Month: February 2024

Elbow River Photo Walk

Ever had a day when you lacked the drive for running? When a little voice was telling you you’d be better off just doing a walk?

Today was one of those days for me.

It was a week I’d been dreading. I’ve been stressing for weeks about a problem tooth… a molar that had become something of a mystery. I’d been bounced back and forth between two specialists, but eventually, it became clear that the end was looming for tooth number 3-6.

I went through the week with a feeling of dread. But now it’s over and the tooth is gone. We can turn our attention to the next stage of the process, inserting an implant and crown. While I wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to that part, I am curious about how it all works and how the tooth will look in the end. Maybe I’m naive.

So, this morning, even though I was feeling much better, I decided that the tooth episode was a convenient excuse to pass on our usual Sunday long run. It was a pleasant morning, a little cool and breezy, but better than the weather being forecast for the week ahead. The prospect of some good shots along the Elbow River was enough motivation for me to grab the Leica M10 and head out for a photo run… sorry, walk.

I walked along the bluff in Ramsay. The views of downtown are spectacular from Scotsman’s Hill. The light looked promising when I left the house… cloudy but clearing. By the time I got going, the sun had just about burned off the cloud cover. Maybe I was too late. Regardless, it was a brilliant morning and I was feeling fine.

I made my way down towards Fort Calgary, knowing that the old train bridge in Inglewood is often worth a look. This morning, a train was conveniently passing through, heading east, just as I arrived. I snapped a few pictures, drawn by the curving line of identical cars in the sunlight.

Later, in Lightroom Classic, I tried one of the many presets that come with the software. Usually, I avoid these, preferring instead to make all my own editing decisions. But why not try something new? Given the oranges and browns in the scene, an “Autumn” preset seemed appropriate. What do you think?

Inglewood Rail Bridge, Lightroom preset TM07 (February 25, 2024)

I wandered on through Stampede Park. The new BMO Centre has been under construction for a couple of years. The building is an amazing piece of architecture… especially the graceful curved lines on the eastern facade. I’ve gone by there many times, but it’s not been an easy building to photograph, what with all the construction equipment in front.

Today, I saw a nice scene as I walked along the pathway by the Saddledome. Later, in Lightroom, I stuck close to the subject matter and tried an “Architectural” preset. I have to say, I liked the result.

Stampede Events Centre, Lightroom present UA10 (February 25, 2024)

I continued along the river pathway, past the unimaginatively-named Stampede Ground Bridge at the south end of Stampede Park. It’s an attractive bridge, and I’ve shot it many times. While I was tempted to linger there this morning, the sky wasn’t doing me any favours. I moved on.

I finished my walk by climbing the stairs back up to Salisbury Avenue. As I approached the car, I realized that much of my walk had been solitary. I’d hardly seen anyone on the path. At the top of the stairs, I was rewarded with one “street shot”… a lady out on her bottle-picking rounds. Let’s say she was a little suspicious of me. But never mind, it was a nice finish for my outing. For this shot, it had to be a “Portrait” preset.

Scotsman’s Hill, Lightroom preset “Gritty Portrait” (February 25, 2024)

Overall, it was a productive morning. I didn’t miss running, not even a little. But I’ll be back at it next Sunday, I promise!

Leap To It!

There are less than two weeks left in February, and time is running out for my online sale. Get your copy of Stroke of Luck (print or e-book) on Amazon for a tidy 24% discount.

Of course, there is one extra day to place your order, with this being a leap year.* Extra day or not, leap to it and save!

* Did You Know?

The tradition of inserting an extra day into February every four years is how the calendar is aligned to the rotational frequency of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

But wait… one orbit takes 365.24219 days. That means if a whole day is added every four years, for an average of 365.25 days, the calendar would be lengthened a bit too much.

As a result, the schedule of leap years is adjusted slightly to reduce this mismatch. If the year is divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400, the leap year is skipped. The year 2000 was a leap year, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. The next time a leap year will be skipped is the year 2100. This gives an average calendar year of 365.2425 days, almost exactly matching the orbital frequency.

