Bicolano Penguin: FAT ASS RUN : January 5-6, 2013

In a nutshell that is the spirit of the Fat Ass Run when Joe Oakes conceived of the very first Fat Ass Run, way back in 1978 in the free spirit capital of the world - San Francisco, California. As written in the UltraRunning magazine, March 1997, p. 56.

“In the fall of 1978, Joe Oakes was on a solid streak of running, having completed four marathons in an eight week period. Joe had his sights set on a fairly new event in California, the Western States 100 miles. Only 15 people had earned a silver belt buckle at Western States and Joe wanted to join that select group. In order to qualify for Western States, Joe needed a 50 mile qualifying time. He explains: "There were no 50 mile races in the Bay area at that time of year. "There was, however, a seven-person relay race, on the Pacific Coast highway from Half-moon Bay to Santa Cruz. Race officials would not let me enter as an individual, so I sent in an entry with seven different names: Joe Oakes, Joseph Oakes, J. Oakes, etc. You get the idea." Oakes qualified for Western States, going on to earn his buckle. The seeds had been sown however, for Fat Ass races. "We decided to put on our own low-key race around the holidays after that," says Oakes. 'Things layoff around the holidays, so that's how we came up with the name. It was kind of a macho thing, all for fun." The spirit of the Fat Ass races is what really matters to Oakes. "There is so much greed and so much money in sports these days," says Oakes, adding, "there is not a nickel involved in any of these events. You just show up and run. It's very simple."

After the first few years, the Fat Ass spirit started to spread. Kent and B.J. Frier in Philadelphia, Jo Wells in Toronto, and Alan Firth in England all started Fat Ass runs of their own. Firth was the first to produce shirts with the pig logo which is now a staple in the Fat Ass Races.

pig logo

There are now Fat Ass races all over the world.

Here in the Philippines, the Fat Ass Run was started in 2010 by two ultra running friends: Atty. Jonnifer Lacanlale (http://jon-ultra.blogspot.com/) and Don Ubaldo. In a spirited drinking session, the intrepid duo thought of running in loops non-stop for 24 hours. True blue action guys that they are, they literally just did it in the 2.2-km loop of the Clark Parade Ground, Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. Since then, this has always been the venue of the Fat Ass Run in the Philippines.

With Atty. Jon Lacanlale

Now on its 4^th edition here in the Philippines, this year’s Fat Ass Run held Jan 5-6 attracted 473 registrants, broken into the following categories:

24 hours - 99

12 hours - 215

6 hours - 159

This 2013, there is no more the 36 hours category. In 2012, a fellow alumni of Ateneo de Naga, Cesar Abarientos (of older vintage) was one of only 9 runners that tackled the 36 hours category. He placed 3^rd, finishing 73 loops, amassing 161 kms. Oragon na old school.

83neans - Bob Castilla, Ernie Badong, Ed Balcueva, Ruben “Fards” Fajardo and me, were included among the 215 registrants for the 12 hours category. Our inclusion was thanks in large part to the effort of Bob and the kindness of Atty. Lacanlale.

Unfortunately, Fards got injured late December and the Bicolano Penguin was sidelined with family commitments on the January 5 weekend. Thus, it was left to the three runketeers – Bob, Ernie and Ed to carry the banner of the “Running8 M3n for Others” in this runfest of a lovefest. Fards was on hand to provide logistical and cheering support.

83neans with Michelle Estuar

The trio did pretty well. Ed reported having completed 25 loops from 6am to 6pm of January 5. Ernie said he was 1 loop short of Bob’s. The funny thing is Bob failed to recall his loops accurately as he slept for 2 hours during the 12-hour time frame as he had no sleep the night before.