An Ottawa tattoo artist hosted his first “Slow Sunday” run club this weekend after one video posted to social media turned into a day of connecting with others. Nico Winter admits he’s a shy person but wanted to step out of his comfort zone and make new friends. Winter posted a video on Instagram asking if anyone wanted to join him for a slow Sunday morning run, ending with poetry and a picnic, to try something new. “I’ve never been to a run club. I’ve never been to a poetry reading thing. I just thought it would be cute to do something like that,” said Winter. Winter says he’s been writing his whole life but has never had the opportunity to share his poetry in public. “I’ve always written and played music and done poetry and stuff, but I’ve never express it outwardly anywhere. Same thing with running. I’ve always kind of done it, like in secret a little bit,” said Winter. He didn’t know what to expect but the video went viral, with other people also looking to make friends outside of the screen. About 150 people attended Sunday’s event, exceeding Winter’s expectations of about 20 people. “It’s hard to chat with people, so when you put yourself in those positions, then you just get better at them, right? If you avoid them, you won’t get better at chatting,” said attendee Leo Pineda. “I hope to meet some people.” Winter worried he would need a permit from the City of Ottawa to hold his event but when his online community started growing, the Accora Centre reached out to support his initiative. “I saw a video that said he’s not getting the permits to host this event, which is when I texted him. We have space, come here,” said Aastha Lambah, a fitness instructor and personal trainer for the Accora Centre. Winter says many vendors reached out to him to collaborate, but Winter said all he wanted to do was bring people together. “I thought it was a great opportunity to meet some of my neighbours. I think nowadays, it’s getting difficult to kind of break the ice, meet new people, meet your neighbors,” said attendee Jazceal Johnstone. “Coming here and naturally trying to find people who connect with you. Have really amazing discussions.” Winter is hoping this event will continue to grow community and build real life connections outside of social media. “Just building community, especially with social media, it’s so toxic and consuming, even for myself. I got addicted to it. You start making content and then you’re like, ‘how many views and likes can I get?’ But you still feel so lonely with it,” said Winter. The free event ended with a picnic as local poets and storytellers shared their work. Winter says he was proud of everyone including himself who shared their poetry aloud for the first time. The next Slow Sunday run will take place Sept. 6 at Andrew Haydon Park.
