Jack Sholl 10/30/25 to 5/18/14

 Jack Sholl    In Memory 10-30- 1925 to 5-18-14

Jack Sholl 1925-2014

I recently received a phone call from Joan Sholl about Jack’s passing. I was shocked when I heard the news. She told me how how pleased Jack was in meeting me. The reverse is true for me as well.

I first met Jack about five years ago, in 2009 while researching for my book It Has Nothing To Do With Age. I found Jack to be intelligent, warm, caring and a very interesting man. He was certainly passionate and knowledgeable about his sport rowing and about being a descendant of the American Revolution. We had many conversations and meetings over the past five years. I got to know him and his wife Joan very well.

Jack’s life, was extremely interesting. In fact his death has a peculiar twist. Being patriotic, Jack wanted to enlist in the service during World War II at the age of 17. His parents, would not give permission. So Jack did the following. He dropped out of high school and went to work in the shipyards for a year and then enlisted. It is believed that his cancer was caused by that asbestos poisoning. The Second World War did not kill, but being around asbestos did.

I remember visiting Jack and seeing paraphernalia dating back to the Civil War. I attended a Sons of the American Revolution with Jack and learned more about our military history. In fact, Jack and I talked at length about American history and how the schools were omitting significant information about our past. As a volunteer, Jack spent his summers in Philadelphia, giving tours and speaking about our country’s founding, with the National Park Service. It wasn’t uncommon for someone in the audience to ask Jack if he taught history in college. Jack’s reply was no, I worked for IBM for 29 years.

Jack has traveled all over the world and has been a great spokesman and representative for our country. He knows royalty, and yet in many ways he was just a good, warmhearted individual. I miss his stories, our conversations and his friendship. Although not a physically tall man, Jack was mentally tough. I feel sad to have lost another friend.

It is hard to believe that I just can’t pick up the phone or email Jack again. Death has a finality that’s unlike anything else .It’s so different. Thank goodness, fond memories remain.

I miss you Jack.

Craig Thornley,Western States and Friends

"Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes."
– Washington Irving

  Last Saturday, Sue Smyth put on a ride and tie in Cool, California. It was neat, seeing old friends at this event. In fact, former ride and tie partners, Tom Christofk and Dan Barger where there. They were quite the team when they competed. In fact, Tom, and his wife, Laura, were two of the players that influenced my moving from the Bay Area to Cool. For more about Sue, Tom and Dan, I refer you to their TV interviews: Sue http://youtu.be/8PkfK6fpWBY;   Dan http://youtu.be/jm1X7pWZg-8and Tom http://youtu.be/E7pVe44sqSA.

I also talked with Gunilla Pratt a serious ride and tie competitor from Southern California about being interviewed, along with   Veterinarian, endurance rider and ride and tie competitor Michelle Roush. Look for their interviews this fall.

On Sunday, Tony and I ran from Forest Hill to Drivers Flat, the middle day for the Western States 100 mile ultra-run. It was good for Tony, and you can check his Strava running time. For me, I didn’t do well with the 90+ degree temperature change. And, I knew it was going to be hot. So I ran with a heart rate monitor. Because of the warm weather, I wanted to monitor how I was doing in the heat. I knew that would be a good thing since I don’t do too well at this point in the heat. Sure enough, my heart rate was raised more than I would’ve liked. Aside from a high heart rate, I started to lose my voice, which is another symptom.

Craig Thornley (     http://youtu.be/e-BmOb2bw5k)race director for Western States caught up to me about the 17 mile marker or so. Concerned about my condition, I asked him if I could get a ride to the bus. He told me that I could ride with him back to Drivers Flat. So at that aid station, I drank Coke, cold water and placed ice under my cap. It took quite a while for my resting heart rate to subside, but it did.

At the first aid station, Western States legend Tim Twietmeyer was helping out the runners. For more information about Tim check out his TV interview (http://youtu.be/wr2v3D4JreU). Also at the aid station was Ann Trason another legend. This woman was the ultimate women’s runner as she owned this hundred miler. I’m pleased to announce that she’ll be interviewed this fall as well.

At the second aid station, Meghan Arbogast female phenom was helping out. See her TV interview:  http://youtu.be/bgKMyPbkJJg.  At the top of Drivers Flat, Dan Barger was helping out. I told him that I would meet him at ALT aid station some 84 miles into the run, like I did last year.

