It's the new year: Let's go jump in the lake

A plunge into slate-gray, 42-degree Lake Washington might not be everyone's way to celebrate the new year, but for hundreds of runners Thursday, it was just the thing.

"We are capitalizing on the fact that people are nuts," said Bill Roe, an originator of the 2009 5K Resolution Run and Polar Bear Dive for Club Northwest, a runners club founded in Seattle in 1972. "We were looking for ways to reinvigorate the race," Roe said. "Attendance was down to around 300, so we added a polar-bear plunge. People said we were crazy."

But that seemed to be just the right idea.

Thursday's race drew about 1,500 people, and around two-thirds of them decided to take the plunge at the beach at Magnuson Park as an optional feature in the course, Roe said.

Everyone had their reasons.

For Adrian Clark, 26, the icy blast was the perfect hangover cure. He went for it with what started to be a swan dive but turned out to be more of a cannonball entrance. "I loved it," he said, "So refreshing."

Apparently it was, given the close quarters many swimmers were keeping with flaming barbecues at Magnuson Park afterward as they clutched steaming bowls of chili and hot drinks to warm up.

"My daughter talked me into it," said Mark Steen, of Seattle, smiling at his teenager, Katelyn. "I was just annoying," she said, explaining her method, her face aglow with the cold as well as a sprinkle of glitter. Her year was off to a ripping start. "I just went for it, I'm excited to do it again," she said.

For Margaret Brannen of Seattle, 62, the race was triumph. A breast-cancer survivor, she thought nothing of a dip in Lake Washington. She had already tossed off a half-marathon and a triathlon in 2008. "It wasn't even cold," she said — but then, she just moved from Chicago.

As for Aja, a yellow Lab happily splotched with mud, there was no question she was going in. But her owners? "No way. I've been in Lake Washington in August," said Patty Sponseller, of Seattle. "And it's cold."

Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com