Dune Dash 4Mi Run, Aug 18, 2018, Sand Dunes Climbing Hill, Glen Eden

Race director Matthew Ross and #1 volunteer, his wife, Jennifer, welcomed runners and walkers to the 7^th annual Dune Dash, four mile run-walk, August 18, 2018, at the foot of the beautiful Sleeping Bear Climbing Hill. The race course showcases the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail located in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Starting and finishing at the base of the Dune Climb, runners follow the paved Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail past rolling dunes and beautiful forests to the turn-around point at historic Glen Haven garages, garages I almost burned down. (As a dunes driver, one summer, I slept above those garages in Glen Eden, and almost burned them down when my electric blanket caught fire).

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All proceeds from this event went to the continued construction and maintenance of Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail. Unique carved awards were presented to the overall male and female finisher, and the top three finishers in each age-group. All entrants received a souvenir tee shirt and excellent post-race snacks. Special thanks to race director Matt Ross, who directed the event even though he was recovering from a still-painful, recent serious accident. Matt would not let the injury come between him and his beloved race.

The race was sponsored by Williams Honda, Tart Trails, Meijer, The Filling Station, and Pure Water Works. KLT Radio, was represented by their colorful broadcasting trailer, a prize-filled roulette game and Krista Gothard, Jason Gothard, Shelly Grant and Jim Smith. Trevor Step, owner of RF Timing and Brian Marhofer, who lives in TC, were present with their computers to score the event. The results were ready in a timely, legible fashion and can be found at; Dune Dash 2018 Results

And the race “winner”? He did not enter the race, but Tom Van Pelt, of Northport, was the clear race “winner”. Tom brought his restored 1956 Oldsmobile, #8 Dunes mobile to display at the event. The car is an amazing duplicate of the car I drove as a Dunes Driver during my college years. Beautiful Red and white, with its’ own stuffed sleeping bear complete with cubs, the car has only 60,000 miles. Decades ago, Tom saw the car for sale and asked his dad to buy it. At the time, Tom did not know the price. He wanted the car. It was purchased from Chet Swanson Olds for an unheard of price. It’s worth a few more bucks, today. Thank you, Tom for bringing your beauty to the 2018 Dune Dash.

Jerry Peterson represented The Friends of the Sleeping Bear Trail. The group maintains the trails, clearing, mowing, repairing, and removing down trees. Jerry graduated from University of Michigan, (GO BLUE), was a Ford executive, and upon retirement from Ford, taught for 14 years at UM business school (my alumni school)!

More “winners” follow; everyone in the event was a “winner” but these “winners” excelled; Matt Tiberg, 39 from TC lost weight and runs because it feels good. Judging from the smile on his face as he crossed the finish line, I’d day Matt had a good time. Matt was joined by he wife, Heidi, who finished along with Matt. Matt is the son of Michael Tiberg, who I used to race with. Mike and I were always dead even at the start, but somewhere along the way, Michael pulled ahead and beat me. Michael has completed seven Boston Marathons. We were fortunate to meet the Johnson Family, of Muskegon, who run/walk as a family. Tammy Johnson, 43, runs to stay in shape to keep up with her son, Trenton, 8, who also plays hockey. Cindy, 58, walks the course to keep physically fit with her family. Dad, Dan, 38, is Trevor’s hockey coach.

Rhonda Workman, 63, director of the Mesick Mushroom Festival 5K, and veteran (thank you, for your service) beat me handily. Next time, I will catch you, Rhonda. Mike Herron, 68, of TC, runs to keep the weight off. Dave Jousma, 55, of Grand Rapids, lost 60#. For him, running is a healthy habit. Dave’s wife, Melisa, 53, runs “To get out of my head”. Many of us could use “getting out of our heads”. Mark Hammerberg, 60, of Beulah, runs “to maintain his weight and his sanity”. Eric Suehrstedt, age 60, from Maine, proudly wore his Beach to Beacon 10K tee shirt. He ran the race in Cape Elizabeth, ME. The race is sponsored, in part, by Joan Benoit Samuelson, the famous women’s marathon record holder.  Eric’s wife, Wendy, ran today. She met and became friends with “Joanie” through her firm’s sponsorship of the 10K. “Joanie is a wonderful person and was kind enough to send me congratulations after I ran my first marathon”. Nice friend!!! Lorelie Suehrstedt, 49, Bay Village, Ohio, (Near Cleveland) “started running when I was 42 because I hated it. I wanted to teach my children that hate can be turned into love. And when you turn hate into love, you can do anything”. Wise words to live by. Her husband, Craig, 47, says “running has turned into a family event, with fun adventures and lots of travel around the USA and even many foreign lands. We’ve been to Yellowstone and Glacier National Monument. We have met many wonderful people because of running”. Danny Zolik, 71, ran last year, but walked the course, this year with his two year old grandson, Theo. Danny says “Walking keeps me looking forward.”

