April / May 2003

No juice in April? That’s what curious Pacers were asking!!!…. Since Joanne had a #1 priority for the month of April—that of running the Boston Marathon, the juice was postponed. She attempted to find someone else to fill in, but no one stepped up to the plate!! Is there a Pacer somewhere out there who may want to help out occasionally with the rewarding task of writing the juice? FAIR WARNING TO ALL PACERS--From this point forward, the updated juice will appear every other month rather than every month. Joanne’s boss keeps her so busy at work, that it has become difficult to keep up with the latest gossip on a monthly basis. As soon as Joanne is able to retire, you may once again get the juice on a monthly basis. That will be about 15 years from now at best!!!.……… Congratulations to all those who completed spring marathons…Ron Weber ran St. Louis in a blazing 3 hours and 40 something minutes. He must have made limited porta-potty visits this time around?!!…Kate Handley, Monica O’Hara, and Nicki Robinson ran the London Marathon and reported that the course was extremely crowded with narrow streets, and hot, as the temps reached into the 70’s, just a little hot for most marathoners! (Check out Monica and Kate’s marathon/vacation  stories on the Pacer web-site) The Boston Marathon on April 21^st was a hot one too, 71and sunny by race start. Again, many runners complained about the heat, except Joanne Kaeding and Janet Omer, who were just so relieved that the predicted cold and rain did not happen. They ran the whole race together, with the exception of 2 miles where they were separated at the mile 15 water stop. They spent way too much time trying to find each other, and playing around at water stops to make their goal time. They missed it by a mere 2 seconds!! Others Pacers running Boston were Calvin Ma, Matt Knoop, Russ Ramaswamy, Kristin Horvat, John Turchan, Pat Knabe, Pam Fritzsche, and Dave Schmidt. John unfortunately had to drop out after an injury reintroduced itself during the race, which is really the pits, as he tried so hard to get to Boston!!….. Times for the marathons as well as other distances are listed on the Pacer web-site race statistics. (Also check out Janet Omer’s Boston Marathon article on our web-site). 2003 was not only Janet’s first Boston, it was also her first race outside of Chicago. Way to go Janet and all Boston Marathon finishers!!…Mike Ward as usual ran more than one long race this spring. In fact, he doesn’t stop long enough to recover from one and he’s off doing another one.. Two of his most recent are the Running Fit Trail Marathon and the McNaughton Park 50-miler. He will be running the Ice Age 50-miler on May 10^th , along with David Farley. Good luck to all those Pacers still training and running a spring marathon; we will be anxiously awaiting your  stories and results!!….Hey, there really are other distances besides the marathon—Dean Battistella ran the Earth Day Half-Marathon in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Ginger Semple won her age division in a 5k race down south. She returned with a giant sized trophy to prove they do everything BIG down there!! Monica O’Hara continues to clean up in her age group at all the circuit races. Monica is also celebrating another (it seems she just had one!!!??) birthday on May 10 with a party at her place, and will be starting a new job soon. In her new job, she is hoping to travel less so she can enjoy fun vacations more…She definitely enjoyed her last vacation with Kate Handley.  They stayed an extra week after the London Marathon to travel a bit in Ireland. They have some great photos to share from their adventure. What a relaxing way to celebrate running 26.2 miles and for enduring four months of hard winter training!!!!  Amy and Jack Euske have returned from honeymooning in southern Mexico and Guatemala. They were married in California, and the only Pacers who were able to attend were Clarke Chenoweth and Ann Frischokorn, who live in Salt Lake City. Since Amy and Jack have been physically separated due to Amy’s ex-job, they are now busy adjusting to finally living together as a married couple….. Did you all guess what marathon John Turchan photographed? If you haven’t already done so, check out his photos on our photo site.  John just happened upon the marathon while he was vacationing. (No hints as to “where”--you have to guess by seeing the photos!!) If only he had known about the marathon, he could have run it as part of his training for Boston!!!!