John Johnson - Run to Lose Weight or Lose Weight to Run

John is from Theodore, Alabama, south of Mobile.  Any further south and you will be in Mobile Bay!  John followed the south Alabama herd to Auburn University after graduating from Theodore High School in 1981.  His Facebook page acknowledges that he “studied but couldn’t concentrate at Auburn University”.  John refers to the term “freshman 15” to describe the weight many collegian’s gain their first academic year.  John must have accidently enrolled in the agricultural studies program as he gained fifty pounds to a weight of 275 pounds.  He was deemed ready for market.  John dieted and lost forty pounds dining on the left-over prison food served in the university food service facility.

John found it more difficult to eat healthy the first summer quarter on campus.  He elected to run to supplement his diet.  He did not want to run on the track where the “real runners” were, so he elected to run inside the Auburn University Basketball coliseum.  As opposed to the campus streets, John has less risk in the day of pre-GPS watches of getting lost running in circles.  Six laps around was a mile, and he gradually increased to three miles a day without getting bored.  The three miles was a determined length based on a response from a fraternity brother to John’s inquiry about how far he ran.  The response must have made a significant impression on John as three miles has become his preferred distance for now over thirty years and counting.  John laments if the response had been five miles, “he would probably be a much better runner today!”      

John’s weight was down to 195 pound his sophomore year when he left the “lovely plains of Auburn” for the U.S. Air Force.  John was eight years short of being a lifer, only remaining in the Air Force for twelve years.  He continued in the Air Force running three four times a week to control his weight.  Now John “loses weight to run”.  John and the Air Force mutually parted career paths in 1995.  John injured his back in 1994 and was advised by the Air Force quack that examined him “to never run again”.  As an aside John’s duties resulted in travel to unusual locations.  His most memorable run was on a trail around a Norwegian Flystation (Norwegian for air base) while on temporary duty in Norway for a month.

The Air Force restored John’s ability to concentrate as he graduated from Georgia College and State University with a B.A. in Management, a second B.A. in Computer Based Information Systems, and a Master in Management Information Systems.  He must have liked Milledgeville as post-graduate John still resides there.  John pursued a career as a Systems Analyst with the Board of Regents, University System of Georgia, and now is a Senior Applications Systems Analyst at his Alma Mater.  

Despite continuous discomfort from his back-injury, John began to run again in 2004 after a nine-year hiatus and has continued running for fourteen years plus.  His first foray back into racing was the 2004 Macon Labor Day 5K, completed in 34:10.  Since that race, John has logged more than two hundred 5K and 10K races, a few half marathons, and one full marathon. John observes he “loves seeing all the people enjoying themselves and running for those age group awards and t-shirts”.  Because John has such a common name, he began to register as “Wheels Johnson”, an Air Force era nickname.  John lived in Athens in the 2012-2013 period and was active in the Athens Road Runners, Run and See Georgia Grand Prix, Black Bag Race Series, and Clover Glove Race series.   John “has met so many good friends out there” that he “could not imagine stopping now!”      

Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Look for the profile of legal wizard Erica Shepley, and Winder’s favorite Clydesdale Mark Polson.

Mary Lou Kau - Abused Passport

Mary Lou Kau was born in Minnesota but has always considered herself a Montanan.  She grew up in Bozeman, Montana where her family moved when she was six years old.  Mary Lou was brought up in a university environment as her father was a poultry researcher at Montana State University.  Mary Lou describes herself as “never an athlete” in her formative years, as in high school the only organized female athletic team was skiing.  She was not a good skier!  Mary Lou attended Montana State, earning a Bachelor’s of Science (BS) Degree in Microbiology.  The only organized female sports team at Montana State was swimming.  Again Mary Lou was not a good swimmer!

