World Run Report

"Vancouver saw a truly unique & world class ultrarunner show up for a slide show & a little running this week.

Jesper Olsen, the Dane who (last October) became the first (& so far, only) person to ever run around the world, payed us a visit & presented his amazing tale at the Centennial Theater on Friday night. To say it was amazing & inspirational is an understatement.

Our club sort of adopted him as he ran through Vancouver last year on the cross Canada/US leg of his world run. At that time, it was a simple pot-luck with about 20 people. If you want to read more about him, here's his website. http://www.worldrun.org/index.shtml

Since he was here for a few days, our local Club Fat Ass put on an event that would allow Jesper to see our city & meet a few runners in our ultra community. The idea was to run 50 km...since that was Jesper's average daily run for almost 2 years. Club FA also included a 10km & 25km event so that those that were not yet ready for a pavement pounding ultra could still get a chance to run & hang with Jesper.

It was cooler than expected (by Vancouver standards) at 46 degrees, but it wasn't raining so we were pretty pleased with that. After the group photo in front of the theater (the site of Friday's presentation), about 20 people headed down the road & towards Lions Gate Bridge. The course included some scenic (but flat) trails through North Vancouver, & Stanley Park (relatively flat by Vancouver standards, but apparently not so flat by Danish standards), as well as some gorgeous oceanfront pathways (the seawall), bridges, & even a little bit of beach running (ugh!).

By the time we got over Lions Gate Bridge & through the park, several people had turned around (10km & 25km) & we discovered that there were just 5 of us doing the full 50km. It was a great opportunity to talk with Jesper about his trip, his return home, his life outside of running, etc...I think we asked him a bazzillion questions. Jesper was extremely accomodating & answered everything with enthusiasm & great detail. He was very humble about his achievement, & had some very honest answers about why he had done it & what he had gained from it...as well as his troubles & concerns.
It was either the inspiration or the distraction of great conversation, but Tim, Jesper, & I overshot the turnaround point by about 500 meters...still, our watches showed 1:55:30. I was shocked at the pace. Tim & Jesper seemed to be less shocked (Tim is training for Boston, & Jesper...well, you know). I ran a 45km race last week, so I wasn't sure if I'd feel decent for this one, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity & I was glad to feel in good shape.
Anyway, we turned around at Locarno Beach & retraced our route. As we ran back along the Seawall, we caught up to Karl & Ludo. They had turned around at the appropriate spot & assumed we were ahead (somehow evading them through the bathroom hallways at the sailing club). We told them that, in fact we'd been ahead but distracted.

The group of us stuck together through Stanley Park & back over Lions Gate. Karl & I hung back from the other three (it's a shared sidewalk with cyclists & every marathon clinic on the coast!) & they pulled ahead about 50 meters by the bottom.

For some reason, they took a right turn at the end of the bridge....Karl & I kept straight. Both Ludo & Jesper are unfamiliar with the area, but Karl & I assumed that Tim was still with them & showing them a more scenic way back to the theater (the beauty of Fat A$$ events, is that you can "customize" the course to a certain degree).

Karl & I got back to the finish in 4:01:02...not a negative split, but pretty good considering the last 3km was a steady climb.

What surprised us was that Tim was already at the finish. Not so much that he was ahead of us, as the fact that he was alone. Where was Jesper & Ludo!? Just as we were deciding to send out a search car, we could see their distinctive colored jackets in the distance (one red, one yellow)...They made it back...what happened? Tim had gotten slightly ahead of them on the bridge, & decided to fire his turbo...you know..to see how his Boston legs were holding up (apparently "quite fine, thank you very much"). Ludo & Jesper assumed he had zigged when he had zagged. Luckily, Jesper was pretty used to getting lost during his World Run & figured it out all too easily.

It was a great run with some great folks. If Jesper comes to your city to do his presentation, I would highly encourage you to go see him. He was very entertaining, & his anecdotes & statistics will make your jaw drop (like an active heart rate that went from 130 at the beginning of his world run, down to 65!!!!!! within 4 months). Impressive...& a really nice guy to boot.