My Second Running Life

Dealing with Low Motivation

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Do you ever feel that you’ve lost your motivation to run?

It happens to all of us. Maybe you’ve recently finished a major goal race, or you’re just not sure what your goals are. You feel like you’re going through the motions.

Whatever the reason, you should know that you’re not alone in feeling low on motivation from time to time.

Getting through these inevitable low stretches can be a challenge. When this happens to me, I trust my instincts. I remind myself that running is an essential part of who I am. I know I won’t feel this way forever.

Here are a few thoughts on managing feelings of low motivation.

(1) If you need a break, take it

Could your lack of motivation be a signal that you’re physically burned out? If so, take a break from running. It doesn’t have to be a long break, or even a predetermined timeframe, unless of course you’re injured or you’ve just run a goal race of anything more than 10k. In that case, you should make sure you take your full, well-earned recovery.

Burned out? (Elbow Drive, Calgary, 2020)

If your body is telling you that you’ve overdone it, there’s no downside to taking a hiatus. Think about it as some fun time away from running. During your break, you should fill your running time with something else: ride a bike, or swim. Maybe take up the guitar. You’ll almost certainly miss running and want to get back to it before too long. And when you do, you’ll probably find you are fully motivated.

(2) Forget structured training

When we’ve finished a race buildup, especially if we nailed our goal time, the last thing we want to contemplate is backing away from that structured environment. After all, we lived in a world of tightly managed, regimented training for months. But give it a try. Your low motivation could be as simple as being emotionally spent from too much structure… too much focus. It’s almost as if you’re trapped.

If you think this might be the issue, run to perceived effort for a while, not a target pace. Give yourself permission to back away from weekly mileage totals and hard workouts, which you should be doing anyway if you’re recovering from a goal race. I’d recommend forgetting about structured training for at least that long. The hardest part might be getting over the feeling that you’ll lose fitness. In the long run, you’ll be better off if you come back emotionally charged for the next build-up.

(3) Try a new running challenge

One of the tricks that has worked for me when I feel unmotivated is to commit myself to a different running challenge than I might normally pursue.

For me, the local Strides Run Streak is an ideal way to end the running year. I like it because in addition to the totally achievable (one mile per day) running goal, I incorporate a photographic element into my daily runs. I’m giving myself goals that have nothing to do with pace or distance. To me, it’s like a series of small tests that I know I can pass, even if the running is easy and most (but not all) of the pictures aren’t keepers.

Find your own challenge: maybe you could sign up for a winter cross-country race series like the one the Calgary Roadrunners put on every year. Do an urban orienteering event. Or try a month of weekly parkruns. My advice is to look for something that isn’t high stakes.

(4) Remind yourself why you run

The final thought I will leave you with if you’re feeling unmotivated is that we sometimes get too caught up in the process of training and racing. I call it the “what” of running. Sure, there’s nothing to match the feeling of achieving a goal. By doing so, we get instant validation and tangible evidence of our progress as amateur athletes.

I think the problem comes when we set up an endless cycle of goal setting, which can get in the way of the pure joy that comes from just running.

Missing the “why”? (Sedona Rainbow, 2021)

My advice is to remember the “why” for our running. I suggest you do a bit of reflection on this question. Write down three things that you get from running, things that have nothing to do with goals or target races.

Before you know it, you’ll be back with a renewed commitment to the sport we love.

Stroke Symptoms, Part 2 – BE FAST

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I recently wrote a piece about the common symptoms of stroke, and how public awareness campaigns, as effective as they are, can leave a gap in the number of strokes they help to detect.

I’ve been doing more reading on this subject, and turning up some interesting results.

For years, the mnemonic F-A-S-T has been used to trigger us to recognize when someone may be having a stroke. Using this word, we should check the Face (is it drooping?), Arms (can you raise both?), and Speech (is it slurred?). “T” is for Time, as in don’t waste any before getting help.

Sounds good. But is it?