Unsure of the direction for her life to take after graduation, Mary Lou joined the Peace Corp.  She was sent to Honduras where she was stationed from 1964-1966 in a small rural town working in what the Peace Corp termed as Community Development establishing a local credit union.  Mary Lou and a co-worker lived in primitive conditions in a one room house.  The water source was a faucet outside the house, as was a latrine.  The home had one electric light bulb but frequently there was no electric power.  Cooking was done on a kerosene stove.  The water had to be filtered to drink and boiled to use in cooking.  Mary Lou describes her Peace Corp tenure as “challenging but sometimes frustrating “.   Unlike those of us who went to Vietnam in more primitive conditions, Mary Lou positively “remembers Honduras as a beautiful country with happy, friendly people”.  She finds this hard to reconcile with today’s “gang controlled Honduras with its high murder rate and citizens desperate to leave”.  Her experience pales that of present day church sponsored missions where congregation members visit Honduras for two weeks with significantly more amenities.    

Upon return to state side, Mary Lou moved to Seattle, Washington where she was employed as a social worker in child welfare services.  She met and married her husband Jim in 1969, who was a graduate student earning a PhD in Economics at the University of Washington.  Upon Jim’s graduation, they relocated to not so primitive Hawaii for two years.  While in the tropics Mary Lou earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Hawaii.  Jim accepted a position with the University of Georgia (UGA) in 1973, requiring that they move to Athens, Georgia.  Mary Lou was employed as a social worker at Saint Mary’s Hospital and later at Athens Dialysis Center.  After the birth of two sons and what Mary Lou describes as a “mid-life crisis”, she enrolled in the College of Pharmacy at UGA earning a BS degree in Pharmacy in 1991.  After a one-year stint at a local independent pharmacy, Mary Lou worked for Athens Regional Medical Pharmacy concentrating in IV and chemotherapy drugs until her retirement in 2007.     

Mary Lou began running for exercise at age 56.  Her first race was the Race/Walk for Home in Athens where she placed 598^th overall but more importantly second in her age group.  After the “motivation” of receiving an award, Mary Lou has run mostly 5K and 10K races finishing in the top three in the female age 70-74 age group.  She ran her first Peachtree Road Race in 2000 and has a goal of completing three more so she will have twenty Peachtree t-shirts for a quilt.  Her favorite race is the Frog Hop.  Mary Lou acknowledges that racing “has allowed her to meet some amazing people” and that she runs to keep fit as well as for the fun of it.  After reading this profile, the rest of us regulars will realize how amazing Mary Lou is!        

Travel is Mary Lou’s “passion”.   She and Jim have been to Europe several times, also South America, Australia, New Zealand, and forty-nine of the fifty states.  Among their more adventuresome travels are Machu Picchu, the upper Amazon, the Galapagos, China, Tibet, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Morocco, Antarctica, and arctic Svalbard.  She and Jim are planning on revisiting Antarctica in January 2017.  Mary Lou exercises at the YMCA in Athens five times a week, and enjoys trips to Houston, Texas, to visit her five-year old grandson.  

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Watch for the profile on speedy Mark Townsend, and profile of Heather Sloan.     

Jimmy Worley - Wired and Fast

Jimmy was born and raised in both Covington and Mansfield located in Newton, County, Georgia.  The oldest of two children, his mother was a nurse at Newton County Hospital for twenty years before working for an eye surgeon.  She subsequently retired to a challenging post career opportunity to raise grandchildren.  Jimmy’s father worked for AT&T for thirty years. 

Running was an early part of Jimmy’s life as his father was a jogger in the mid 1970s.  His races were not “out and back”.  He would start running and see how far he could go and where he ended up-it could be three miles or ten miles!  Jimmy’s father would run in the Peachtree City Road Race and would take Jimmy with him to some of the local races so he could particiapte in the one mile fun runs.  Otherwise Jimmy, as a youngster, considered running punishment when he was in trouble.  Jimmy advised that at Newtron County High School, where he attended, he considered himself “small and shy” and did not particiapte in sports.  However, his father made sure that Jimmy stayed in shape by completeing his chores which included cutting firewood three or four times a week every week.  Jimmy’s teenage passions were enjoying the outdoors and hunting.  He recalls receiving his first .22 caliber rifle from his father at age four.  Jimmy was always accurate, defining  gun control as hitting what you aim at!  

