{"id":1171,"date":"2012-07-12T12:05:18","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T16:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2012-07-12T12:05:44","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T16:05:44","slug":"adventurous-alumni-in-brief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2012\/07\/12\/adventurous-alumni-in-brief\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventurous Alumni in Brief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Challenged by Amish Runners<\/a><\/h3>\n
\"R.

R. Todd Weaver \u201987 and Jim Smucker<\/p><\/div>\n

Jim Smucker<\/strong>, PhD (in management), who was scholar-in-residence in EMU\u2019s business & economics program this spring, and R. Todd Weaver \u201987<\/strong>, a dentist in Souderton, Pa., were featured in a long, contemplative feature in Runner\u2019s World magazine (published 02\/27\/2012) about discovering superlative runners among the Amish.<\/p>\n

The main author, Runner\u2019s World regular Bart Yasso, wrote:<\/p>\n

Last October I ran with Smucker, some of his Mennonite friends, and about 20 Amish. The Mennonites wore running shorts and running pants, and synthetic tops. The Amish men wore black pants held up with suspenders and long-sleeve, button-down shirts. Most were clean-shaven (Amish don\u2019t grow beards until they marry…). The one woman in the group wore a long dress and a head scarf. I should note that they all wore running shoes. I should also note that we were running by the light of the moon.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yasso wrote that Weaver started running with a few friends under a full moon in the fall of 2007. Smucker, whose immediate roots are Amish, joined the runs in 2008 and began inviting some Amish to run with the group in 2009, frequenting roads without electrical lines (the better to enjoy the full moon). Those Amish who accepted Smucker\u2019s invitation turned out to be \u201cwondrous\u201d runners, said Yasso.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mennonites were good runners, but the Amish \u2014 with their even harder lives, and even stricter rules \u2014 were clearly a cut above,\u201d wrote Yasso. \u201c\u2026Man, I wondered, with a little more training, just how good could these guys be?\u201d<\/p>\n

Smucker is CEO of the Bird-in-Hand Corporation and former board chair of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce. In the fall of 2012, he will be teaching organizational behavior in EMU\u2019s master in nursing leadership program.<\/p>\n

He is the motivating force behind the annual Bird-in-Hand Half-Marathon in September. This half-marathon has attracted as many as 1,000 runners.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmucker the Mennonite believes that physical fitness and goals are good for everyone,\u201d wrote Yasso, in collaboration with another writer, Steve Friedman.<\/p>\n

Yasso and Friedman observed that both Mennonites and Amish \u201chold fast to the principles of their forebears \u2014 hard work, humility, modesty, community togetherness verging on clannishness, self-reliance, and a skeptical view of modernity.\u201d But there are significant differences too, they added: \u201cTo make a crude and overly simplistic analogy, Old Order Amish are like Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Mennonites are a more acculturated, reformed branch.\u201d \u2014BPL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

These Alums Aren\u2019t Wimps<\/h3>\n
\"Tough

Front, from left, Lowell Brown, Landon Miller, Doug Friesen, Andy Dula, Sheldon Wenger, Steve Denlinger, Ryan Sauder. Back, Zach King, Ryan Hess, Bruce Balestier, David Sowers, Lynn Longenecker, Sheldon Esch<\/p><\/div>\n

A \u201cTough Mudder\u201c endurance competition in Pocono Manor, Pa., in April saw a team largely composed of EMU-linked persons complete the event in three and a half hours. The individuals were: business executive Andrew \u201cAndy\u201d Dula \u201991<\/strong>, chair of EMU\u2019s board of trustees; fundraiser Lowell Brown (married to Lisa White \u201999<\/strong>); workforce developer Sheldon Esch \u2019 97<\/strong>; psychologist Doug Friesen \u201991<\/strong>; supervisor Zack King (married to Laura Hess \u201900<\/strong>); business manager Ryan Linder-Hess \u201998<\/strong>; educator Lynn Longenecker \u201994<\/strong>; family counselor Landon Miller \u201997<\/strong>; and college administrator Ryan Sauder (married to M. Janelle Thomas \u201995<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\u201cTough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie,\u201d declares the Tough Mudder website. Each team is required to <\/a>navigate 13 miles of obstacles, including mud, fire, swimming through ice-water and jolts of electricity (10,000 volts). <\/a><\/p>\n

The EMU-linked team trained for 10 weeks under the guidance of Angela Morris Myers \u201900<\/strong>, a personal trainer and group fitness instructor based at Empower Training Systems in Lancaster, Pa. Dula said the group entered Tough Mudder as motivation to get into better shape and to enjoy the camaraderie of the training and competition. \u2014BPL<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adventurous Retirement<\/h3>\n

Cal and Rachel Litwiller<\/strong>, who met and married at EMU as members of the class of \u201969<\/strong>, traveled coast-to-coast, with Cal on a bicycle and Rachel in a support SUV during 2011. Dividing their trip into two segments, they covered 3,650 miles from Cape Flattery, Washington, to Cape Henlopen, Delaware, with Cal averaging 60 miles per day on his semi-recumbent three-wheel bicycle.<\/p>\n

Cal is a retired high school science teacher and Rachel is a retired interior decorator.\u00a0They are active members of the Mt. Pleasant Evening Rotary Club.<\/p>\n

They have also sojourned for extended periods in southern Africa and Central America since their retirement. \u2014BPL<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Challenged by Amish Runners Jim Smucker, PhD (in management), who was scholar-in-residence in EMU\u2019s business & economics program this spring, and R. Todd Weaver \u201987, a dentist in Souderton, Pa., were featured in a long, contemplative feature in Runner\u2019s World magazine (published 02\/27\/2012) about discovering superlative runners among the Amish. The main author, Runner\u2019s World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":1172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","issues-summer-2012"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1176,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}