By Dell Ford
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
Monday, September 15, 1997
Jerry Diehl wanted to feel better about himself, wanted to pare a little off his 185 pounds, wanted to feel less lethargic, less stress. So Jerry Diehl started walking. With his brother-in-law and a Norwell High School friend who'd run track and cross country as his motivators, Diehl did his walking in the basement of Uniondale Methodist Church. He'd walk 5 minutes, run 30 seconds. Walk, run, walk, run, walk. Eventually he was running more, walking less. That was 15 years ago and Diehl, manager of the chemistry lab and exercise physiologist at Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne, hasn't stopped running. Not only is he still running, his zeal for exercise and wellness attracted a group of like-minded people at IPFW who run or walk three to five miles, or more, Monday through Friday on and near the college campus. If they don't walk or run, they do some other form of exercise. For his dedication to wellness - and to running - Diehl found his name in the September issue of Runner's World magazine. There was a picture, too, of Diehl and some of his running colleagues. It was all brought together under the heading Golden Shoe Award. The award did not come as a surprise to the 46-year-old running guru of IPFW. Kim Davidson, a dental hygienist with IPFW's dental research group, told Diehl she had nominated him and that someone from the magazine would be calling. A past president and current Fort Wayne Track Club board member, Diehl says what keeps him motivated and on the wellness track is what got him started in the first place: staying in shape and overall well being. "That," he hastens to add, "and the success of people in the (IPFW fitness) program - people who needed a little encouragement, then blossomed and are doing things on their own." Diehl's campus running and wellness program started in 1985 but his association with IPFW has a longer history. "Twenty years, off and on," he says. The off was three years for graduate school and a master's in exercise physiology at IU, Bloomington. His bachelor's in biology is from Bemieji, Minn., State University. Exercise physiology, Diehl says, is the "science of how the body works - human body movement." His interest in exercise physiology is the result of his walking/running/cycling. "I became more interested in how my body functioned, how I could make improvement, reduce body fat, reduce stress, attain the runner's high." That high, says Diehl, is a "calming-all's right with the world-I can handle any situation feeling. Once you get it you want to experience it again.' In addition to knowing and understanding how his own body works, Diehl wanted to "take it a step further - help people in a safe, effective manner who had never been in an exercise program." That desire led to the master's in exercise physiology at IU. Although the wellness/exercise program at IPFW is not a formal program now, Diehl says the group "is evolving into what I hope will become a full-blown wellness program." As manager of the IPFW chemistry laboratory, Diehl is in charge of ordering supplies, mixing chemicals, calibrating instruments and management of chemical wastes. It's a 40-hour a week job. Another 15 to 20 hours a week finds Diehl at Gates Sports Center in his exercise physiologist role. While he still runs competitively, Diehl has cut back. He runs marathons and ultra-marathons, anything over 26 miles. The longest ultra was 100 miles in Mohican State Forest, Loudonville, Ohio, in 1995. "About 20 percent of it was walking," he says. The race had a 30-hour time limit. Diehl did it in 27 hours, 46 minutes. Running is a big part of Diehl's life but there are other interests. He enjoys woodworking, fixing up things round his home in Ossian, working on cars. Hiking. Camping. Summer often finds him at Red Feather Lakes in northern Colorado with his 20-year-old son, Scott, a computer science major at the University of Pittsburg. They bike and hike and in winter, the son has coaxed his father onto the slopes for skiing. The smile on Diehl's face says he's more comfortable running than skiing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright © 1997 Journal Gazette All rights reserved.