of making running fun!
- A magical running memory
- How to connect with Ingrid
Social Media
Instagram @ingridwalt
Janes Elite Racing - www.thejanes.net