Lions Get Better With Age (And Deserve Headlines)

I won't divulge her age, except to say she just entered the 60 and over age group this year.  Back in the day, she wasn't one of the Lady Lions that garnered headlines, but I am making up for that with this post.  She deserves more headlines than any of the politicians we hear from every stinking single day.

Janet Norem ran with my wife and was an acquaintance of mine back in the 70-somethings. She never knew that I admired her.  She always seemed to know what she wanted.  I still haven't figured that out yet.

Needless to say, she has done wonderful things for many, many people all around the world. I have fixed a few bunions in Central Pennsylvania...

I think she spends half her time in Northern California, and therefore was available to run the USATF Marathon Championships this year.  The same race that saw Tyler McCandless place 2nd overall.

Well, Janet placed 2nd overall in her age group too!  A splendid 3:21:16 in near perfect conditions.  And to think I almost scolded her for being there and not getting an exclusive pic of Tyler!

Congrats Janet.  I'm one of your biggest fans.

Flashback from a few years ago...

 "First up, Janet Norem, who may have the Alumni (Golfer) record for miles run on the Continent of Africa.  Somehow she ended up on the Left Coast from hometown Pittsburgh when she isn't overseas, and placed third in her age division at the USA San Diego Half-Marathon. At school, we probably spoke 3 or 4 words to each other, and she never realized how much I admired her.  Still do.  Someone who has done wonderful things for this world.  A Nittany Lion ambassador of the finest order."

The "Other" Reunion Was Also A Success

The Womens teams from the 70s have been getting together for longer than our group started by Clark Haley in 2002.  They have a triennial get-together and just staged their 9th one on this past weekend in Happy Valley.  I promised no math on the blog, so I won't try to figure out when that started! I am acquainted with many of them.  Some of them have also attended our events, and all of them should know how much we would like to see them at our future events.  Remember, the golf is optional, but highly recommended!  The only requirement is mirth!

Front row L to R
Liz Berry Larsen, Janet Norem, Mary Rawe Rapp, Peggy Cleary McKay
 
Back row
Sandy Miller, Sue Hawkins DeHart, Maria Lonnett Burgess, Tina Leatherman Jones, Sandy Alexander, Penny Fales Kramer, Carolyn Ihrig, Magda Kubasiewicz, Kris Bankes Jacoby, Donna Gardner Rowland
(Missing from photo- Liz Cunningham Kisenwether) 

Meeting with Coach Gondak.

A Berkey Creamery stop.

A Final Post From Eugene!

"Once a Lion, always a Lion."

-one of the cornerstones of our Group.

Former Lion and transfer to Texas Byron Robinson punched his ticket to Rio with his second place finish in the 400M Hurdles in a blistering 48.79!

Byron Robinson and Undersecretary of Fun Billy Francis Cvecko.

And there was a Mini-Reunion in Eugene.  Attendees included Coach Gary Schwartz and his wife Myrna, Tom Rapp and his wife Mary Rawe Rapp, Patty Murnane Nosack and Janet Norem.  No word on who won the putting contest...

There Sure Has Been A Lot Of AIAW Stuff Lately! Or Two Halves Make For A Full Post

And rightly so!  Because these women are still running well today.  I try to never disclose a woman's age, but won't prevent you from doing the math required.

First up, Janet Norem, who may have the Alumni (Golfer) record for miles run on the Continent of Africa.  Somehow she ended up on the Left Coast from hometown Pittsburgh when she isn't overseas, and placed third in her age division at the USA San Diego Half-Marathon. At school, we probably spoke 3 or 4 words to each other, and she never realized how much I admired her.  Still do.  Someone who has done wonderful things for this world.  A Nittany Lion ambassador of the finest order.

Janet Norem.

Secondly, and closer to home was Doreen (Statare) McCoubrie's age-group victory at the Philadelphia Half-Marathon in an unbelievable time of 1:27 and change.  Doreen has been a big help with our Mid-Atlantic Division USATF team.

Doreen McCoubrie, left.

