65
ji ewish long distance runners
n o longer can be regarded as
"oxymorons." But the day when a
few dozen Jewish runners from met-
ropolitan Detroit compete in the his-
toric Boston Marathon apparently
has passed.
In the late '70s there were per-
haps 30-35 area Jewish runners who
would go to Boston to run in the
most famous of all marathons, says
Allan Gefond, who was one of them.
The 50-year-old Farmington
Hills resident still is a dedicated
runner, but he has no plans to run
on Monday at Boston because he's
looking for other running challenges.
Ron Michaelson, though, says
he'd love to go again, but injury will
keep him home.
Jay Robinson, however, expects
to be there as he has been several
times before. But, he says, he may
be the only area Jewish runner
who'll make the trip this year.
It's not that there aren't plenty
of Jewish runners, around Detroit,
it's just that they've gotten into run-
ning other events or haven't wanted
to put in the time necessary to be a
serious marathoner, Gelfond says.
Fifteen years ago there might
not have been any question about
area Jews running in Boston — be-
cause they simply weren't into run-
ning. Thus the term "oxymoron," de-
fined as "a figure of speech in which
words of opposite meaning or
suggestion are used together." Gel-
fond says he heard a speaker refer to
Jewish distance runners as being
"oxymoron," a contradiction or an
incongruity "like Lebanese peace."
Gelfond laughs at the char-
acterization because he figures it
wasn't really far off base.
"When the Jewish Center was at
Curtis and Meyers in Detroit there
were a few people who were
oddballs," he says. "They ran around
the perimeter of the gym. Running
just wasn't the 'in' thing ... The big
runner in those days was a guy who
did three miles."
But, he adds, when the center
was built at Maple and Drake roads
in West Bloomfield running was
starting to catch on all Over the
country — and in the Jewish com-
munity, as well.
"More and more started doing
serious running outside," Gelfond
says, "five, ten miles. Even
marathons. A crew got together
every Sunday morning to run at the
Center."
A camaraderie developed. The
running wasn't for competition, but
rather for health and sociability. But
the better runners found themselves
training hard and recording times
good enough to qualify for the Bos-
ton race. So they went — some for
the competion and others, perhaps,
just to say they ran Boston.
Now, though, "more and more
people are running smaller runs,"
Gelfond says. "I don't know if it
(marathoning) is a fad. It takes a
certain personality to put in that
time. It takes another kind to do it
year after year after year. It's still
an important part of my life."
Running still is part of Michael-
son's life, too, but stress fractures
this year have prompted him to
forget the Boston Marathon.
"I just said I've got to get smart
in my old age and back off. It's hard
because I've been getting the itch,"
says the 43-year-old endodontist
from Farmington Hills."This is the
for their dogs. But they're not run-
ning marathons like they used to, I
think, because the verdict is still out
on the long-term benefits or .
detriments to it all.
"I do it because it makes me feel
good. I've been running for about 15
years. I was a non-athlete all my life
— overweight and • uncoordinated.
Running became part of my way of
life. It taught me to have faith in
humanity. For the first 35 years of
my life I didn't think I'd do anything
athletically."
Gelfond says he has run four .
Boston Marathons, his best time
being three hours and seven seconds
to cover the 26-mile, 385-yard
course.
"I've run marathons and they
just don't interest me that much
anymore," he says. "If I run a
marathon I want to run it to break
my best time."
Instead, he's been trying a
variety of other challenges: 50- and
100-mile runs, 100-kilometer (62
mile) runs, and even a ten-man team
24-hour running event. He also has
tried the grueling run up Pike's
Peak in Colorado, as has Michael-
son. Gelfond's next goal, he says, is a
72-mile race at Lake Tahoe in
Nevada.
It's a wonder he runs at all,
especially after his first Boston
Marathon, which he refers to as "a
terrible'experience."
Gelfond ran in the West Bloom-
field Marathon, his first, and got so
excited about it he decided to go to
Boston six weeks later. "Then, at 20
miles, I collapsed," he says. "I had a
temperature of 106. I wasn't smart
enough to know that I wasn't taking
enough fluids. They carried me to
the hospital and iced me. I couldn't
first year since 1977 that I'm not go-
ing. I think pretty much I'm the last
of the lunatics. I think most of the
other guys have settled down. Of all
the Jewish runners I'm the only one
who was going every year. There
were a lot of guys in the late '70s
who went, a group of us."
Michaelson says he started run-
ning because he was overweight. His
friend Robinson says the same thing.
"I was fat, 40 and smoking three
packs a day," says Robinson, 43, "I
was playing racquetball and was a
skier. I ran around the track a little
here (at the Jewish Community Cen-
ter). I'd ride an exercise bike. I
started jogging and pretty soon I
didn't care if I had partners to play
racquetball."
Robinson, who is 5 feet 9, says
he went down from 190 to 155. That
was ten years ago. He's been run-
ning ever since.
"I run 50-60 miles a week," he
says. "I run six days, usually."
"I'm exceptionally well trained
— and a stubborn bastard."
Michaelson says he "used to be
real heavy" until he started running
at the Center. "I still run every day.
I get up at 4:30 (a.m.). The Center
no longer is the main starting point
for the daily runner. In its infancy
in the mid-'70s, guys would go there
to start running. Seasoned runners
run outdoors on their own all year
'round."
Gelfond runs each morning,
also.
"I'm not taking time from my
family," he says. "If I do it in the
morning I get it done. I live in a .
Jewish neighborhood and there are
many runners. People are out jog-
ging or there are couples walking.
More people are walking their dogs.
I have a feeling they don't just do it
Continued on Page 72
Jay Robinson and Ron Michaelson
stretch out at the Jewish Community
Center before beginning a lengthy run.
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ro