2008 - Year 15 - Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50 Run and Freeze Your Fat Ass Swim - Results

2008 Vancouver NY Day Fat Ass 50 - 85 Starters

Yes, I guess you could say we kicked off 2008 on the right foot... or 2008 is off to a running start... or har, har har (add your own corny running-related play on words in the comments below!)

Just under 100 runners participated in the 15th running of this Vancouver tradition, and for some reason, we received an unusually large amount of media coverage this year. "What's the big deal?", I asked many of the runners as we enjoyed our little resolution run. It got me to thinking about what is normal and my circle of friends.

Take Gilles Barbeau, for example. For a warm-up, he and 9 friends ran our 50K course last week. Gilles ran a marathon yesterday and broke 5 hours today. Is Gilles normal?

Or Ellie Greenwood. Ellie finished 3rd overall, broke the woman's course record by a good bit but didn't appear to break a sweat. Then there's Gary Robbins: Partied until 3, took a spanking from Ellie, says he got lost, and still sets a new course record by opening a can of whoop-ass on the home stretch.

A lot of signups came in between Christmas and New Years, as if running a 50K was something folks do on a whim. I lost track of how many people whined about not running over the last 6 months (Craig, Sibylle...) and then waffle about whether they do 25 or 50K at Comosun and SW Marine. "Oh, Hell, we've run 25K with no training so why not double up and call it 50?" Is that normal?

Is it normal to drink 50 beers on New Years eve and hope to run 50K on New Years Day? How about with a bad Achilles tendon? Wade Repta gave it a try. He make it about 35K before deciding it would be better to save the Achilles than set a course record for drinking and running.

To my knowledge, none of the participants in this years' event tried to break the record of 5 minutes or more in the ocean after their run. Not sure why, because the water was almost tropical this year!

Benny the ultraPooch became the first dog I know of to complete the entire 50K distance. Thanks to Gottfried Grosser for being the hare and bringing Benny to the finish in well under 6 hours. For that accomplishment, Benny got steak for dinner.

The weatherman promised rain and high winds. The weatherman delivered temperatures around 6C, little or no wind and not a trace of rain. Thank you, weatherman! In the 15-year history of the event, I believe that's only the second time we’ve not been pissed on.

Mea culpa. I screwed up and left the shower key in my car. Sorry to those of you who ended up spending an hour or more jogging on the spot at the end of your 50K. Robbins, the one who waited for me the longest, also set the record for longest under the shower at around 30 minutes.

Many thanks to Danielle and Graham from Kintec for the great aid station, Pete Stace-Smith of Norco, Kintec and Baldwin Lee for the draw prizes, to the Fat Asses who picked up trash during their run and to the many people who helped measure the course and otherwise help during the year. Thank you, as well, to Tim, Craig and those of you who chipped in for the nice recognition trophy. Sibylle and I apprecite it very much.

The reporters at the start, Spanish Banks, the turnaround and the finish said their audience thought it wasn't normal to run, swim in the ocean or do anything at all active with a hangover on New Years day, for that matter. Too bad, they missed a good run!

To Caitlin from Texas, Penny who came from North Van, and all of you other first-timers, congrats, thanks for picking this run to loose your "virginity" and welcome to the fraternity of ultrarunners. Whatever distance you ran and for whatever time you spent in the ocean, congratulations on your accomplishment today. In my eyes, you are normal.

Happy, healthy 2008 and may all of your resolutions come to pass!

Ean Jackson
Host of the Vancouver New Years Day Fat Ass 50K

Here are the results I have from those of you who wrote your times down at the finsh or sent them to me in the interim. Please email me with your corrections and updates.