Ingrid Walters
Ingrid Walters running the LA marathon
Running was not Ingrid Walters’ first love. Nor was it her second, or her third. She didn’t run in earnest until she turned 41, at which point she immediately began (quite literally) making up for lost time. “I seemed to be getting faster as I was getting older,” she reflected, “so I went with it.” Aging into the Masters Division (40+ years old) typically marks a marathoner’s twilight phase; however, Walters was just getting started.
Growing up, Walters swam competitively starting at age seven, and began doing twice daily training sessions when she was thirteen. She was on the UCLA swim team for two years before burning out and leaving the sport entirely, but didn’t stray far from the water, putting her extensive swim background to good use during a ten-year stint as a Los Angeles County Ocean Lifeguard.
Ocean lifeguarding was physically demanding, and her job mandated an hour of exercise each day. Walters picked up beach running to stay in shape, and enjoyed it enough to accept a college classmate’s “dare” to run the 1993 Los Angeles Marathon, which she completed in 4:03:00. “I swore I would never do it again,” she recalled. “I didn’t understand why people did it. I was hurting. It was awful.”
She was 21 years old, and had checked the marathon box. A one-and-done, she thought.
After that first marathon, Walters effectively spent two decades away from the sport. At age 33 she ran the LA Marathon again, this time in 3:37 – almost exactly one minute per mile faster than her first attempt. Then, six years later, she pursued marathoning in earnest, running 3:17 at age 39, then 3:07 at age 40.
Despite her progress, Walters realized that her self-coaching could only get her so far, and in 2012 she joined The Janes, a competitive female-only running team in Los Angeles. Of her teammates, she remarked that “There are so many people who have so much more experience than me. There’s a plethora of advice, and you’re going to grow from it if you listen. Because they’ve been there, they’ve done it. And they’re still doing it.”
She claims to have been the slowest person on the squad, but the structured training and team atmosphere pushed her toward a progression of personal-best marathon times over the next seven years.
Walters first broke three hours at the 2014 Chicago Marathon with a 2:54:58, good for third place in the Masters Division and a spot on “The List” of American-born Black female runners who have run a sub-three-hour marathon. Walters did not discover The List until years later, when it was still in its infancy, via a Google search for “African-American three-hour marathoners.” She was still new to running, and remembered thinking at the time, “I’ve never seen anybody who looks like me that was born in America run in any race, in any marathon.” Only then did Walters realize that she was part of an elite subset of African-American female marathoners. She immediately contacted The List’s proprietor, Gary Corbitt, to have herself added.
Walters’ marathon progression culminated when she, at age 47, won the women’s Open division at the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon with a time of 2:48:03.
She knew she could race even faster, and aspired to run an Olympic Trials Qualifying time at Grandma’s Marathon in June 2019. At the time, the qualifying standard was 2:45:00, just over three minutes faster than she ran in LA.
Unfortunately, four weeks after the LA Marathon, Walters’ running – and life – was upended by a breast cancer diagnosis. She had noticed a lump prior to running LA but didn’t think much of it, and didn’t make an appointment until after the race when she noticed that the lump had grown.
Upon receiving the diagnosis, she recalled, “I actually didn’t believe it, because it didn’t make any sense to me that I could run that time and have the best training block of my running life and have cancer.”
She had a double mastectomy, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy and 25 days of radiation. After a forced post-mastectomy rest period, Walters ran up to 50 miles per week during her chemo treatments, and then up to 70 miles during radiation.
About that period of her life, she remembered, “to me, [running] was everything.”
Walters eventually got back into racing, albeit in cross-country, a discipline she swore she would never pursue. At the behest of her Janes teammates, she tried her first race and placed high in her age group. Then, in September 2022 at the USA Track & Field Masters 12 km Championships on the Jersey Shore, Walters didn’t feel quite right, and passed out after the race.
The diagnosis was a small heart attack. Despite several abnormal EKGs, everything else seems fine, so Walters now runs based on heart rate rather than pace or time. “It has really taken me a long time to get my speed back. But I have to be careful. And I have to get checkups. That’s my new normal.”
“I thought my running days were done,” she said wistfully. “But it’s coming back now.
When Walters isn’t running, she’s acting, which she has been doing professionally for over 25 years. Her first major role was in the film “Amistad,” and she has appeared in shows including “Baywatch,” “Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Shameless,” and “Parenthood,” as well as on stage at the Geffen Playhouse and in over 50 national commercials.
Though Walters is certain that she never discovered her true running potential, her health scares have provided valuable perspective. “I’m so grateful that I’m able to run. And I’m just grateful that I’m able to do speedwork. I’m very grateful for that. I don’t take it for granted anymore.”
Note about the author: Sarah Franklin is a writer, runner, and mother living outside of Boston. Her running-related musings take shape @the_runtrovert on Instagram.