More Tempting Tidbits For My Wife I Won't Let Her See

With my posting of the Mt. Everest Marathon, Janet Norem sent me This from the Dark Continent.  I'm not going to show my wife it at all. And she almost never reads my blog anyway, and rolls her eyes a lot when she does.

But there also has been a big, big increase in Antarctica Marathons in the last few years.  Nearly all of them claim some sort of "First" or "Unique" status.  But I had a professor of anatomy in Podiatry School who ran in the very first one in the mid 70's.  It was a 5-Mile loop on one of only a few paved roads on the continent at the time.  Most of the "Official" ones today aren't even on the continent, they are merely within the Antarctic Circle.

My Daily Treadmill Runs Are Never Exciting

Janet Norem's morning run Photo by Andrea Ruvalcaba

My daily runs are mostly on my treadmill.  I do realize how lame that is.  I never counted treadmill miles until 1993.  Now, they make up almost all of my yearly totals.  To say that can be sometimes boring is understating it a bit.  Reruns of Big Bang Theory or another Phillies loss isn't a good way to bring excitement into your life.

The opposite on the running spectrum would be the miles Janet Norem puts in daily.  She's currently in Malawi.  So her daily run is in Africa, which is exciting enough.  But who was more surprised during her last run when she was approached by a contingent of cyclists, a lone white ex-PSU runner or the contingent of cross-continent cyclists?

Check out Janet's blog or the web site of the cross-continent cyclists for more.

Penn State Track and Field Alumni in Africa

I know of two Penn State Track Alums doing good works in Africa.  I have nothing but respect and admiration for both of them.

We all remember how gamely Munya Maraire handled a golf club for the very first time in our tournament.  He is now coordinating Track athletes in his native Zimbabwe. With great success, may I add.

Janet Norem is also on the big Continent, doing great Missionary works since 2002.  I posted her blog on the right sidebar which explains more than I can, but I recently put her to the test with a number of questions.  She has kindly responded:

 

Ok, here goes.  Since 2002 I’ve been part of a mission outreach team based first in Malawi (until 2008) and then Mozambique. The place where the team lives and works is your basic rural African village setting.  Among other things I’ve used my training in ag to try to help people eat more throughout the year and increase their incomes.  Midway into 2009 I had to return to the U.S. to help out my mom, and now I live in California and work for the team remotely.  I am able to make short trips (1-2 months) back to Mozambique; my next one is scheduled for  the last week in June.

1. What have been your most rewarding experiences?

 When we moved to Mozambique I was able to rent a place in a village, while the 2 families on our team rented houses in town and spent a year finding villages to move to and building houses there.  I spent much of that time with a mountain bike and a gps, traveling from village to village and mapping roads, trails and village locations and names (“Good morning! What is the name of this village?”).  That was a time when I often thought to myself, “I love my job!”  Beyond that it has been rewarding making friends with people in my village as well as neighboring villages.

2. What has been your most exciting experiences?

I’m not much of an adrenaline junkie, but most of my heart-pumping episodes have involved transportation, whether trying to keep my truck tracking straight over a log bridge, careening down a hill on the back of a bicycle taxi with the wind blowing alcohol fumes into my face, or nearly any trip involving a minibus.

3. The place you enjoyed the most?

One of my most miserable races and enjoyable vacations took place at the same place: Mount Mulanje in Malawi.

4. Did PSU Track/XC prepare you for any of your work?

Definitely.   Aside from learning how to handle chaos and dysfunction, I sponsored a running club in Malawi for about 3 years. 

5. Do you still run? 

Yup.  I’ve been a member of the San Luis Distance Club (San Luis Obispo, CA) for the past 20 years,   But I love running in Mozambique when I’m there: endless trails to run (and get lost) on.

6. Any thing you care to add. The canvas is blank (as is my mind!).

Everyone on our mission team runs, and this has not gone unnoticed by the locals.   Once the lady who washes my clothes was asked what the job of the white people was, and she answered quite seriously: “To run.”   

That's Janet on the bottom right at a 2008 Reunion of the Women's team.