Running in the rain is “relaxing”

COLD CREW: A few of the tough folks who run year round – many train for marathons and ultra marathons elsewhere by running the trails here.

BY PIETA WOOLLEY

No matter what the weather is this week, Doug Lanigan has been out running in it at least four of those days. The 63-year-old instrument mechanic usually runs the trails through Lot 450, covering dozens of kilometres a week, usually by himself.

“My big problem is my hands get cold,” he said. “But once I get going I’m fine. I remember one morning when I got up when the kids were young, it was about 5:30 am, and I opened the door. It was windy, blowy, and rainy, and I thought, ‘Nah, I’ll go back to bed.’ No, I made it out the door, and five minutes in, I was fine.”

“This is, actually, a very relaxing hobby.”

It doesn’t sound relaxing. Doug is at the senior end of a growing number of locals who run extreme distances. To stay in shape, they run year-round, including through the winter. There are about 25 of them on a list being kept by relative newbie Ean Jackson. He started Club Fat Ass with his partner Sevilla in North Vancouver before moving up to Powell River a couple of years ago and taking on the organization of the Marathon Shuffle. Some are ultramarathoners – those who run events over 42.1 kilometes, and up to hundreds.

The most famous – infamous – ultramarathon in Canada is the Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run, which stretches 48 kilometres across North Vancouver’s Baden Powell trail from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove. Ean has run it 27 times – the record holder.

The Great Walk, from Gold River to Tahsis on Vancouver Island, is a 64-kilometre ultramarathon walk which some people run. Doug has tackled it 15 times – and raised thousands of dollars for the Brain Injury Society, Canadian Cancer Society and $15,000 towards the CAT scan machine for the Powell River hospital. He doesn’t do the Marathon Shuffle, which takes place a month beforehand, because “you don’t get into 64-kilometre shape just to twist your ankle on the trail.”

In comparison, the Marathon Shuffle is a mere 29 kilometres.

There is no organized ultramarathon in qathet – yet – though of course this group is talking about it. Several years ago, there was an event that was four times around Inland Lake – 52 kilometres. But that happened just once.

One time, Doug ran 76 kilometres from Gibsons to Earl’s Cove overnight (with Debbie Dee providing car support), leaving Gibsons at 11 pm and arriving at 6:10 am at the ferry.

This kind of extreme running attracts people who can take on a challenge bigger than just running in the rain. Both Doug and Ean started running when they were pudgy. Ean describes himself as “a fat kid. I weigh less now than I did when I was 8,” he said. His mom got him going by buying him a pair of running shoes and sending him out to walk the dog each morning. Doug put on weight after he quit smoking in his mid-30s and “there’s nothing dumber-looking than a fat skinny guy.”

That was nearly 30 years ago. He ran his first marathon at age 40, and this winter, he’s training to run the Vancouver Marathon… again.

He missed his big events during COVID, because masks were required – a turn off. But now, he, and dozens of others, are on the trails this winter.

|| pieta@prliving.ca