I mentioned in my previous piece that there’s more to the story. Why? Because F-A-S-T refers to ischemic strokes that occur in the carotid arteries. (There are two types of stroke: ischemic strokes, which occur when blood clots block flow in the arteries; and hemorrhagic strokes, which are associated with a rupture in a blood vessel.)

As a reminder, the carotids are the large arteries at the front of the neck. They account for about 80 percent of the total blood flow to the brain. In neurological terms, the carotids are the workhorses. And these are the arteries that, if they get blocked or damaged, can result in the symptoms noted above.

The balance of the blood flow to the brain is delivered in the vertebral/basilar artery system at the back of the neck. These arteries are smaller and they deliver blood to different parts of the brain. Not surprisingly, blockages in this network of arteries produce different symptoms. When vertebral blood flow is restricted, problems with balance and coordination of the eyes and the limbs can occur.

It has been recognized that a modified mnemonic would help detect strokes that occur in the vertebral arteries. BE FAST is already being recommended by some healthcare agencies as a more comprehensive trigger. Here, “B” is for Balance, and “E” is for Eyes (or ears). That makes sense to me, especially as I was having precisely those symptoms for weeks before I acted on it.

A study done by the University of Kentucky Stroke Center suggested that 14 percent of stroke patients were not identified using FAST. When BE FAST was applied, the proportion of identified strokes that were missed dropped to 4 percent.

In other words, more strokes could be caught if a wider screen were in use. Coincidentally, but maybe not, the number of strokes missed by FAST more or less matches the proportion of blood flow to the brain that originates in the smaller, but still important, vertebral arteries.

Another article I read recently on CNN Health addressed the different presentation of strokes between men and women. Interestingly, women may experience other stroke symptoms, beyond the parameters of even the broader, BE FAST, mnemonic.

Research summarized in the CNN article has shown that women may present with atypical stroke symptoms or symptoms that are more subtle and vague. In some cases, symptoms such as severe headache, generalized weakness, generalized fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pains, nausea and vomiting, brain fog, and even hiccups, may occur instead of or in addition to the symptoms noted above.

As to the reason why men and women experience stroke differently, scientists have come up with different theories. First, it’s about hormones. Age is another factor. There are other possible explanations too. I recommend reading the article to get the whole story.

It goes without saying that any symptoms that suggest a neurological problem should be acted upon immediately. No one ever needs to apologize for flagging a problem that may turn out to be nothing. It really is a case of being better safe than sorry.

As a final point, I’ve been spreading the word about stroke symptom cues when I speak to my running friends. There’s something appropriate about advising runners to BE FAST. After all, this should be an easy phrase for them to remember… it’s what they’re trying to do already!

Luck… and Good Light

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Photography can be a curious hobby.

Sometimes pictures are everywhere. Other times you feel that you have lost the plot. Try as you might, it seems there are no worthwhile subjects at all.

The last few weeks have been tough for a variety of reasons. Time hasn’t been on my side, due to work and volunteer commitments. Cameras have been sitting idle. And it doesn’t help that my motivation has been running low. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing. With the shorter days, finding an interesting scene… just finding any light at all… is difficult.

But here’s the good news. Whatever light we have at this time of year is often stunning. Any decent sunrise or sunset can be an easy capture because you don’t have to be up at an ungodly hour to shoot it. We are blessed in Calgary to have plenty of picturesque shots, thanks to our frequent Chinook arches.

As if to remind me to snap out of my little funk, I’ve had several fortunate scenes appear before my eyes in the last week.

One day, the light in the house was suddenly and strangely pink in the late afternoon. I looked outside, and the sky was glowing a magnificent rosy shade. I almost tripped down the stairs to grab my Ricoh GR III. Quick, get out there! Shoot something!

Admittedly, the firefighter across the street at the No. 5 Fire Station was slightly surprised to be the subject of my random shot, especially as he was walking to the rubbish bin. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t looking at him but at the amazing pink clouds above his head. A firestorm above the firehall. Easy!