Quite a Week!

Owl’s Nest Book Launch – Calgary

On Wednesday, February 7 we held a book launch event at our favourite local indie book store, Owl’s Nest Books. Sarah Pratt, the Events Director at the store (and an avid ultramarathoner) was our marvelous host for the evening.

We were thrilled to welcome a standing-room crowd of friends, neighbours, teammates and work colleagues. I was honoured that my neurologist (Dr. Demchuk) and my long-time teammate at Adrenaline Rush Athletics (Dr. Stephen Wood)… both heroes of my stroke story… joined us for the evening.

I did a short reading from Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics. During the lively Q&A portion of the program, I shared my main messages:

  • the importance of an active lifestyle
  • knowing ALL the signs of stroke
  • raising awareness (and funds) for the world-class stroke care provided by the doctors, nurses and staff in the Foothills Stroke Unit
Owl’s Nest book launch (February 7, 2024)

Sincere thanks to Sarah at Owl’s Nest Books and Jeremy Deere from Strides Running Store, for your support of the reading and running communities in Calgary.

It was a special evening!

First Half Marathon – Vancouver

We didn’t get much time to recover, as we headed off to Vancouver on Friday for a weekend visit with Matthew. The headline purpose of the trip was to participate in the annual First Half Marathon, put on by RunVan and sponsored by BlueShore Financial.

As usual, the race was outstanding. It sold out immediately, as it does every year. This is definitely one of the premier races in Canada; well-organized and perfectly executed. It doesn’t hurt that the scenery is second to none. The highlight is the lap of the Stanley Park seawall.

I wrote about my history with the race in a previous post. This year, our race was challenging. The weather did not cooperate, although the steady rain was little more than an inconvenience. Deb and I were both hobbled by nagging injuries, which affected our preparation. While it is often true that one can run through these things on race day, neither of us was so lucky this time.

The second half of the race was a slog. The good news is that we got through it. The finish line on Drake St. in Yaletown is always a welcome sight. And who cares if we were a few minutes slower than last year?

It was all smiles at kilometre 6 (February 11, 2024) – Photo by Matt Kelly

…and a bit of street photography

I always look forward to walking the streets of Vancouver, armed with my discrete camera, the Ricoh GR III. It is the perfect camera for street photography.

Here are a few samples of the photos from the weekend.

Ready to ride
Suki’s
Too busy to ride

Photo Run – Big Game Edition

Our long runs along the Bow River often take us past the Centre Street Bridge. It’s an imposing and historic structure, and in good morning light photo ops are plentiful. As we ran under the bridge last Sunday, I made a note to take a closer look at the lions that guard the four corners of the upper deck.

Fortunately, we ended up back at the bridge towards the end of our run. I welcomed an excuse to stop at that point. Deb was keen to do another kilometre. “Good for you”, I told her, “but I’ll be here checking out the big cats.”

The morning light was strong and contrasty. From the pedestrian ramp, I got a couple of nice shots of the southwest lion. The statue looked great (regal, actually) with a monochrome edit in Lightroom.

Centre Street Bridge, Southwest corner (January 28, 2024)

I decided I would return in a couple of days for a photo run and a closer tour of the lions. In the meantime, I did some research into the history of the statues.

The original lions were commissioned in 1916, along with the bridge. They were modelled after bronze lions that guard Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square in London. The Calgary copies were cast in concrete by one James Thomson, a city employee. They each weigh 12,600 kilograms.

By the 1990s, the statues were in a state of significant deterioration, due to decades of Calgary weather cycles and vibration from bridge traffic. In 2000, city council directed the repair and conservation of the southwest lion. It also directed that the same lion be used as a template for the construction of four new statues. The restored lion now sits on display at Calgary’s municipal government building. The original northeast cat was repaired and conserved. It was relocated to its current location in Rotary Park in 2018.

