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Steve Zagakos is on a mission to spread the gospel of running and fitness to the world. A runner for the past 30 years, it soon becomes obvious that the 63-year-old Park Extension resident is in tip top shape as he effortlessly bounds along the paths and roadways on Mount Royal. Zagakos was always involved in sports activities. He was even Park-Extension’s city councillor back in the late 80s.
“I feel very well and I am very productive with my job,” says Steve, a buyer and sales representative PHOENICIA, a major food products importer and wholesaler. “Running helps me a lot. I never smoked in my life. Never touched a cigarette. I’m very careful with my diet. I eat a lot of fruit, a lot of nuts like almonds, which is necessary when you train.”
Rain or shine
Running year-around, Steve scarcely pays attention to the weather anymore. “I run either summer or winter, 20 below or 30 above, you know. The day before yesterday, temperature reached 40 degrees Celsius with the humidity, so I was stopping and drinking water which is necessary. But I feel, believe it not, like a young person. I am 63 and I am still going strong.”
While the toll that years of running often takes on the legs of devotees is by now one of the most well-known sports-related injuries seen by physiotherapy experts, surprisingly Steve says he has suffered virtually none of these side-effects. “You have to be very careful. First of all if you are overweight, you have more possibilities of injuring your knees.
Precautions necessary
“But me I think I have the right weight, and especially in this place, on Mount Royal, when I am coming downhill it’s more dangerous and you have to be careful. When you go up it’s less dangerous, but you need more effort because it’s uphill. But when you go downhill you have to be careful, you have to control your legs.
“Otherwise you will be injured. You can’t let your body go freely. You have to hold your horses. When you go very fast you may be injured and you may be out of running for two or three weeks or a month. I cannot afford that. But so far I have not had an injury. I have run a lot of marathons here in Montreal, New York and in other cities, but I have never had injuries.”
A marathon man
In all, Steve has run nearly a dozen 43-kilometre marathons. He’s also done about ten 20-kilometre marathons and several shorter ones. With all the working out, he says his heart beats at less than 60 times a minute on average. But if there is one thing he claims disappoints him it is that running on Mount Royal seems to attract few Greeks like himself.
A run from the eastern base of Mount Royal on Park Avenue up to the cross on the summit is 11.3 kilometres and takes Steve less than 60 minutes to complete. Then he doubles back to his starting point. Steve will do this as many as four times a week. “Before I used to do it starting from my house in Park Ex,” says the Champagneur Avenue resident. “I intend to start doing it again. It’s easier. Because when you start from there you warm up. I’m not a speed runner, but after I warm up it’s easier for me.”
His own program
Steve runs from 55 to 60 kilometres a week. When he was running marathons, he ran up to 100 kilometres per week. He has, however, always remained an independent runner, rather than running as part of a group. “In a group you have to follow everybody’s schedule, which is no good,” he says. “I have my own program.
“Sometimes we have been 10 or 15 runners training together and enjoy it. But if you want to do serious training, to improve your time or see how good you can be, you have to go alone. Or else you find somebody with the same speed and endurance and similar to you.” Steve acknowledges that his affinity for running has become somewhat of an addiction.
‘Positive’ addiction
“Although a positive one,” he says. “To tell you the truth, I stopped a while for five or six months and I gained 10 pounds. It’s crazy, I said to myself. What the hell is going on? Then I started again and lost 10 and another six. The lighter you are the better it is, as long as you eat the right food. Make no mistake ― you have to eat ― and I eat a lot. And I’m happy because I eat whatever I want. How many people can do that today? Nobody.”