No. 5 Fire Station, Fiery Sunset (November 2023)

Then, a few days later, as I picked up some things at the downtown Staples, I was drawn to a scene I’d passed many times. The setting sun was dipping below a Chinook arch and casting a golden glow over the skyscrapers. More awesome light. Again, shoot something. Anything!

Looking east along the CP rail line, the tracks make natural leading lines. My challenge in the past has been in finding something to lead to… something other than a moving train, that is.

Then I spotted my subject. A guy on a cool fixed-gear bike with bright green wheels was heading north on 11th Street. Standing in the middle of the street, I felt a bit exposed. I fumbled for my iPhone 14. C’mon man… hurry! I snapped my picture at the last split second, just as he entered my scene. Then I hustled out of the reach of the oncoming cars.

Later, when I sat down with my pictures, I was more than happy with the results. With what had been snap-and-dash shots, I managed to get a couple of keepers.

Green Wheels, Golden Hour (November 2023)

Luck and good light.

Just goes to show that you have to always be ready. And never give up.

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What Makes a Good Photograph?

Most of us carry a camera around every day and make liberal use of it. There are surely more photos being generated now than at any time in history.

It’s obvious that the vast majority of these photos are meant for instant consumption. They aren’t expected to be great, and 99.99% of them aren’t.

Anyone who has a sincere interest in producing photographs that stand out from the crowd faces a real challenge.

So what makes a good photograph?

Maybe we can try to check a few boxes. Is the picture well composed; is it sharply focused; is it properly exposed? In other words, we might be tempted to conclude that technical quality is essential for a good photograph.

But these metrics don’t tell the whole story. On one extreme, Ansel Adams is known for technically perfect photographs. But, for every technical purist, there is a photographer who is more intuitive. Think of Robert Capa’s iconic photos from the Normandy beaches on D-Day. They aren’t perfect, but no one could deny they are iconic photographs.

If a photograph has emotional impact, then we will likely be willing to overlook any technical flaws.

One of my favourite bloggers, the late Tim Vanderweert, wrote a number of pieces on aesthetics. I went back and read some of the excellent pieces on his Leicaphilia website. Tim had the breadth of understanding of philosophical concepts that let him dig into the works of Leibniz, Hume and Kant, in order to try to explain the foundations of what we perceive as beauty.

The essence of Tim’s observations, which I’ve significantly simplified for my purpose, is that aesthetic judgements are neither objective nor subjective. (Only Tim could make the connection between the classical philosophers and our modern perceptions of art in general, and photography in particular. I’m glad he did.)

Even if they don’t resolve the question, these concepts help explain why one person’s sense of what makes a good picture is different from others.

I’ve learned a few things when it comes to photography. First, I have to trust my instincts. I look around constantly. I try to be ready in case a scene develops in front of me. And most importantly, if a scene attracts my attention, I reach for a camera. This hastily taken photograph in Calgary’s Masters Gallery is an example. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do more than guess at my settings. The result is far from perfect technically, but I think it works.

Second, I’ve learned to make my best effort to get the technical bits right, then do a careful job of editing until I like what I see. Maybe it’s colour, form, a humorous scene on the street, an interesting cloud formation, or something else. Maybe I shot the picture on film or on my phone. Maybe I have to crop the original to highlight what I saw. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it was that made me take the picture, select it from among all the others, and then labour over it in Lightroom is probably worth seeing to a conclusion.

Third, I’m getting used to not seeing much of a reaction from Instagram, probably because most users on that platform (for reasons unknown) are more interested in pictures of my lunch. And that’s okay too. It’s just that I don’t usually see any merit in taking pictures of my food when there’s so much more out there.

Subway escalator, San Francisco (Olympus OM-2, 2019)

I guess I didn’t answer the question. But at least it’s fun to keep exploring.

Downtown Wildlife “Photo Run”

A reminder that Stroke of Luck is now available. Click here for details.

I often feel that I’m rewarded with photo opportunities as long as I have a camera close to hand. Last week I made a rare trip into downtown. It was a day after the first blast of winter in Alberta. The snow was still falling.

