As mothers around the country are honored today with flowers and cards and perhaps brunch, Casper’s Della Works has a poster full of memories and some heavy hardware on which to reflect.
Works, 72; her daughter, Barbara “Barbie” Bosco, 46; and granddaughter, Nicole Bosco, 23, ran in and finished the Walt Disney World Marathon in Florida in January.
And just for grins, Works and Barbie Bosco ran a half-marathon the day prior, in order to get a special, gold “Goofy” medal given only to finishers of both events.
“Running with my mother is always an adventure, before and after the race mostly,” Barbie Bosco laughed. “And the journey — just getting there is always interesting.”
She is a 1980 graduate of Natrona County High School and lives in Vernon Hills, Ill., with her three children and dog. The Disney was her 12th marathon.
This is the fourth marathon she has run with her mother. They also ran the Los Angeles, Pikes Peak and Green Bay marathons together — the latter in honor of their late father and husband, Larry Works, who was raised in the Green Bay, Wis., area.
“Mom started first,” Bosco said. “I thought if she can do it (run 26 miles at once), I can do it.”
Although her mother is a marathon celebrity of sorts (she’s competed in 19 marathons on three continents over 15 years), Bosco said the mother-daughter aspect of the event is never lost on her.
“Being at the finish line together is very moving,” she said. “I get choked up every time she finishes.”
Works maintains she was luckier than usual in Florida, finishing just ahead of a cutoff time for “stragglers” in 7 hours-plus.
“I stopped for so many pictures and was messing around so much that it’s lucky I finished,” Works said.

casperstartribune.net

There is something in us that bends over to the zipper-dropping con man. We like the prospect of a bargain. Unlike most Europeans, Americans tend to tolerate the stranger with a story, even if his narrative is stitched so obviously with entreaty. We trust because we expect others to trust us: as the ethicist Bernard Williams points out, it is fundamental to our image of ourselves that we see others as having the veracity we assume we possess. It is easier to trust, less stressful than suspicion and more conducive to psychic peace. It becomes a habit. Like the dying family pet, we instinctually raise our paw to everyone, even the vet whose glove hides the waiting needle full of pentathol.
The con memoir reached its post-war high tide with Geoffrey Wolff’s Duke of Deception (1979), the story of Geoffrey and Tobias Wolff’s legendary sire-snookerer, a man who faked prep school, military and college records to land himself on the boards of General Electric and ITT. John le Carré’s father was also a celebrated broker of non-existent real estate and thoroughbreds, continuing it on into his children’s adulthoods by begging them, prostrate, for bail money with hands around their knees and cries of “Not prison again, not at my age.” It worked.
Now comes David Samuels’s The Runner, the story of a brilliant petty thief, James Hogue, who re-tooled himself as the self-educated ranch hand Alexi Indris-Santana. Hogue’s cons would classify him as crazy under many sections of the DSM-IV, but to look on his actions that simply would be to miss the fact he latched on to the American Dream and the way it allows, encourages, even decorates the wide latitudes sometimes necessary for self-invention.

bookslut.com

Former Joliet Catholic Academy right-handed pitcher Kevin Cameron was recalled to the San Diego Padres earlier this week, and on Thursday night, he was involved in the longest major league game since 1993.
Cameron worked the 14th inning of the Padres’ 22-inning, 2-1 loss to Colorado. When he entered, the game was scoreless. He allowed the Rockies’ first run on a bases-loaded walk on a 3-2 pitch, but the Padres tied it in the bottom of the 14th, and they played on, and on.
Cameron has been in two games with San Diego and has pitched three innings with a 3.00 ERA. He began the season at Triple-A Portland after a nightmarish spring training.
He missed time in the spring with a hamstring injury, a broken left thumb suffered when he was hit by a batted ball while running in the outfield and a bout with the flu, which mlb.com reported caused him to lose 12 pounds.
“It was just a nightmare,” Cameron was quoted.
Cameron allowed one earned run in 6 1/3 innings and had four strikeouts during his brief stint at Portland.
A few former local standouts have been on the field in Triple-A. That group includes infielder Chris Basak from Minooka and left-handed pitchers Carmen Pignatiello from Providence Catholic and Brian Mazone and Tim Byrdak, who are former Joliet JackHammers.
Basak is with the Twins’ Triple-A team at Rochester and has six hits in 29 at-bats.
Pignatiello was with the Cubs briefly to begin the season and now is pitching in relief for Iowa, where he has a 3.00 ERA in three innings. Right-hander Billy Petrick from Morris is a teammate of Pignatiello’s at Iowa but is not ready to pitch as yet.
Mazone is back with the Phillies after toiling last year in Korea. He is 1-2 with a 5.00 ERA but has struck out 13 and walked just 1 batter in 18 innings.