….Dan Stohr and Carol Tebbe took a trip to China last month. They had a wonderful time, and were lucky to escape the horrific Sars respiratory infection that has hit the Far East, especially China. Carol is leaving Chicago in about a week to go to medical school at Washington University in St. Louis. She will be moving to St. Louis, then going to California to run the San Diego Marathon the first week in June. Good luck to Carol in her move and in the marathon. We will miss her, but hopefully she will return for an occasional visit if she doesn’t get too bogged down with her studies! Jennifer Leslie took a last minute trip to England, first to attend an old college friend’s wedding, and then to visit her younger sister and family. Jennifer got to see many of her college friends who she hasn’t seen in 15 YEARS!! She has been busy painting her bedroom brown since her return. I think Jennifer is gearing up for a summer Pacer party at her place???!! …..Gene Scheckman celebrated his 75^th birthday this year with a get-together at a local restaurant. If there is anyone who is 75 and could pass for 40ish, it is Gene! Guess that’s the pay off for staying fit and active!!….Barbara Burgraff celebrated her 56^th birthday with a dinner party at a restaurant just down the street from the Imperial. The lighting was a little too bright, the food was ho-hum at best, but there was good company, a birthday cake, and lots of gifts for the birthday girl. The party was attended by Barbara’s loyal Pacer friends, as well as her brother, Jerry. One of Barb’s gifts was a large stand up Elvis which she now has standing right by her bed. For those who don’t know, Barbara has a thing for Elvis. Her favorite race is the Fleet Feet Elvis 5K in the summer because she looks forward to being kissed by all the running Elvis’s…..Barbara’s #1 advocate and care taker is Pacer, Kathy Schubert, who has been a lifesaver for Barbara, visiting her almost daily, and often taking her out and about. Kathy is not only devoted to Barbara, but also to her little dog, Joey. This cute schnauzer continues to reap in the awards at doggie contests. Her latest was a 2^nd place in the “Most Likely to be Cast in a Broadway Play Pet Talent Contest., sponsored by the Anti-Cruelty Society. She was on 3 TV stations, and rode a bike with no human support. (Kathy actually pulled the bike from 6 feet away with 2 leashes)…..Heather Ludlum has found new digs to live in…that’s right…her next Pacer breakfast will be orchestrated from a much larger kitchen. We may have to walk a bit to get there because it’s not so close to the path, but Heather says the new place will be worth the effort! Good luck with your move Heather….Pacer, Mary Elsner and her husband Ed have adopted a baby boy from Guatemala. Mary reports that their new addition is extremely healthy and happy. Congratulations to Mary and Ed, who finally got their long awaited baby!!….While Joanne was in Boston for the marathon, she met up with ex-Pacer Anneliese Dadras., who was a Pacer in 1996/97. Anneliese is now living in Boston where her husband Sam is in residency, and they had an adorable baby boy, Kiyan, about 8 months ago. Anneliese looks exactly the same, but happier and excited to be a full time mom. She says Hi to all her Pacer friends…It was old friend month for Joanne. She also received a call from ex-Pacer Bob Sievert, who lives in Georgia, and is now commuting to Tennessee every week for his job. Bob, an excellent age group runner, has been injured for several months. He reports that he is going crazy not running!! What else is new for an avid runner?! He and wife, Marietta were Pacers for many years before moving down south, where they both continue to win age group awards!!!…I believe we can take Bob Fencl off the “injury and recovering” list, as he ran the Ravenswood 5K in a time of 16:58. We will most likely see Bob at Monica’s birthday bash, as he goes anywhere where there is a good supply of eats!!!….. Rumor is that Mary and Mark Weilandt are expecting another baby??!! Joanne personally has not confirmed this wonderful news, but it came from a solid source…..Our den father, Hal Olin has some good advice that he would like to pass on to the Pacers. He was told by his doc to take two vitamin E’s instead of just one,  to help with muscle comfort and quicker recovery from workouts. He has been doing this for several months, and has given us rave reviews on his vitamin E experiment. Since Hal is another fantastic specimen for a man in his 70’s, we should probably listen to his advice and give it a try!! What is there to lose?…….Maria Rivera has left Chicago for Korea where she took a job teaching English. Maria doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet for too long, as she is always on the move!! Maria reports that her digs in Korea are better than she expected, and that her students are “adorable”!!…..

See you all on the path, and keep Joanne informed of your news…!!