[Hello and Happy Day-After Mardi Gras and "Fat Tuesday" (I can relate), First Day of "Lint," and Positivity Wednesday all rolled into one! (Did I leave out the Ashes?) Never mind. Today I'm here to pay a little humble homage to a totally real-and-true "unsung hero" if ever there was one. It was quite recently (just this past Saturday in fact) my and many others' privilege to run/walk/shuffle-along/participate-in a by now quite famous little ultramarathon way down yonder in Mississlipperyville: the Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi 50 Trail Run. But… sadly and unfortunately… a real key player in that event happened to be absent this year. And I'm speaking of the self-described "Web Messer" of http://www.ms50.com himself, Elmer Beardshall (a.k.a. "Running Bear"). He's been there about every year that yours troubly has, and by now that's been quite a few. He's one of the best-natured race officials I have ever encountered. Extremely quick-witted and fast on his feet (in all senses of the term), Mr. Running Bear is a delight for everyone involved to be around. I'll illustrate his talents in just a minute, but here's the hard part: Elmer, ever the stoic, has apparently contracted (bad word) some kind of pretty severe illness… such that he does NOT want to talk about. So, everybody "knows" but doesn't know, of course, in order to protect his privacy. And I'm certainly NOT gonna spill the man's beans. Too many anyway, and I don't want to be stuck having to pick them all up! :-) But because of his decades of dedication, his innumerable kindnesses--some even directed towards me personally--and his rapier wit at the finish line, today I can think of no one else worthier to be TMIMITW than the Running Bear himself. So, in all seriousness (yes, Elmer, dang it; pay attention!) we ALL wish him the speediest of recoveries and the healthiest return to being "his old self" again just as SOON as humanly (ursusly?) possible.
Check out "The Bear Facts" here:
<http://www.ms50.com/2013/Rpts13/Reports13.html#Bear >
And "The Bear Facts" here:
<http://www.ms50.com/2012/Reports12/Reports12.html#Bear>
And in fact every year! Just click on each year of the race, and then on "Reports" and/or "Reports and Comments."
For 2011, I like what he writes as an intro…
"Note: persons who are easily disturbed should skip this race comment/report (?)."
… to this:
<http://www.ms50.com/2011/Reports/Reports11.html#Rich>
In 2008, there was this…
<http://www.ms50.com/2008/Reports/Reports1.html#Rich>
…following which Running Bear wrote "The Truth."
And if you click on that "Bear" icon at the bottom of the MS50 home page, you'll get an outgoing email set-up that says this:
"Bitch at the Web Messer (at your own risk)"
:-)
His influence is all over this…
<http://www.pinebeltpacers.org>
…which is the local Hattiesburg Pine Belt Pacers running club website.
a) He's listed as a "Longleaf Trace Liaison"
b) His pic is here (if you scroll down):
<http://pinebeltpacers.org/Members/LifeTime/LTMember.html>
c) And his own quotable wisdom is here:
<http://pinebeltpacers.org/Quotes/Quotes.html>
Such as on 12/13/06: "The older I get, the faster I was." --Running Bear
And here's what another is quoted as saying about him on 4/25/07:
"Running Bear promises nothing in his runs, and he always delivers." --Unknown
And by the way, fans of world class marathoning might take note of this name, Khalid Khannouchi, who is also a member of the Pine Belt Pacers!
Finally,
d) If you click on…
<http://pinebeltpacers.org/Records/PacerRecordsMay2013.pdf>
…you can check out the man's amazing age group club records, toot suite:
At age 61, 1:40:26 for the half-marathon!
At age 63, 6:02:16 for the 50K!
At age 64, 20:50 for the 5K!
And at age 67, 54:27 for the 10K!
Here's a little more of the man's (or the bear's) running resumé:
<http://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=Elmer&lname=Beardshall>
And here is the "web messer's" very own professional computer services business:
<https://home.comcast.net/~aebeardshall/>
(Note that his wife Ann is a University of Southern Mississippi Ph.D.)
Here's another good photo:
<http://www.longleaftrace.org/Events/RunfRss/2001/RnfRoses.html>
(Scroll down to bib #126)
And there's even evidence here that LtJG Beardshall once served in the United States Navy:
<http://images.military.com/MemberImageUpload/t60/d397/397196>
Wow! How 'bout all this, huh? Is this man not totally deserving of TMIMITW status for the week, and probably (at the rate I'm going) for the whole rest of the month!!?]
His gift is so rare that, when you look at the 50-mile race clock and read "96:88:72", he can convince you that you've come from a different planet.
He'll explain very logically that his world's time is based on 100-ticks-to-the-minute, hour, and day. Anything else, and you must be hallucinating.
His other gift is actually turning back the hands of time. It's been said, "He's ageless."
A more dedicated volunteer likely can't be found in his, or anyone else's, lifetime.
He has actually been spotted volunteering at two different events in completely different Zip Codes at precisely the same time.
Of course, it is HIS world we're talking about.
When he served in the Navy, the mightiest ship in the fleet was a canoe with a peashooter.
And yet, armed only with that, he single-handedly struck fear and terror all across the entire Mekong River, at its narrowest banks.
His running prowess is known far and wide throughout ALL of Jones County.
He is the coiner of the phrase, "I got a running jones."
He is THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD.
"I don't always have a defective race clock; but when I do, I prefer that you're braindead so you'll believe what I tell you. Stay spacey, my friends."
( O_O )
See (and hear) some originals:
http://dosequis.com/
Also here:
http://tinyurl.com/DosEquisAd
My mark:
XX
Rich Limacher
TheTroubadour@sbcglobal.net
("your friendly neighborly 800-year-old lute-plucking song-and-dance Mississlippery mudslider who believes anything he's told by folks older than him")
Yankee Folly of the Day:
By the way, the great Southern Gentleman's 50K time of 6:02:16--at age 63!--sure beats the snot out of this damn Yankee at the same age, for the same distance, running the same race, and in the same dang National Forest! Troubly, it's turned him into Bear scat.