I’d walked by the Harley Hotchkiss Plaza next to the courthouse many times, and I’ve always admired the Joe Fafard sculpture (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do). It is a special installation… large, dynamic and colourful.

Fafard (1942-2019) is known for his large sculptures, which often feature animals and play with perspective. Many of his works are humorous and they always show his keen wit.

Fafard produced the eight horses that comprise this work from powder-coated 5/8” steel plate in 2010. There is a duplicate of the piece installed in le parc Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde in Quebec City. Apparently, Fafard used laser-cut steel pieces salvaged from his other works to create the horses. Up close or at a distance, they are fantastic.

I’ve taken pictures of Fafard’s sculpture a few times, but each time I found the size and breadth of the piece (not to mention an often busy background) made it hard to photograph. On this day, though, the snowy scene was a perfect monochromatic backdrop. I stopped for a few shots with my Ricoh GR III.

When I edited my photo, I made use of the latest masking features in Lightroom. Adobe says these are based on AI. Whatever they did, they made the process quite intuitive. It saved me a lot of time in this case, because I visualized the photo with the intricate figures separated from the background. To make the horses stand out even more, I reduced the saturation in the background.

Here is the result. I hope you like it. (Yes, it is a slight cheat, but I figure that since the horses are running, I can officially call this session a “photo run”.)

*Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do* by Joe Fafard (2010)

A little further north on 4th Street, I stopped again. This time, it was to admire the massive mural of a peregrine falcon on the south side of the building at 441 5th Avenue SW. The piece is by Jerry Rugg, who is known in the world of muralism as birdO. Rugg is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. His beautiful mural was done for the Beltline Urban Mural Project (BUMP) in 2021.

birdO works on canvas, in digital print, and installation, but he may be best known for his large-scale mural work on walls and buildings around the world. This is a great example. I love this piece, and I especially like the way it brightened up an otherwise cold, grey day.

As in the previous photo, I toned down the saturation in the background, which was admittedly already desaturated. This let the brilliant colours in birdO’s mural shine.

Peregrine Falcon, BUMP mural by birdO (2021)

Speaking of Joe Fafard, I can’t resist including a closing word about him. There are several impressive Fafard pieces around Calgary. My favourite is Van Gogh Observes, a monumental piece which can be found outside Masters Gallery on 4th Street SW in Mission. According to the gallery’s description, it is one of Fafard’s largest pieces.

This shot is from my archives. I was lucky to capture Van Gogh, apparently engaged in conversation with a passing couple in 2020.

*Van Gogh Observes* by Joe Fafard (2018)

Stroke of Luck – Now Available!

I’m pleased to announce that my memoir, Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics, was recently published. The book is available now on Amazon (in either print or e-book format) or through independent bookstores. For those in Calgary, you can reach out to me directly for a copy. You’ll find details about the book on the dedicated page on this site. Click here.

Writing and publishing the book has been a personal journey of discovery. I hope you will enjoy reading about my lifelong connection with distance running, and the process of recovering from a number of strokes in 2017.

To my readers, and to those of you following me on the blog or on Instagram, I appreciate your interest and support. I look forward to sharing more stories and photographs with you.

Steve

Stroke of Luck: My Life in Amateur Athletics – order your copy today!

What a Difference a Week Makes

As anyone who has lived here can tell you, Calgary doesn’t do fall very well. Sure, it can be nice one day, but we know not to be fooled. It’s only a matter of time before the weather turns into a demon.

This past week was a good case in point.

The First Responders races are hosted by Multisports Canada, in support of all first responders – police, fire, EMS and military. Races are held across Western Canada. This year, the Calgary race was held on October 22, on beautiful St. Patrick’s Island.

It was a cool day… a perfect day for racing. A good turnout for the 5k, 10k and half marathon races provided lots of opportunities for runners and spectators. Deb and I were there to cheer on some young athletes from our club. We were also fortunate to have Dan in town for the weekend. He was with members of his Cold Lake squadron, to compete in the 10k.