The race was conducted with the help of many volunteers. Julie Alton, registered runners and passed out unique tee shirts. Allen Olander, worked with the friends of sleeping bear and helped marshal the course on his bike. He took bottles of water to several struggling participants, thereby avoiding a possible serious incident.

Matthew and Jennifer Ross hope to see you at next year’s Dune Dash. You will enjoy the beauty of the course and the unique awards. And the Ross’s welcome you to the scary Zombie Run, 5K, held October 27, at Right Brain Brewery on 16^th Street in TC. Remember to ask your doctor before starting an exercise program.

Your author, Mickey Fivenson, age 76, of Traverse City, has lost over 100 pounds and trained over 150,000 miles in 48 years of running. He has completed over 60 marathons (3:01 PR) and holds one marathon world record with his sons, Zack and Adam. Mickey is the former director of the National Cherry Festival Runs. Mickey’s doctors credit running toward surviving several strokes. He is an Advanced Scuba Diver and credits his running fitness and his scuba skills with surviving a fall through the middle of West Bay ice in over 600’ of water,,,,,, and saving his dog! He plays blues harmonica internationally and with area bands. If you’d like Mickey to cover your race, if you need tips on training, email mickey at telecomclassifiedads dot com. Today, Mickey finished second in his age group.  Yes, he was a Dunes mobile driver!!

Five of the Best Mickey Fivenson Commercials from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Mickey Fivenson was a force in Northern Michigan television advertising. In his ads, Mickey acted, fought, sung, and announced, alongside Ron Lundmark, who played a variety of characters, most notably Sven The Swedish Chef. It was Sven who coined the commercials’ catch phase, “Thank you, Mickey.”

What was unique about Mickey’s commercials was that while 98% of the viewers were not potential clients, the remaining 2% were. If you were a restaurant, bar, hotel, hospital, nursing home or school, you came to Mickey.

In the commercials, Mickey was shown popping out of food mixers, pounding nails with a cup, breaking old toasters, in his running gear or playing blues harmonica; The spots were so unique that the Television Bureau of Advertising created a training video of Mickey and his spots for national B2B advertisers.

Below are five select commercials from a recently recovered trove of Fivenson Food Equipment commercials. You’ll need to click play, wait a moment, then click play again to watch them.

1. The earliest commercial recovered. This was before the commercials featured the tag line, and before Ron appeared as The Swedish Chef.

 

2. Mickey wore his running gear for this early commercial. Still no “thank you, Mickey” or Ron. The commercial begins after a few second of blank screen, and audio quality is low.

 

3. In this Western-themed commercial, Mickey and Ron debate the merits of commercial ice makers. Ron’s cowboy character was an early experiment–the first of many–that would lead to the creation of the Swedish Chef character.

 

4. This commercial includes the first known reference of the trademark tag line “thank you, Mickey!”

 

5. Mickey always enjoyed turning the spotlight on others, and he did just that in a series of later commercials featuring customers in his show room.

Alden Run, 5K, 10K and Fun Run, 2018, Downtown Alden

Race director, Steve Kershner welcomed over 400 runners and walkers to one of the oldest runs in Northern Michigan, The Alden Run, 5K, 10K and Fun Run, 2018, with start and finish in downtown Alden. The course is on paved and dirt roads. Results can be found at this link; Alden Run Results .

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Overall awards were presented in ten year age groups for the 5K and 10K through age 70+ for both men and women. Race winners received gorgeous home-made plaques cut from a log. Proceeds from the run go toward beautification and improvement projects in the Alden community and to the Bellaire and Mancelona High School Cross Country teams. Sponsors of the race were merchants of downtown Alden who contributed unique door prizes.

My “winner”? Hands down, it was the husband-wife team of E. Wright Davis and his wife, Cindy. E. Wright, a retired attorney from Georgia and Memphis, walked the 2 mile fun run with two replaced hips caused by an auto accident. He walks most days, usually pain free. He also swims 12 laps 3-4 times each week. He is meds free! Congrats to E. Wright. Wife Cindy is no slouch. Cindy lost 85 pounds in about one year. Cindy had been diagnosed as pre-diabetic with high cholesterol and a high A1C test. Now her blood measurements are normal. She is totally free of meds. Their friend, Marcia Wiinamaki, ran the 5K. Marcia runs for the sense of accomplishment and to relieve stress. Their “leader”, I call her a leader because we ran together for about 1 mile, then she took-off and left me “sucking wind”, Mary Beth Good, 61, from Berrien Springs, runs for her sanity. Mary Beth started training with a friend for a marathon and never looked back. Now she needs to run. I will catch you next time, Mary Beth.