On the ride back to Forest Hill, I sat next to a young woman who ran the Boston Marathon last year as well as this year. Luckily, she had finished her run before the explosion last year. This year she said the support for the runners by the spectators was phenomenal and she enjoyed herself like no other marathon.

Be sure to keep moving, laughing, smiling, loving, bonding and appreciating.

PS Another female running phenom Mo Bartley also ran http://youtu.be/Xi0D3EPHmx8. This post is really about phenomenal people who happen to be ultra-runners. To enhance your understanding, watch their interviews.

Alfred Adler's Creative Self and Tony

"Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it.…Success is shy — it won't come out while you're watching."
– Tennessee Williams

On Tuesday, Tony and I were on the trail. While on the trail, Tony told me about his Coloma run last Saturday. During that particular run, he mentioned that he caught up to another runner. This younger runner attempted to keep in front of Tony, but was unable to do so. For Tony, that was his “glory”-being able to beat another competitor. He also told me about a second record that he holds per posting on Strava, which also delights him.

During our trail experience, we also talked about creating a documentary as Tony recently figured out a problem related to perfecting our Skype interviews. Tony enjoys the challenge of solving various technical issues that confront him. He works hard at perfecting and thereby eliminating problems. We both laughed as we talked about beginning new careers.

I told Tony about Alfred Adler, the psychiatrist from Vienna. Dr. Adler, once a disciple of Freud, developed his own theory of personality. While Freud assumed that man’s behavior is motivated by inborn instincts, Adler emphasized social urges, consciousness and the development of the ego in his theory. In Adler’s theory, he talked about a striving for superiority. Adler thought the final goal of man was to be: 1. Aggressive 2. Powerful and 3. Superior. And a person attempts to become superior by developing his intellect or in achieving muscular strength. And that the details of his existence are exemplified by his habits, his recreations, his daily routine, and his relations to his family, friends and acquaintances. Practically everything he does, man does with an eye to this ultimate goal. So man perceives, he learns and retains what fits in his style of life. Further, Adler also talked about a creative self. This creative self means that man makes his own personality and that he constructs it out of both heredity and experience. It is the creative self that gives meaning to life. It creates the goal as well as a means to the goal.

Tony’s quest to continually to improve his running is paramount as evidenced by his training and his keeping track of miles, times, elevations, etc. Further, his motivation to overcome, especially technical software challenges is also clear. So if you talked with Tony, you would understand that. His life space correlates with him as being the master and not the victim of his fate. In this regards his personality style corresponds to Adler’s way of thinking.

So, in part, you’re likely to find Tony either on the trail, in his office or around his property, either fixing or making things better for all.

He keeps moving, laughing, smiling, loving, bonding and appreciating.

Guns,Death Instinct and Freud

"No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched."
– George Jean Nathan

As we know, Freud’s theory of personality, postulated two main drives or instincts. One was the life instinct and the other the death or destructive instincts. He believed there was an interplay between the two instincts .They could fuse together, neutralize each other, or even replace one another. Further, there was an aggressive component in which this aggression is either turned outward against some other substitute or turned inward against the self as in self-destruction. Freud also believed in psychic energy. And that the person seeks to gratify needs (when a need is met it’s pleasurable and when a need is not met, it creates tension). Further, Freud believed that personality is largely governed by the necessity for gratifying needs by means of transactions in the external world. So the surrounding environment can either provide mechanisms (like food) for gratification or contain regions of danger and insecurity. In other words, it can either threaten or satisfy. This means it can produce pain and increase tension or bring pleasure and reduce tension.

Many individuals say that, according to our Constitution, they have a right to bear arms. And of course we have this industry that easily supplies bullets and guns. Sometimes we hear it’s a constitutional right. Another times we hear it’s about protecting our family. I would say that a main issue is neither about our Constitution nor protection, but it is about anxiety,aggression, and insecurity. Also, it’s about this death instinct and the perception and belief that the environment-other people are dangerous and threaten us. So this aggressive component of the death instinct is potentially turned against others.

We hear many stories in which some young innocent child becomes the victim of a loaded weapon in the home. Time and time again we hear about some individual killing others, and then turning that weapon upon himself.