suburbanchicagonews.com

One foot forward will be for Peg. The next step might be for Andrew. The one after that, and the hundreds - thousands - to follow will all be in memory of those touched by cancer.
Christopher Barry won’t know all their names, but they’ll be with him for Monday’s 112th running of the Boston Marathon nevertheless, each of the names affixed to shirt, shorts or firmly in his heart.
Barry, 28, is running Boston as part of the 19th annual Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, which is expected to raise some $4.5 million for cancer research. Barry, a 2003 Keene State graduate, said he raised $6,838.06 as of Friday, and by Monday’s race expects to have more than $7,000 toward his $8,000 personal goal.
Barry said he wrote letters to everyone he knows explaining his role in the marathon challenge and asked respondents - with or without a donation - to provide names of cancer victims they’ve known. Those are the names Barry will wear on his T-shirt on Monday. Peg is for Peg Barry, Barry’s grandmother who died of breast cancer in the early ’90s. His friend, Andrew, died of testicular cancer at the age of 22 a few years ago.
“A few years after (my grandmother) died I saw how much it affected my grandfather who lost his life partner of all those years. It showed me just how deeply cancer affects not just the person who has it, but everyone else,” Barry said, explaining his inspiration behind running what will be his second marathon and his first in Boston.
“It’s easy to get up at 5:45 on a winter morning and get out and do the run. You have that little extra motivation and especially on the runs, when I get out I’m just so happy to be doing it and to be challenging myself. I think of a lot of the people who I’m running for who I know - and the people who I don’t know who I’ve been told about - and there’s a story for every one of them.”

sentinelsource.com

Berlin, Germany - Patrick Makau Musyoki has won another major half marathon this year, but it was a very close affair. The 23 year-old Kenyan who had won the races in Ras Al Khaimah (United Arab Emirates), Reading (Gbr) and The Hague (NED) today took victory at the Vattenfall Berlin Half Marathon, defending his title from last year, clocking exactly one hour for the distance.
Musyoki was faster in Ras Al Khaimah (59:35) and in uncomfortable cold conditions in the German capital he had to give everything at the end of the race to deny Eshetu Wondimu. The Ethiopian crossed the line just one second behind the winner in 60:01 minutes.
Peninah Arusei put in a fine performance in the women’s race. The Kenyan clocked 68:22, which is the third fastest times this year so far.
A record number of 20,660 runners from 86 nations had entered Germany’s biggest and best quality half marathon. 17,733 runners finished the race. Adding other events 24,551 athletes had entered the event. More than 150,000 spectators lined the course in the city which will stage the IAAF World Championships in Athletics next year.
This early split times indicated that the course record would probably be out of reach. 5 k were passed by 14:07 minutes. While all big favourites were in the leading group the pacemaker was not: Charles Ngolepus had dropped back far too early. “This was not as we had planned it,” said Race Director Mark Milde. The 10km point was reached in 28:22 – almost one minutes slower than a year ago.
42:48 was the split time for 15km and then a group of four runners headed for the 20km mark. Next to Musyoki and Wondimu there were two Kenyans: Elijah Keitany (Kenya), who later finished third in 60:10, and William Todoo (Kenya), who ran 60:12 for fourth.

iaaf.org

A COMMITTED Bridgwater runner is gearing-up for the monumental task of competing in the Paris Marathon.
Dedicated runner Helen Philpott has been training since Christmas for the event next Sunday, April 6, and is fully prepared after running three half-marathons in Bath, West Sussex and Sherborne.
So far, Helen has raised over £1,400 for the Dunkery Ward at Musgrove Park Hospital, where she works as a nurse.
She said: “I am really looking forward to the Paris Marathon. Last year, I ran the London Marathon and I have already applied to take part in November’s New York Marathon but that is based on whether I’m selected via a ballot.
“The Paris Marathon is one of the biggest marathons in the world and my ambition is to run all the major events.
“The fundraising efforts have been going very well but we are hoping to raise more money before Saturday.”
If anyone would like to show their support for Helen’s run, the Fountain Inn on West Quay, where she is a regular, has made a collection available.
The Fountain is also holding a charity quiz night on April 10, in aid of the children’s charity Brainwave.
The event starts at 8pm and entrance is £1 per competitor. All proceeds will go towards the charity.
2:25pm Wednesday 2nd April 2008
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bridgwatermercury.co.uk

