Happy News Years!

So after catching up with some old friends in the city on New years eve. I took the starting line to my first ever Ultra Marathon. It was the Club Fat Ass 50km. I had my eye on this race for a few years and thought this would be a good year to give it a shot. I was not really ready to run the whole 50 km's but i thought i would see how far i could get. I have run a total of 9 marathons in my life, my first one was over 20 years ago, and all of the others have been as part of an Ironman race, so it is a bit different. (IE includes alot of walking.) And here i was lining up to run even farther, in the middle of winter no less. And for all of you out there that think i am crazy, one guy decided he wanted to run it twice for a total of 100km.

My plan was to have my Mom meet me at the half way point, and if i felt ok i would keep going. The route Started in Stanley park, basically following the seawall, but on trails up above the cliffs. It was interesting as i had never ran these trails. Once out of the park, it followed the seawall to burrard street bridge, then back down to the ocean, and followed the coast all the way to UBC. Here it followed the trails out to 41st and Camoson, where it turned around and went back the same way. The weather was wet and cold. It was about 6C and rained the entire time. On the way out everyone was trying to dodge the puddles but on the way back in it didn't really matter much. After my first 10km, i pretty much knew i was not going to make the whole 50km, so i thought 30 km would be a good run to bring in the new year. I figured i could turn around at 15km, make it back to the finish, and watch the winners come in. After a quick call to my Mom to let her know i was not going to make it to see her,(Thanks anyways Mom!) I made it all the way to Spanish Banks, and when the course took off into the trails of the endowment lands, i turned around. While on the way out there were a few people to run with, (a total of 106 started the race) but on the way back there was nobody. The rain still poured, the wind picked up at the top of the Bridge, but i was still enjoying my run. I made it back to the start just over 32km in around 3hr 40min. Not the fastest time, but it was the longest i had run outside of an ironman in 20 years, so i was happy. It really made me appreciate how good shape most of these trail runners are in.

The winner of the race was Dave Papineau. he set a new course record of around 3hr 50 mins. Dave and i lived at the old Kappa Sigma Fraternity house together back in our UBC days. I had not seen Dave for quite some time, but back when i knew him, i was the skinny fast guy and he was the big rugby player. My how times have changes. He told me how only a few years ago he got more serious about his running, and now he is winning races.

So maybe there is hope for me after all. 2010 is the year for me to get much more serious with my training. While i don't expect to win any races this year, i hope to do complete and compete in several big races. Next up... the Diez Vista 50km race on April 10th. This time i will be ready for the whole 50km.