Yes, the environment can be dangerous. Freud recognized three types of anxiety. For one, reality anxiety is based on real dangers in the world. On Thursday, Linda, Nails (her Arabian) and I traversed the trails with the temperature expected to reach triple digits. Linda heard on the radio that because of the dramatic change in warm weather, there have been a series of rattlesnake bites. Okay, that makes sense. So we made it a point to be alert on the trail and also to avoid going through tall grasses. I did not bring with me a handgun to shoot a rattlesnake. I am happy to report that we didn’t see any rattlesnakes either.

On Saturday the 17^th Tony and I ran a 10 mile trail event for Juvenile Diabetes Research. I believe this was our third consecutive year. I’m happy to report that we both received first-place medals and our times were faster than last year. A week from Sunday, we are running the middle day of the Western States training run going from Forest Hill to White Oak Flat( about 21 miles).

See you on the trail and remember to keep moving, laughing, smiling, loving, bonding and appreciating.

Obesity and a Death Wish

 “Ruin and recovery  are found within.” -Epictetus

Have you ever wondered why so many people are overweight? There is so much information about healthy choices that are available to everyone. Yet, people continue to make poor health decisions regardless. Perhaps, Freud’s theory of personality has an answer.

Freud postulated two main drives or instincts. There was the life instinct and there was the death instinct. He believed that the ultimate goal of life, was death. He also thought that this death instinct or wish was, of course, unconscious and had an aggressive component to it. This drive could either turn against itself and/or against others.

We know that oral gratification (lips and tongue) and eating are in fact pleasurable and related to the life instinct. We also know that people eat when they are hungry and for nutrition. However, it is obvious that overweight people consume great quantities of food that far exceed their need for hunger or their nutrition deficiencies.

It seems that the overweight individuals are driven to eat in unhealthy ways despite knowing whether it is right or wrong for them. Perhaps it is their death instinct that has emerged and gained control over their life instinct behavior. We know they are essentially eating themselves to death and to an early grave. One certainly can argue that their death wish is unfortunately dominant. And, their aggressiveness is turned inward on themselves.

So underneath the outward, smiling jolly ness, these individuals are driven in a very unproductive way. They might tell you they’re happy, but they are obviously fooling themselves. So all the literature about healthy eating, and exercise goes for naught. That’s why someone telling them to change falls on deaf ears because they are driven by an unconscious instinct.

Hopefully these points are food for thought. In any event, if you can, keep moving, smiling, laughing, loving, bonding and appreciating.

Bo Schembechler's Warriors

Well I have good news. Last week I signed a contract with Triumph Books to publish my manuscript titled “Bo’s Warriors” I am very pleased to say the least. Triumph books publishing company is a leader in the sports world. And I am happy to be on their team.

My book is about sports, life, motivation, mental toughness and my philosophy. Some 45 years ago, in 1969, a miracle , many would say, happened on the turf at the Big House on that cold November Saturday when the Michigan Wolverines football team beat the heavily favored number one -ranked Ohio State University Buckeyes. Coach Bo Schembechler and position coach Gary Moeller in their first year bested Bo’s mentor Woody Hayes. Thus, the infamous 10 year war began. Bo’s Warriors is an in-depth view of the secrets behind the success of Bo’s Wolverines.

This is how the transition of Wolverine football began. Newly appointed athletic director Don Canham hired Bo Schembechler. That was significant in part because Canham knew that Bo would bring in diverse racially talented athletes. So the interracial base of Michigan football, was firmly established. Coach Schembechler then embraced his racially diverse group of young men and established the cohesiveness of the team, the team, the team. He taught his players that they could not be divided because they were all one and part of the University of Michigan football team. As a team captain senior, football legend, an All-American. Jim Mandich took it upon himself and made sure the entire team partied together.

This 1969 team had a 3-2 record after its first five games. The sixth game, in fact, at halftime. The Wolverines trailed the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The intense, excitable, type A personality coach did not scream, and his warriors. Instead, he calmly told them they were the better team and not to lose the opportunity. The players do not lose the opportunity. For that game and the next 24 games(10 game season), their record was 24 wins and one loss. The miracle and transition was established on the last game of that 1969 season. Michigan 24-Ohio State University, 12.