Overcast skies and the scenic backdrop of the island also promised some great photo opportunities. I got myself ready in a few strategic locations, with my Leica M10 and the excellent Voigtlander 75mm Heliar f1.8 lens in hand.

Competitors in the Half Marathon make their way across the George C. King Bridge

The racers didn’t disappoint. There was plenty of excitement and some terrific performances. You can find the results for all the races here. The ageless Maria Zambrano, who has been a fixture in the Calgary race scene for decades, won the 10k outright, in a sparkling time of 36:09. She isn’t getting older, she is getting faster. Amazing!

Maria Zambrano heads for home in the 10k

Providing more evidence that age is really just a number, Andrew Brown took home top honours in the half marathon, running 1:26:35. By the way, Andrew is in the 50-59 age group.

I was wearing two hats (well maybe three, given the temperature.) As an assistant coach, I was rooting for two young runners in our Adrenaline Rush club, Alison and Owen MacPherson. Both raced their plans to perfection, chalking up negative splits and looking far too comfortable at the finish. Dad Gord was there to cheer them on!

The MacPherson family celebrates two fine performances in the 5k

Now, what about the demon, you ask?

Our time ran out on Monday, with the arrival of a cold front. It was the first blast of winter. By the time it was done, 15cm of snow had fallen on Calgary, and our pleasant fall was a distant memory. We are still digging out! And running on treadmills for the most part.

Proving the resilience of the Calgary running community, a small army of volunteers picked up their shovels and headed for the track at the Glenmore Athletic Park.

As Deb and I worked to clear a couple of lanes on the back straight, I did some math to take my mind off my aching back. It took us an hour of hard work to clear about 200m of one lane. Did you know that one lane on a standard track is 4 feet (1.2m) wide? That means each of us did about 250 square metres of shovelling.

I also had time to figure out that the total surface area of a 400m track is about 4,300 square metres. So, between Deb and I, we managed to clear about 12 percent of the total surface area of the track. Thank goodness we had a lot of help.

No wonder I’m sore today.

Deb, Reinier Paauwe and Jeremy Deere work on the first corner

It all goes to show that Calgarians are adaptable, resilient and community-minded. We runners in the southwest will have a few lanes to train in, at least until the next snowfall.

Stay warm!

Hometown Photo Runs (+1)

An impromptu trip to my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario came together quickly last weekend. A visit with my mother was long overdue. While in the city, I took the opportunity to explore some of my old favourite running routes in the east end. There are some good ones.

My first outing was to Gage Park, a 75-acre urban oasis a few kilometres east of downtown. The city purchased the land for the park from Robert Russell Gage in 1917. The landscape architects Howard and Lorrie Grubb designed the park from 1919 to 1927. It features a picturesque 2-kilometre paved pathway loop, a historic greenhouse, gardens, fountains and many monumental trees.

I had racked up countless laps of the park as a novice runner. That was nearly fifty years ago. A couple of easy laps transported me right back to those days. There was something reassuring about seeing all the landmarks just as I remembered them. Where did all the years go?

I made sure to check on my three favourite trees, a grouping of massive plane trees along the northern edge of the park. They were just as impressive as ever. Plane trees are large, deciduous trees that are native to North America, eastern Europe, and Asia. They are characterized by scaling bark, which I think looks fantastic in a black and white photograph. See if you agree.

I swung by the fountain which sits in the centre of the park. Surprisingly, it was operating. I can’t say I’ve seen that very often. A young couple was using the fountain as a backdrop for their wedding pictures. They didn’t seem to mind a sweaty runner stopping to snap a few pictures of his own.

The next morning, I made my way to the Rosedale neighbourhood. As with Gage Park, I have many happy memories of running through and around the King’s Forest Golf Club as a high school cross-country runner. It was our training headquarters, and we knew every inch of the trails. Redhill Creek meanders through the golf course, and it made for a pleasant photo stop.

