The Beyond's "Honorary" Mission CommanderWelcome to the Extra-Terrestrial Enquirer, the galaxy’s one and only marathon training tabloid. Read closely as you never know when you may find your name buried between the lines. Most of our tales are fact, some fiction and we always issue a huge disclaimer due to the inevitability of human error, omissions and just pure conjecture. We encourage anyone and everyone from the Beyond to share their stories (in good taste of course as this isn't your typical rag mag) Why, you ask do we publish the Enquirer? It's a great way to get to know each other!
It is fact that we welcome several relative newcomers to this corner of the Milky Way. Brian Abbot landed in Portage after taking off from the Saginaw area. We learned he has never run the near-by Carrollton Marathon, but he has ventured to Duluth to run Grandmas. Brian is also an expert in journalism and an attempt has already been made to recruit him to use his talents in the running world. Jim Murray (we think we have the right Jim) recently relocated from Cincinnatti to Kalamazoo. He reports he has never run the Flying Pig Marathon and is considering blasting off this spring to Toledo's Glass City marathon. Please extend a warm welcome to Brian and Jim! If anyone else is new to kzoo please let us know so we can welcome you!
The Beyond is now 85 participants strong and still growing. What planets are some of our other travelers targeting? We won’t hold anyone to the below as this falls under the realm of pure speculation. Plans change, people move, get injured, find a new target, a new job, a new interest, a new life, etcetera. We did think it would be fun, however, to know who is targeting where in the galaxy.
Once again we have an entourage of Boston qualifiers headed for Beantown and Heartbreak Hill, many for the very first time: Francine Bangs, Carole Bolthouse, Mark Breuer, Brian Dobbie, Giti Henrie, Angie Jonas, Edie Lane, Michelle Neel, Joel Pennington, Bob Poznanski, Ralph Meyer, Shufflers guru Dan Sarkipato, Julie Steeby, Brenda Stoddard and Mark Sigfrids. There are several other qualifiers considering the trip, but haven’t made the commitment yet. Sherri Defouw, Larry Defouw, Susan Miller and Kathy Neal are headed for destination Big Sur. Bill Barnhard, Trish Downard, Tessa Emenheiser, Rob Lillie and Cindi MacDonald are among those considering Bayshore. Katie Nelson, Steve Rice, Peggy Zeeb, Eric Zeeb are hoping to fly with the Pigs in Cincinatti, while Ron Reid is contemplating racing with the horses at Kentucky Derby. Marathon wine distributer Peter Gower is headed back for wine country at Napa Valley, Tammy Jewell for Country Music and Gale Fischer and Chris Roach the trails of Pinckney in April. Many others are undecided, half marathon training or just out there for the pure fun and cameraderie of it all.
Absent in body, with us in spirit, we have made Bob Smola an honorary Mission Commander. Bob will be missing in action from early Beyond misadventures due to recent surgery, but in typical Smola style leaves us with a story to share. This one is oh so very far out outer space but straight from the horse’s mouth....
“OK, I'll admit, I finally over did it this time! You can chew me out later, everyone else has. At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal. I unexpectedly caused quite a stir at Bronson Hospital yesterday morning (Tuesday). Let me explain. I wanted to get in one last long "easy" run prior to surgery. Sooooo! Yes, I actually "ran" to Bronson (32.7 miles). What a great workout! The only hard part was running on an empty stomach, since I had to fast the 12 hours before the procedure. No food or drink (not even water). That was a little tough. After my "Pre-Op", IV, EKG, etc, the nurses couldn't understand why my electrolytes and magnesium levels were extremely low. Also, every 5 or 6 seconds my heart was giving out a "double beat". That's when I mentioned the run. Boy! did that get the place buzzing!! After more tests, they found that everything was caused by dehydration. Needless to say, they postponed the surgery until today. As far as the operation itself, I was told everything went very well. However, my surgeon didn't think it was very funny when I asked if I could just "run" back home. Some doctors have no sense of humor! This rehab-recovery time should be interesting. He did mention something about a "straight jacket". I think he was kidding. I know now what I did was pretty silly. Live and Learn. Call me Crazy? Call me Stubborn?? Call me Dedicated??? Just never boring!! I'll be thinking of "ALL" of you while I'm "not running". Throw in a couple extra miles for me. "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" to everyone.
Take Care
Press On...
Bob (What the "HELL" were you thinking) Smola