For more insight, secrets of Wolverine success and player and coach histories enjoy the details of the eight Michigan Wolverines (Coach Gary Moeller, Jim Brandstatter, Fritz Seyferth, Jim Betts, Reggie McKenzie, Tom Curtis, Thom Darden and Mike Keller).

Some benefits of reading Bo’s Warriors include the following:

1.       How Bo created winning football

2.     learn about the mental toughness of successful men

3.       learn about how the University of Michigan experience changed(impacted) lives

4.       learn about the positives of playing the brutal game of football

5.       Challenge the “dumb jock” stereotype of football players

6.       learn how racial differences got mitigated for the Wolverines

7.       Learn about the lives of nine successful men

8.      learn about the relevance of 1969 to today

More to follow on subsequent posts. In the meantime, keep moving, laughing, smiling, loving, bonding and appreciating.

It Has Nothing To Do Wiyh Age Or Gender with guest Tom Self

Memory Lapse Suggestions

"We cannot do everything at once but we can do something at once."
– Calvin Coolidge

In the April 15, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal, there was an article about memory lapses. The article was titled “Why We Keep Losing Our Keys.” Some explanations are as follows: 1. Memory lapses are the norm for all ages 2. Stress, fatigue and multitasking can make things worse, and interfere with memory 3. There is a breakdown between attention and memory 4. Forgetfulness and distraction is related to a variation in the dopamine D 2 receptor gene (DRD 2) 5. The brain keeps track of similar but distinct memories in the dentate gyrus, part of the hippo campus. In other words, the brain stores separate recordings of each environment in different groups of neurons when activated (non-identical memories are encoded and later retrieved).

Some of you might be more interested in suggestions or tips for finding lost items. Michael Solomon in his book “How to Find Lost Objects” suggests the following: 1. Don’t look for it yet (wait until you have some idea where to look) 2. It’s where it’s supposed to be (look first where the object is normally kept) 3. Domestic drift (where was the object last used? Retrace your steps) 4. Repeatedly murmur what you’re looking for 5. Camouflage effect (it’s were you thought it was, just covered up) 6. Look once, look well (don’t rummage haphazardly 7. Eureka zone (objects usually wander no more than 18 inches from their original location) 8.Que sera sera (if all else fails, employ this rarely used principal. You’re missing object may eventually just turn up.

My wife generally asks about her keys, cell phone and purse. Finding the cell phone is easy because we simply call that number. Finding the purse is not that difficult because it is a large item. It’s generally the keys, the keys, and the keys. Often, I assist her and we have success.

What are your tips for finding the misplaced articles? In any event, keep moving, smiling, laughing, bonding, loving and appreciating.

Making Behavorial Changes

We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies."
– Etty Hillesum

For those of you that are aging, a recent study of 46 adults ages 63 to 85, found that as mood improves, so does the decision-making process. And some suggestions were found In the Blue Shield of California Better Living Newsletter-spring/summer 2014. Aside from performing regular exercise, sleeping and eating well, consider the following: 1. Wake up to bright sunlight by leaving your curtains and blinds open or using fluorescent bulbs 2. Smile-we all know how to do that 3. Be creative-painting or writing in a journal 4. Paint  verdant hues in your rooms 5. Sing a song 6. Eat dark chocolate and 7. Be around people that are upbeat and positive.

None of these suggestions are difficult to do or are they? It seems to me that regular exercise, sleeping, eating and being around smiling, happy people might be hard to accomplish, especially if you’re in your 60s. Likely, making major behavioral changes are not easy as many people are set in their ways. We all know there many excuses that get in the way of exercise like arthritis, bad knees, bad hips, being overweight, etc. Also, sleeping, and eating well can be problems, especially if one drinks alcohol a lot. How many people want to give up drinking alcohol? We know that alcohol affects one’s ability to sleep.

The major problem in making changes is the person’s personality. Likely, how an individual thinks (which is part of personality) is a major culprit. A general list of things to do is certainly not the answer. One question to ask is simply “what gets in the way of your making consistent beneficial health changes?” That question might be a good place to start for those that want to make behavioral changes.

Keep moving-put one step in front of the other, smiling, laughing, bonding, loving and appreciating. If you don’t know how, find someone to teach you.