This is the first in a series of news
flashes that will help everyone in
the organization know what IS
happening.
In the next few weeks we will
cover the fall sports of boys soccer,
volleyball, football and cross country,
Who is Who on the college scene,
and up close and personal stories.
This issue takes a look at what your
A.D. is doing.
Larry
Johnson
Occupation- Accountant for
Carondelet Health
Age- something over 50
Height- 5’10”
Weight- Well the scale says “are you
kidding”
Secret Identity- Super coach
for Kansas City East Lions…
Roooaaaarrrrr
Your A.D. gets back
into the “Challenge”
Many years ago your A.D.
would compete in the Kansas City
Corporate Challenge. It all started in
1986 or 1987 while he was working
for BethanyMedicalCenter. The
KCCC is a corporate wellness athletic
competition. It actually started in the
1970’s with a few corporations like St.
Luke’s, Health Mid-west, Black and
Veatch, Hallmark, etc. Today it has
grown to almost 200 companies. They
divide the corporations into divisions
based on size of the companies and
they compete in over 25 different
events, like Track and Field (the best
sport ever), swimming (the most
dangerous sport ever), volleyball
(the most graceful sport ever), dodge
ball (Is it really a sport), Disc Golf
(????,hmm), etc.
The Challenge actually trained
Larry for multi-event sports with
many people and many different times
happening at multiple location. Does
any of that sound familiar? While
competing with Bethany Medical
Center Coach Johnson became a
leading advocate for the Challenge by
winning the Alex George award for
excellence in 1989. The award goes for
not only athletic excellence, but also
for coordinating, leadership support
and by being a big cheerleader for
the Team. After that, KCCC used
Larry in a TV interview and even put
him in a sports video. But life took
a turn and Larry changed jobs and
went to work for St. Mary’s hospital
in Blue Springs. And as you might
guess the next year, St. Mary’s chose
to enter the Challenge. Even after St.
Mary’s was bought out by St. Joseph
Medical Center and the two became
Carondelet Health, the Challenge
continued for Coach Johnson.
Then things took a really strange
turn, management support for the
Carondelet team dried up and Coach
became a man without a team. “At that
time, we were living in Warrensburg
and running a lawn care company”
Larry said, “I was still working full
time at the Hospital and still coaching
little league stuff, but I still wanted to
compete. The challenge opened up
a category for small corporations to
combine together and form a team,
so I found a team called KC Power
Pack and joined them.” In 2003 the
team folded. The KC East Lions were
in full swing at that time so Coach
Johnson retired (at the age of ……)
from active competition. “I just felt
with all the coaching I was doing and
4 kids involved, there just wasn’t time
to train.” Larry said.
BUT THE DESIRE DIDN’T
DIE…
The Lions Connection
The
Greater
Kansas
City
Homeschool Association/KC East
Lions has created another chance
for Coach Johnson to compete.
GKCHA has created the opportunity
for Larry to qualify as an athlete. It
was just a matter of finding a team
that would take a broken-down, out
of shape, 50 something athlete. The
KC Underdogs came to the rescue.
So this year Larry jumped back into
the challenge. In his first event,
the huge one-mile walk, Coach
competed in it with no problem. Not
all the events are real tough. “I didn’t
try out for many of the teams like
Darts, Horseshoes, Pool, Disc Golf,
or Flag football, because I thought
it would be better to concentrate on
a few events.” Next up was the 5K.
Training for the May event started in
January on a treadmill. “At the time
I couldn’t even run for more than a
couple of minutes at a time. It took a
long time to work to the place where
I could run more than a ½ mile at a
time.” “Even still the 5k(3.1 miles)
is a long ways for me, and it took me
over 34 minutes to complete.” It
was a good thing that he did, as he
placed 5th in his division, in his age
group(50-54) and helped the KC
Underdogs 5K team win 1st place
- without him they would have only
tied for first place. Next up for Coach
was the half-marathon. 13.1 miles is
a long, long ways. Once again Coach
started training early for that event.
“I told the KC East track team that
I was training for the ½ marathon
and I had to start at running a mile
and then walking for two minutes
and then running a mile that walking
for two minutes. I started at doing
that for 4 miles and then increased
by a mile every week till I could
complete 10 miles at one time. It
was taking me over 2 hours to do a
training workout.” The Challenge
put in a carrot, in that to count in
the team points, you had to complete
the course in under 3 hours. So the
day of the meet Coach took off and
ran the first 3 miles and then started
the walk-run-walk-run combination.
Two hours and forty-five minutes
later he crossed the finish line. “I
like the track and racing, so the ½
marathon was a mental competition
for me. Fortunately I had my brother
with me the whole time as a support.”
Coach finished last in his age group,
but 3rd in the division.
so it helped him recoup. “The bike is
so much fun because you can cover a
whole lot of ground in short period
of time.”
Coach did really good
covering the 3 mile sprint in 8:48
finishing 26th out of 65 in his age
group and 2nd in his division. Once
again helping his KC Underdog team
finish 4th in the bike race. Time does
not hold still and up next was the
best sport in the world, Track and
Field. He didn’t qualify for the shot
put or the long jump (or in coaches
words, “short jump”), but he did run
the mile, 400 and the 100. The mile
went OK, where coach was 51st out
of 56 ,with a time of 8:23 and 6th
place finish in the division. The 400
went really well with 19th place out
of 50, a time of 1:12.6 and a 2nd
place finish in the division. Finally
the 100, where coach placed 22nd
out of 54, with a 15.39 and second
place division finish. “You would
think that 100 yards would just be
over, but I hurt for a week after that
race” Coach said, “I really strained
my left hamstring and could hardly
walk for a couple of days and driving
a stick car was painful.” Fortunately
he had a couple of weeks rest before
the Duathlon(2.5 run, 13.5 bike,
2.5run). “I was really looking forward
to the duathlon, because it is a fun
event. But it turned out to be much
tougher than I thought. I made it
through the first run, but the hilly
bike course actually made me walk my
bike and then the final run was more
of a walk/death march. I got through
it but it was not fun.” Finishing in 2
hours and 10 minutes and 44 seconds,
coach finished 37 out of 39 in his age
group, but first in the division. The
KC Underdogs won the event.
Up next for Coach was the bike
The final event for coach was
race. He had a two week rest period, swimming. “I hate the water and
actually have a fear of being in water.
But I learned as a kid all the different
strokes, and I can still do them.”
Coach Johnson said. Once again I
had one week to prepare for this and
I went to the pool for 5 straight days.
My first day I did each stroke just 25
yards and then I had to rest. I knew
the races would require 50 yards each
and the IM (butterfly, back, breast
and free) 100 was going to be really
tough. So I spent about an hour each
day working up to each event. I had
to learn to go off the starting boards
and keep my goggles on. All the time
thinking I was going to drown. I really
don’t like swimming.” None the less,
Coach ended up doing the 50 breast,
30 out 35 in age group, 56.82, 4th in
the division, 100IM 25 out of 25(24th
place beat me by 0.001 of a second)
2:39.73 3rd in the division, 50 free
32 out 45 43.89 4th in the division.
Overall the Underdogs finished 3rd
in swimming.
The KC Underdogs ended up
finishing 1st in F division (employee
count 150-225). According to Coach,
“I have so much fun getting back into
the Challenge. At times I really didn’t
compete, but just finished. I had to
start somewhere this year. I hope to
be able to train more next year. My
thanks to the Lions for creating a
situation where I could get back into
KCCC. I look forward to competing
in the 55-59 age group next year.”
UP NEXT
ISSUE
CROSS COUNTRY
EXPLODES.