On my way home, I made sure to run along Kimberly Drive, as I knew the foliage on the Niagara Escarpment (aka “the Mountain” to those of us from Hamilton) would be in peak fall colours. I wasn’t disappointed.

A bonus (non-running) photo from my time in Hamilton presented itself as I made my way to the GO Transit station for my trip back to Pearson airport. As a lifelong fan of my hometown team, the Tiger-Cats, I couldn’t help but stop and admire this mural of the great Angelo Mosca. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987. Mosca’s hard-hitting style of play suited Hamilton. He died in 2021.

Local legend, Angelo Mosca #68 (1937-2021)

Very Thankful Indeed!

Thanksgiving weekend was a satisfying one for your blog host. We Canadians roast our turkeys on the second weekend of October, rather than waiting another six weeks like our friends to the south.

The first order of business was another parkrun. We had a special visitor from Cold Lake for the weekend who was up for the challenge. Dan was seeking more mountain adventures, and yes, the promise of a turkey dinner. There was no better way to start the holiday weekend.

Conditions were ideal. Dan took off right from the gun, while Deb and I settled into a more pedestrian pace. Unlike our foggy Nose Hill parkrun (#285) of two weeks earlier… our first… this Saturday morning brought fine fall weather.

Clear skies meant we could see every detail of the challenging circuit. It includes mixed hard asphalt, gravel and a short section of single track. The Nose Hill course consists of two laps of about 2k each, with an out and back section making up the 5k distance. It’s a good test.

We enjoyed a brief peek of the mountains at the far end of the course. (The dusting of snow there was a prelude to our next adventure.)

When we arrived at the finish line, Dan was already cooling down, having put in a hard tempo pace to reach his goal of a sub-20-minute 5k. We were content with a finishing time that was close to (okay, a bit slower than) our previous result. We headed home, all satisfied with our performances.

The energy level is always higher around the house when Dan is there, and this weekend was no different. So, we were not surprised when he explained that his plans for Sunday included a hike in Canmore.

I reminded myself that we would soon be lamenting the return of cold, dark and short days. I asked him to count me in. Who needs sleep anyway?

He had selected Ha Ling Peak, a moderately challenging 8k round tripper with 700m of elevation gain. I had always wanted to try this one, especially since the trail modifications that were done in 2019.

We made an early start, figuring that many enthusiasts would already be on the trail, all keen to burn some calories before a big dinner. In fact, it wasn’t that busy. We encountered more hikers making their way down from sunrise treks to the summit. It would have been a good one, based on the beautiful pink sky we enjoyed on our drive to the mountains.

Our ascent was quick. We stopped only briefly at the two intermediate viewpoints. Then we marvelled at the engineering behind the wooden staircases built into the steep upper sections of the trail. Dan was nimble on the last scrabbly (and unmaintained) section before the summit, and as always, considerate enough to wait for me every so often.

I wondered how I’d do near the top, given that Ha Ling is known to be a bit of a challenge for those prone to vertigo. I have to count myself in that category, after my vertebral strokes.

I focused on the ground in front of me, only looking up when I stopped to catch my breath. Fortunately, I had no issues at all with my balance on the day.

Views of the town opened up below us near the top. It was spectacular; a very rich reward for the 90 minutes of effort needed to get us there.

Dan proposed that we make the side trip to Miners Peak, maximizing our reward even more. I was slightly intimidated by the prospect, until he pointed out that I was looking at the wrong peak. We checked out the cairn at the col, before making quick work of the small peak… more of a mound… directly in front of us.

Dan scouts Miners Peak, with Ha Ling behind

Having skipped down the mountain in no time, after meeting many groups of hikers on their way up, we made the obligatory stop at The Bicycle Cafe in town for an excellent latte. Delicious!

All in all, it was a fine and memorable weekend. It was made even better by the impressive results achieved by my Adrenaline Rush teammates (and many other Calgary runners) in top-flight marathons in Chicago, Victoria and St. George. More on that in a future piece.

I feel very thankful indeed!