We have another “winner”, (of course all 400+ runners are winners), but Steph Lockman, 46 deserves special attention. Steph weighed 333 pounds before she started losing weight with yoga. Today, she weighs a svelte 175 pounds. Steph lost 158 pounds! Amazing. Because of her incredible weight loss, we are awarding her the title of “Big Loser” for the 2018 Alden Run. Steph has continued her exercise program 570+ consecutive days.  The “winners” keep coming. Theresa Hubbard 61, of Dewitt, was diagnosed with full blown diabetes and hypertension. She had an A1C of 8.2! Today, her A1C is a remarkably normal 5.5. Her goal is to get off all meds. She lost 20 pounds in the last 2 months. Rick Anderson, 71, of Rapid City, was pre-diabetic. No More! Through diet and daily exercise, Rick has brought his potential diabetes under control. Beth Dole, 50, of TC, runs to improve her lung capacity, for weight loss, and better endurance. Steve Shuster, and wife Beth, (58 and 57) moved to the Alden area from Brighten in October of 2017. They run to meet friendly people. Steve and Beth lose about 10 pounds every time they train for a ½ marathon.

Mike Wise, 65, of Parma, runs to stay in shape for backpacking trips he leads for the Sierra Club. Mike has taken hiking trips to the Grand Canyon, Utah, and California. Recently, Mike hurt his knee stepping off a stool, but is returning to good condition. His friend, Eileen Johnson, 61, of Battle Creek, runs for strength and because it makes her feel good. Her mother was a diabetic, with high blood pressure, Eileen runs to avoid both diabetes and the high blood pressure in her family. Looking at Eileen, one could say she has successfully beat questionable family genes. Maggie Wise, Mike’s daughter, is 23, also from Parma. Maggie runs because running improves mood, she feels good and for overall strength. For Bill Swift, The Alden Run is his 1078^th race. Bill’s goal is to hit number 1200, then what? He will continue running. Twenty years ago, Bill was in a “danger zone” for high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Now, his blood measurements are normal. Bill wrestled at 133 pounds in high school and ran the 440 yard “dash”. So, Bill’s exercise pedigree runs high. Bill says to new runners “Make it fun. Enjoy all runs. Don’t over-do exercise or you could suffer injury.  Support area races“. Wise words from experience. Barbara Klingenmaier, 70, from Muskegon, runs for mental health first and fitness second. Barbara has been running since 1975. “Running kept me sane while working in child welfare, supervising in child protective services the last twenty years.” Roy Winegar, 69, of Muskegon, often wears thumb braces due to arthritis. Shaking hands hurts him. He runs to avoid meds. Kent Walker, 77, of Alden and Baltimore, beat me in our age group. Kent was a high school track coach for 37 years. He trained with his cross country teams. He began to train for marathons. 30 marathons later, he can claim several nationally famous runs including the Pikes Peak Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon (I ran the Marine Corps Marathon) the JFK 50 miler, which he ran twice and he ran around Torch Lake, 42 miles in 1980. His “Run around Torch” was covered in area newspapers.

The Alden Run could not have been so nicely conducted without a great crew of volunteers and course marshals. Diane Verploegh, is in charge of all volunteers. She worked in registration and was always available to answer volunteer questions. John Wethy, has volunteered over 20 years. He owned Higgins Store, the former start site. John started the tradition of giving free ice cream to the runners. John was helping in registration. He was ably assisted by Suzanne Walker who is also a 20 year volunteer. Chris and Emma Clore, were selling Alden Run tee shirts from prior years. They were having great success. Marion Johnson and Sandy Bodenbender were in charge of the Torch Area Artisans Guild (TAAG) quilt sale. What a lovely bunch of quilts including the drawing prize quilt. But the quilt that attracted my attention was a unique multi-colored quilt handcrafted by Carolyn Nowfel called “Grandmother’s Dream”, in honor of Carolyn’s grandmother who was alive when Carolyn started the quilt. The quilt could be had for only $135, which Carolyn said “the amount hardly covers materials”. What a beautiful quilt!!

Race Director, Steve Kershner hopes to see you at next year’s Alden Run. You will love the camaraderie and the challenge. Ask your doctor for permission before starting an exercise program, and as Bill Swift says “Make it fun!”

 

Your author, Mickey Fivenson, age 76, of Traverse City, has lost over 100 pounds and trained over 150,000 miles in 48 years of running. He has completed over 60 marathons (3:01 PR) and holds one marathon world record with his sons, Zack and Adam. Mickey is the former director of the National Cherry Festival Runs. Mickey’s doctors credit running toward surviving several strokes. He is an Advanced Scuba Diver and credits his running fitness and his scuba skills with surviving a fall through the middle of West Bay ice in over 600’ of water,,,,,, and saving his dog! He plays blues harmonica internationally and with area bands. If you’d like Mickey to cover your race, if you need tips on training, email mickey at telecomclassifiedads dot com. Today, Mickey finished second in his age group.