I came across Igor, originally from Brazil, on one of the trail running Facebook groups. I noticed he was from Ponoka (near me) so I said hello etc. (Besides I am a noisy journalist who is always looking for a story.) He’s been in Canada since last June for a one-year work program. He ran his first 100 km race at Lost Soul in Lethbridge. As you can tell from his answers, he is very passionate about running. I liked this interview because it’s always so interesting to hear from runners from another country or culture.
Name: Igor Augusto Magalhães Scaldini
1. Why did you start running? What motivates you to keep going?
I remember my first run in 2008. I wanted sign up for the Brazilian Army but I was fat and spending to much time in front of the computer. So one friend invited me to start training for the conditioning exam and we started doing little runs of five hundred meters. These runs did so well for me that I couldn’t stop anymore. My first official run in a event was in 2011 in a 6k race so I consider myself a runner since then.
What makes me keep going is to know that all this effort will make me a better person. But it is difficult, you know? Sometimes I feel very bored and tired of running so I have to find a reason to keep doing that.
2. What is the running culture like in your country?
Brazil has a strong culture in the “traditional running” like marathons, half marathons and 10k. But trail running events are just starting over there. The people are still discovering the trail running and it is growing really fast.
3. How is running in Canada different than in Brazil?
One thing interesting about running is that a universal language wherever you go. The runners I have been meeting here always have the same doubts and troubles then my friends in Brazil.
In some point of my life I wanna run the Badwater. I have heard that it is the most challenging race on the world and it sounds great for me. But it is not easy to classify for this kind of race so I don’t know when it gonna happen.
The challenge of running is what really attracts me. Run is very raw exercise, pure endurance.. There is no shortcuts of equipments that gonna make difference for you during a ultra marathon. Does not matter how rich or pretty your are, it gonna be hard for you as it it for everyone else.
During the Lost Soul Ultra I was running lonely at night when I twisted my ankle on a bad spot. At once I got really mad and started to curse to myself, so a thought came through my mind. I thought “Wait, I am running since 9 AM, alone, in a place completely unknown for me. I am in Canada, running 100 kilometres. Why in the hell am I mad? It is just a ankle.” After that I started laughing alone. And when I realized that I was laughing alone in the middle of nowhere at the midnight. I laughed ever louder.
Two guys came before me and asked if everything was alright. I said “That’s alright, I just twisted my ankle.” I am pretty sure they didn’t understand why someone would laugh so loud after twist an ankle.
10. Do you have any advice for new runners?