After graduating high school on a Saturday, Jimmy was working in the field as an electrican’s apprentice on the following Monday.  As an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (I.B.E. W) apprentice he worked on projects in the Covington area as well as Atlanta. Jimmy advanced in the IBEW organization and was an IBEW representative for five years.  In 2005, Jimmy began employment with contractor Inglett-Stubbs.  Specialty projects of the firm that Jimmy worked on include Lockheed Martin buildings, the Hewlett Packard building, America’s Mart, CDC buildings, and the Animal Health and Research facility in Athens.  Currently Jimmy is a General Foreman for Inglett-Stubbs on the new Mercedees Benz Stadium project that when completed will be the home of the Atlanta Falcons.   

Jimmy met Martha, his wife of twenty-seven years, while in high school.  They were married in 1989 and have been “blessed” with two children, Morgan (the oldest who runs with her parents), and Beau.  Beau is a special young man with special needs.  Beau does not run many races, but every once in a while he joins his parents and sister on a race course.  The family treks began when Jimmy was forty-five and started running with Morgan to “get in shape”.  The family discovered what they term the “Black Baggers” in 2015-those who run multiple races in a day for Black Bag Race Series Points.  The discovery of running led the Worleys to organize a Run for God group at the Mansfield Baptist Church where they attend.  They meet for runs and “let God lead them on his path through a Sunday School lesson guide aimed at runners.  The neatest thing about this group is how encouraging and knowledgable they are and how willing they are to share their knowledge.  The stories of each runner and the different ages, sizes, and abilities is incredible.” Jimmy quickly realized”not to judge runners before they race”.  

Jimmy consistently turns a 21 to 22 minute 5K, and has compiled over 1,000 points in the Black Bag Race Series  and 2,054 in the Run and See Georgia Race Series in 2015.  Jimmy was first in the age 45-49 age group in the Run and See Georgia Race Series, Black Bag Race Series, and Clover Glove Race Series. Martha was third in her age group while Morgan was first in her age group in all three series. 

Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile on Sue Chastain and profile of George Roberson.

Amy Hall - Protecting us All

Amy alleges that she came from a long line of “non-exercisers”.  Yet her grandparents who raised her in rural Bleckley County, Georgia maintained their one-hundred-year old farmhouse, tended a half acre garden, and a granddaughter.  Her childhood was spent exploring creeks, searching for arrowheads, and fishing.  Amy had friends, but mostly entertained herself with these daytime activities and keeping her nose in a book in the evening.  Her grandparents instilled in her the importance of obtaining an education and working hard.  She remembers her grandmother shucking corn and freezing vegetables for the winter.  Amy recalls “many times I complained about being tasked with picking peas or butterbeans while fighting off gnats and sheer boredom, and I’m ashamed of myself!”

Her grandfather could fix anything, including Amy.  After a career in civil service in the procurement division at Robins Air Force Base, he opened “Tinker Tom’s Fix It Shop”.  Amy’s grandfather greatly influenced Amy’s early years with his service to his community tempered with a sense of humor and being a strict disciplinarian.  He was a former school board chairman, deacon in their community Baptist Church, and a veteran.  Amy played tennis, basketball, and was on the yearbook staff at Bleckley County High School.  After graduation she attended Middle Georgia College, Georgia College and State University, and later Mercer University graduating with a Master’s Degree in Family Therapy.  