Haile Gebrselassie yesterday became the highest profile athlete to underline the growing concerns about pollution at this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing by revealing he will not be running the marathon because he fears for his health.
Gebrselassie, like Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, suffers from asthma and his decision to make a stance could have wide-ranging implications among other competitors. “The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42km in my current condition,” said Ethiopian Gebrselassie, the world record-holder, who will be 35 next month. “But I am not pulling out of the Olympic event in Beijing all together. I plan to participate in the 10,000m.”
Since Beijing won the right to stage the Games, smog in the city has been a thorny topic for the marathon and road cycling events. But China has been taking as many measures as it can to prevent problems. Ironically, only at the weekend, Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee, stressed how much work has taken place. Having said last year that endurance events could even be postponed if pollution levels become too severe, Rogge insisted: “We will see that they have made major progress.”

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Alpharetta Marathon returns this weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The second annual Alpharetta Marathon & Half Marathon, complete with a support network of organized cheering groups and live music, takes place Sunday at 7 a.m.
More than 1,000 participants, some listing hometowns as far away as Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, and New Jersey, have registered for the event, which starts on Academy Street in downtown Alpharetta in front of City Hall.
Both the marathon and half marathon finish on Lakeview Parkway, near Haynes Bridge Road.
Race organizers are using various promotional elements in the event to recognize Alpharetta’s 150th anniversary. The 150th finishers in both events will receive $150. There will also be a $150 prize to the person who traveled farthest to compete.
For those wanting to support the event without running in it, organizers have been promoting cheer groups, of 10 or more people, that will be positioned along the course. In addition, live music will be provided by bands stationed three miles apart.

ajc.com

Florida International will unveil its new on-campus stadium this September, but the Golden Panthers will play the same tough schedule in 2008.
FIU will play three bowl teams among its 12-game schedule and has three open dates that will extend the season until Dec. 6.
The Golden Panthers, who finished 1-11 in 2007, open the season at Orange Bowl champion Kansas on Aug. 30 in Lawrence, Kan. The Jayhawks defeated FIU last season en route to finishing 12-1 and No. 7 in both polls.
After opening at Penn State in 2007, FIU makes its second trip to a Big Ten opponent in the second week of the season, when the Golden Panthers play at Iowa.
The first open date is Sept. 13 and then the new FIU Stadium is unveiled for the home opener Sept. 20 against South Florida, which was ranked as high as No. 2 last season.
”We’re extremely fired up about our schedule,” FIU coach Mario Cristobal said. “It’s a very challenging one with top teams and a great Sun Belt schedule that gets tougher every year. We’re looking forward to jumping into it.”
FIU closes out its nonconference schedule with a Sept. 27 trip to Toledo.
Besides Kansas and South Florida, the other bowl team on FIU’s schedule is Sun Belt and New Orleans Bowl champion Florida Atlantic.
The teams renew their Don Shula Bowl rivalry Nov. 29 at Dolphin Stadium.
The other seven games on FIU’s schedule are against Sun Belt Conference foes.
FIU begins Sun Belt play Oct. 4 at North Texas. The Golden Panthers closed out college football at the Orange Bowl last season with a 38-19 win over North Texas.
FIU’s last trip to Denton, Texas, resulted in a 25-22 seven-overtime loss that is tied as the longest game in college football history.
Along with South Florida, FIU’s other home opponents include Middle Tennessee (Oct. 11), Arkansas State (Nov. 8), Louisiana-Monroe (Nov. 22) and the season finale against Western Kentucky (Dec. 6).
More than 4,000 participants are expected to compete in the third Annual Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon early Sunday morning.
The marathon begins at 6 a.m. by the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale and concludes with the final two miles along A1A, ending at the finish line in South Beach Park on Seabreeze Boulevard.
In addition to the marathon, there are a variety of other events.
A half-marathon also starts at 6 a.m. It turns into Birch State Park after mile 8.75 on Sunrise. Mile 11 brings the participants back onto A1A for the finish at the South Beach Parking lot, passing under the overhead skyway.
Besides the marathon and the half-marathon, New York firefighters will challenge Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue in the first-ever Half Marathon Firefighter Challenge.
For information, call 561-241-3801 or visit www.a1amarathon.com.
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