Payman J.

I was born and raised in Iran in a middle-class family. I have first-hand experience with revolution, war, bomb raids, food rations, and religious dictatorship. I converted to Christianity at age 21, served my two years of mandatory military service as an instructor in the Air Force, and left the country in 1999 after the student protests broke out in support of the freedom of speech. I was a UN refugee for two years in Thailand while volunteering in two NGOs, then immigrated to Canada in 2001.

I hold a B.Sc. in Applied Physics M.Sc. In Medical Physics, 1st class hon B.sc. In Geophysics, and a Ph.D. in Tectonophysics from the University of Toronto. The focus of my Ph.D. research was improving the rapid detection of earthquakes using artificial intelligence algorithms.

I started climbing from age 9 through 27, played basketball during seven years of junior and high school, trained and raced ultra-marathons from 2009 through 2018, and road cycling from 2020, which has recently transpired into mountain biking.

I have practiced meditation from 2008 to now. I advocate for human rights, social justice, climate change initiatives, and mental health. I have no religious or political affiliations and believe in inclusion and diversity, which I can’t find in religion and politics.

I have created this platform to promote net positive thinking, lifestyle, business model, and advocacy programs.

ULTRA RUNNING

I fell in love with trail running in 2008, which quickly transpired into ultra trail training and racing. I participated in my first running race in 2009, the infamous Iron Legs 50 miller. In the following years, I completed close to 20 ultra-marathon races from 52 km to 333 km in Canada and overseas.

ULTRA-CYCLING

I started road cycling in 2020 during the pandemic isolation as a coping mechanism during the isolation periods. Those isolation periods coincided with the late stages of my Ph.D. program, which was a very emotionally difficult time for me. Cycling helped me to cope with depression and stay healthy as much as I could. I now train indoors during winter and ride outdoors during the warmer seasons.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Currently, I live near the Rockies, and mountain biking is a great way to get out in the mountains and ride technical trails.