Amy had a variety of jobs during her high school and college years from picking peaches to typesetting to tutoring Spanish.  Although not her native language, Amy was on track to become a Spanish teacher in college until she encountered a Spanish poetry class that changed her point of view!  She occasionally gave tennis lessons, and was even a courier.  Her first professional job was as a probation officer.  She later entered law enforcement and has served the past eight years in this capacity in the Atlanta Metro area.  The first rule of law enforcement is to not divulge enough personal information that would aid former arrestees to learn too much about a law enforcement official’s person or family, hence no additional information on Amy’s present duties.  Unfortunately our society has come to this juncture to allow our law enforcement personnel to go home safely at night.

December 19, 2013 Amy decided that her life needed an overhaul.  Amy quit smoking, and decided that she was going to train for a 5k race.  She had discussed smoking cessation because of her family health history with her physician for months but used the excuse of stress to avoid implementing the decision to do so.  Amy started utilizing the “Couch to 5k” APP.  She followed the program to the letter and on May 31, 2014 ran her first 5K, coming in fourth in her age group.  Amy enjoyed the race so much that she started running 5K’s every weekend.  She met running friends in the Clover Glove Series, Black Bag Race Series, Middle Georgia Runners for Christ Series, and the Decatur Grand Slam Series.  Her favorite races are the Monastery 5K held on the grounds of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, the Run with the Dogs in Decatur, and the Zombie Run held at the Guardian Center in Perry, Georgia.  Amy was first in the age 35-39 female age group in the Clover Glover Race Series in 2015, and fourth in the same very competitive age group in the Run and See Georgia Series and the Black Bag race Series.     

If you see Amy receiving an award at a race, take the time to thank her for her service as I do with this profile.  Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Look for the profiles on Jimmy Worley and Sue Chastain. 

Marge Finnerty-Redefining the Golden Years of Running

Marge was born in rural Churchville, Iowa in 1933.  The same year that, according to Wickepedia, the Catholic Church in the community was destroyed by fire.  Life got more exciting when the family moved to nearby Ames, Iowa when Marge was in the third grade.  After graduation from Ames High School, Marge met and at age twenty-two married her late husband Bill while both were matriculating at the University of Iowa.  This union produced six children and ten grandchildren.  Not being prejudiced, three were girls and three were boys.  Marge became qualified as a medical technician at the University Hospital while Bill was obtaining degrees in Bio Chemistry and Micro Biology.  Marge worked for two years as an x-ray technician in Iowa after earning her certification.

Bill and Marge moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where Bill completed post doctorate work in Micro Biology.  Later they relocated to Athens, GA where Bill did what overeducated people in Athens do and worked for the University of Georgia.  Bill and Marge were married for forty years before his untimely demise fifteen years ago.

Marge began running forty five years ago when she accepted a challenge from one of her children to “run around the block”.  Marge never stopped from that point and is still running at age eighty-two.  She can still run an age defying 38 minute 5K and has done so this year at a race I participated in at Watkinsville, GA.  She was running 5K races with a time under thirty minutes until she hit age seventy.  She now only runs three or four races a year in the Athens area and admits she always wins because of her competitive spirit and that competition in her age group is scarce.  Marge’s favorite race is the Human Race in Athens.  She likes the races that support the Special Olympics and any that “help other people”.  Marge has participated in three triathlons, the most recent three years ago at Lake Lanier at age seventy-nine.  Her favorite runner is Athenian Wilson Page, whom we all admire for his spirit and durability.

Marge keeps her mind young by doing volunteer work and “word puzzles” like filling out race registration forms.  She has exercised at the Athens YMCA for over forty years and still does so.  Marge routinely swims three times a week.  Marge will turn eighty-three in January and has a goal next year of running more frequently but not long distances.  The motivation is partially for her health but more to “be the best she can be”.     

Marge does not have or use a computer and declined to have any photos posted.  However, if you become curious and want to know who she is, just listen for her name at the awards ceremony for her name at an Athens area race.

Bob signing out from the back of the pack.  Look for the profile on sassy Herman Sasser, and one on Amber Reeves in 2016.