George Roberson - The "Most Interesting" Man in Statham

George was born in 1948 in Columbus, Ohio, the oldest of eight children (five brothers and three sisters), where his parents were both Ohio State University students.  George’s father was a career US Marine, having served in World War II, and was attending college on the GI Bill.  George’s military brat youth included residing in Oceanside, California (near Camp Pendelton), Lansing, Michigan, and Washington, DC.  Young George was usually among the youngest and shortest boys in his school classes. He always felt pressure to prove himself.  Even though he was not very good, in his opinion, he loved playing basketball and running.  A childhood hero was Ethiopian runner Abebe Bakella, a 1960 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist barefoot runner. 

George by his own admission “messed up” and had to attend summer school his senior year in High School to graduate.  He was lectured by an Army Seargent Major who drilled in him that “you will succeed” and assisted in obtaining admission at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, GA.  George did in fact succeed academically obtaining University of Georgia degrees in Physical Education,  as well as a B.A. degree and Specialist Degree in School Adminsitration.     

George spent forty two years as a Georgia school educator, including the last thirty-seven as a middle school assistant principal in Gwinnet County.  George describes his career as sucessfully mentoring “kids who acted like he did fifty years ago”.  George was effective because he could empathize with troubled students and relate from personal experience.  Running after school hours allowed George to “wind down” after stressful situations.  Other calming experiences were personally meeting Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan, as well as Duncan Renaldo.  The latter played the Cisco Kid on early television and in youthful George’s eyes ranked with the two presidents in celebrity status.  Evidently the respective Vice Presidents and sidekick Pancho were unavialable. 

George and his wife Sandi have been married twenty-eight years and have produced four children and to date four grandchildren.  Sandi was a payroll Superviser for Gwinett County Schools, and George met her initially because he enjoyed getting paid.  They retired and relocated to quiet Statham to avoid the northern suburban Atlanta area traffic.  As active members of the Bethlehem First United Methodist Church, Goerge organized and has served as race director for the Wiseman 5K.  The year end holiday season race has become a staple of the running community for five years and counting.  Point sluts will recognize George who provides the pre race instructions and gives the start command.  

George describes his running career which began in the 1980s as “average at best”, which is an understatement for a runner who has completed forty plus marathons  and over thirty triathlons in fifty states plus numerous Run and See Georgia , Black Bag, and Clover Glove races.  The lead photos are  from past Atlanta Marathons.  His favorite races are the Alcatraz to San Francisco Triathlon and the Liberty Isle, New York Statue of Liberty to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia Triathlon.  Carol and Tim are working to develop races to top this!  Two years ago, a knee injury incured while playing basketball coupled with a diagnosed enlarged heart condition has relegated George to competing with Bob Slowpants.  George has always enjoyed the “challenge of running every weekend and the encouragement of other runners as well as the wounderful people that I get to interact with on race days”.   

Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile on Geri Barrios and profile on George Morse.

Sue Chastain - Our Lady of the Bandana

Sue Chastain was born in 1950 in, as she describes, “tiny town” Danielsville, the zip code is a decimel, between Athens and Commerce, Georgia.  Sue graduated from Madison High School where she particiapted in girls basketball.  This was the only sport available to females and they had to play a half court game.  Years later Georgia High School coaches came to the stunning realization that females could indeed run the full length of a basketball court and live to tell about it!  After graduation Sue attended Middle Georgia College where she “learned a great deal about life but not much academically”.  Sue returned to her roots in Danielsville and attended the University of Georgia but did not “finish”.  Sue eventually relocated to the metropolis of Winterville where she resided for twenty-six years before returning again to Danielsville.  She began work as a substitute mail carrier in 2001 and was able to get a full time route in 2011.  

Sue has always been athletic and was active in slow pitch softball for twenty-five years, playing on several teams in the Athens area.  Her interest in running began in the early 1990s when she particiapted with friends in the Athens Run for Home.  After several races she learned that she had earned POINTS!  She had heard of the Run and See Georgia Grand Prix series but thought that that was only for elite runners.  Her equilibrium was stunned when she observed in the Georgia Runner Magazine (yes there was in the early years of our republic a paper version) at a 5k race in Sandy Creek Park that she not only had points but was leading the 45-49 female age group.  With this motivation Sue went out of her comfort zone in 2000 and drove her then “rickety old car” to a race in the Atlanta area.  She recalls how shocked Will Chamberlin was to see her coming to the finish line at a distant race.     

