JoEllen's Marathon
mollyjo.com
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This is the story of
JoEllen's Marathon. "JoEllen" is JoEllen Schrode, a friend of
Molly's from Miami, Florida. The two met at J. I. Kislak Mortgage
Corporation, where they both worked in the mortgage servicing division.
What began as a professional acquaintance blossomed into a close friendship that included fellow "Kislakians" Karen Porter-Wolf and Nelson Ramos. The four eventually took to calling themselves "The Cone Group" for reasons they took an oath not to divulge. "We could tell you," said JoEllen. "But then we'd have to kill you."
A favorite routine was to meet for breakfast at a busy local place, where they'd linger for a couple of hours, assuring the server that they'd tip well for having deprived him or her of the proper table turnover on a busy Saturday or Sunday morning.
As often happens with friends in the workplace, they eventually moved on to other jobs, and contact was much less frequent. Nelson moved to Pennsylvania, and Molly, to California. JoEllen stayed in South Florida and left the mortgage servicing business. Karen wound up in Ireland, for a two-year gig during which she was to establish a new claims processing bulkhead for her insurance-industry employer.
But the four never completely lost touch. Breakfasts in person were replaced by "virtual breakfasts" over the Internet every few months, where at least two or three were on hand to chat.
In late Summer 1999, JoEllen, then age 56, dropped an e-mail advising that she was training for a marathon! Actually, this was not that surprising because JoEllen had been defying convention for a long time. When Molly & JoEllen met, a few years earlier, JoEllen drove this souped up, stick-shift Mitsubishi Eclipse. Sometimes at stop lights, admirers of the car were surprised to find a gray-haired woman at the wheel -- and even more surprised on those occasions when her dog, Max, was seat-belted into the passenger seat (a favorite past time of his).
Anyway, on to the story of the marathon. What follows are JoEllen's e-mailed accounts of what it was like to train for and complete the Walt Disney Marathon for the Leukemia Society.
JoEllen, you're an inspiration. Thanks for letting me post these at my site.
--Molly Jo
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August
25, 1999
"As many of you know, I'm prone to bursts of enthusiasm..." |
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October
16, 1999
"I'm overwhelmed by all of your support, both financially and emotionally..." |
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November 8, 1999
"Have I told you that I love Michelle? Probably not..." |
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December
16, 1999
"This is my second attempt at this month's update..." |
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January 5, 2000
"Some pre-marathon thoughts: How can time be so fickle? " |
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January 16, 2000
"Some post-marathon thoughts: It's been a full week since I completed Disney..." |
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Photos
(Click and then go get a Diet Coke; this may take a while to load.) |
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Help the Leukemia Society |
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Drop a Line to JoEllen (JoSchrode@aol.com) |
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