With that background, here’s more on my photo run.

I went late in the afternoon, hoping for an interesting chinook sunset. We’ve had a lot of those lately. Would I get lucky? Yes and no.

I started my run in Rotary Park, so I could see the repaired northeast lion up close. It’s the only statue to have been returned to the bridge, and it commands a perfect spot at the south end of the park, overlooking downtown.

I navigated the ice and mud around the statue. I snapped a few shots, but none of the compositions I tried were very satisfying. I might have had better results with a wider focal length lens instead of the 28mm Ricoh GR III. No problem… this was supposed to be a run, so I moved on.

I jogged along the crest of the bluff for a few minutes and enjoyed the vista, then headed down towards the bridge. When I looked back up the hill, the lion was bathed in the low, setting sun. I knew I had only a few minutes before the light changed, so I scrambled back up the muddy pathway to a spot just below the lion. I snapped one shot. The light was amazing, and I think the result was good. It was by far my best shot of the day.

Rotary Park lion, enjoying the chinook sunset (January 30, 2024)

I continued down to the bridge and did a short loop around Chinatown. I was rewarded with a few worthy shots before I made my way back up the bridge on the west side. It had been a while since I ran up this hill… yes, it’s still tough!

Prosperity Bar (January 30, 2024)

As for any more shots of the lions on the bridge, the fading light was quite flat and uninteresting by that time. There was a bit of chinook magic going on though… so I worked with what I had!

Centre Street Bridge, looking northwest (January 30, 2024)

There was also the challenge of getting a good perspective on the statues and the other details on the bridge (like the medallions that recognize the distinct influences in Calgary’s past… see the example below) while being confined to the sidewalks that pass underneath the statues. I suppose a drone would have been a nice accessory for this shoot, but that’s not my thing.

Here’s one of the small details on the bridge: medallions on the side of the “kiosks” that serve as the base for the Centre Street Bridge lions.

There are roses for England, shamrocks for Ireland, thistles for Scotland, and maple leaves for Canada. And bison heads to represent the west.

In the end, I managed to get a few shots of the “big game”. But maybe the best result was the realization that I left many good ones on the bridge for another day.

Earl Grey GC Member Profile

In this, Heart Health Month, it was a great pleasure to sit down with Christa Abbott, Director of Marketing & Communications for Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary. (I’m quite sure it used to be called Heart and Stroke Month, so I should be okay borrowing the older designation!)

I’ve been a member of Earl Grey for many years, although admittedly golf has taken second place behind running for most of that time.

Christa and I talked about my stroke journey… the medical one, not the golf one… about the role that running played in getting me through that ordeal, and about the process of writing my book, Stroke of Luck.

I was really pleased with the piece that Christa wrote, and in particular how she incorporated one of my main messages… the importance of knowing ALL the symptoms of stroke… into the graphic for her article. Here it is:

Splash screen from Earl Grey Member Profile (Christa Abbott, 2024)

You can find the post on the club’s Instagram page here.

Christa neatly highlighted the phrase “BE FAST” as a reminder of the full range of stroke symptoms. You can read my post on this potentially life-saving topic here. I’ve included the information below, for quick reference.

And the picture of me that Christa used?

It was taken at about the 8k mark in the Calgary 10k race, in May 2017. I’ll be the first to admit it isn’t the best picture that’s ever been taken of me during a race. That said, when I do show this picture, I point out that I had just suffered a vertebral artery stroke a few minutes before it was taken!

For me, this is a stark reminder that strokes can affect any of us, at any time.

You can read the full story in Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics, available online at Amazon, or at independent bookstores, like our great local store, Owl’s Nest Books.

Thanks to all my friends at Earl Grey, and everyone else who has supported me in this initiative. Oh, that reminds me, there is one thing I plan to do in this next phase of my life (My Second Running Life)… suck a little less at golf!

Happy Heart Health (and Stroke) Month to all,

Steve