Delivering the mail put a temporary fourteen year gap in Sue’s running career as she had Saturday mail delivery responsibilities.  Sue’s Postal Service responsibilites since 2015 are part time allowing her to resume competative running with the ever present bandanna, completing eighty-nine races.  Her most memorable races are Tybee Island Half Marathon in 2000, and “Brasstown Bald ranks high (pun intended)”.  Her most grueling race was the Mountain Ranger eighteen mile run in Dahlonega.  Sue rates Hogpen Hill as the “the toughest” race.  Sue enjoys trail races and any race on the UGA campus.  Sue was a close second in the competative 60-64 age group in Run and See GeorgiaGrand Prix and first in the Black Bag Race Series in 2015.  When Sue slows down, her hobbies include reading, and collecting”old stuff” (not senior runners but pre-1900 bottles). 

Sue advises that It has been a great experience meeting and getting to know the family of runners who are new to her since she started to run again in 2015.  She acknowledges, “What a thrill it was so see so many familiar faces from fifteen years ago”.   Sue has developed two abnormal curvatrues of the spine (kyphoscolois) that causes he to tilt forward and to the side.  So if you don’t know who she is , just look “for the slow-moving woman with not too pretty posture wearing the bandanna trudging to the finish line”!  Sue considers races in terms of what she can contribute to  to charities, exercsie and “feel-good highs”.

Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile on George Robertson and on senior runner extraordinary Geri Barrios.

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. 

Bill Costantino - Hoofing the Peachtree

Senior runner Bill Costantino was born in 1943 in the Catskill mountain area of upstate New York.  Bill’s parents, in 1949, self-deported to one of Georgia’s gnat centers, Albany.  After spending his childhood years in Albany, Bill’s parents relocated again and he graduated from Jordan High in Columbus, GA.  Bill played football and nearly soured on running after a bad day at practice (the coach’s opinion), while doing goal to goal wind sprints named “suicides” .

Bill’s introduction to the Army was at Fort Gordon near Augusta, where he acquired the art of “running in formation” while a drill sergeant reminded him that “you had a good home but you left, your right, sound off …” in cadence.  This led to Bill’s growing attachment to long distance running.  He graduated from running in combat boots into the 1960s trendy high top Converse athletic shoes.     

Bill settled in Atlanta in 1964 as he described to “attend the Atlanta School of Art and Party”.  After outfitting in Bass weejuns from newly erected Lennox Square, Bill hit the Atlanta dating scene comprised of hundreds of young ladies who left small Georgia towns to attend an Atlanta business college to learn typing and partying.  Fine dining consisted of eating at the Varsity or a Zesto’s Drive In in your car.  His lifestyle changed when he married his wife of forty-eight years, Kay, in 1968 and embarked on a thirty-nine-year career in decorative Formica and hardwood lumber.

In 1980 a friend convinced Bill to enter and train for the Peachtree Road Race.  Residing just beyond the east gate to Stone Mountain Park offered a five mile loop run around the mountain.  This led to participation in area 10Ks such as Heart Trek, Charles Harris, Tar Baby in Eatonton, and the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston.  Eventually Bill entered half marathons in Atlanta and Savannah.  His PR for a half was 1:42 in Savannah.  Bill remembers that there were no walkers in that era and if you ran a nine-minute mile the finish line was down and the awards ceremony was over when you finished.

Bill and Kay moved to Grayson, GA in 1995, and he begin a love affair with Tribble Mill Park runs and for a while served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Gwinnett Road Runners.  Bill retired in 2003 and he and Kay moved to a golf community in the Braselton area.  Bill discovered Classic Race Services and Will Chamberlin as a source of area 5K races and he has continued to be a fixture at northeast Atlanta area races to date.  His home runs are now at Little Mulberry Park in the Hamilton Mill area.  Among his favorite races are the Naples, Florida and Athens Chick-Fil-A Half Marathons.  Bill and Kay have two sons and three grandchildren, none of whom ever plan to run!  

His most favorite race is the Peachtree.  Bill has been a staunch Peachtree Road Race supporter having run the race for thirty-five consecutive years and been a crew chief for twenty-five years.  Bill has watched the number of participants climb from 15,000 to 60,000 over the years.  Bill served the Atlanta Track Club notice that 2015 was his last year as a crew chief, but he still intends to participate as a runner and volunteer.  Unlike fellow crew chief Bob Slowpants, Bill grew tired of 0430 hr. 4^th of July arrivals at the start to complete his crew chief duties then run finishing with the last few waves of the race.         

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Look for the profile of Decatur runner Amy Hall, and profile of Jimmy Worley.er two daughter accompanied her tyop races He