B.J. Beusekom
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Happy birthday! Local man to spend 24 hours on treadmill
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. -- B.J. Van Beusekom can never be considered an "also-ran." He's a runner, with every ounce of his heart and might. And he might just inspire others to reach for those goals that may seem well beyond reach. "Better yet, just kind of be inspired to go beyond your own comfort zone," Van Beusekom said of his goal as he was hopping on a treadmill at Athletic Performance Inc. in Brooklyn Center on Monday. Van Beusekom plans to run 93 hours in a 24 hour span. That's a 5k for every year of his life. He turns 30 on Tuesday. He'll take a few bathroom breaks; he even has an IV coming as well as a chiropractor. He will run from noon on Monday until noon Tuesday. "It comes down to picking the right pace. You've got to be the tortoise and not the hare for this kind of event, because you don't want to burn yourself out," he said. Athletic Performance President Scott Ramsdell will be with him every step of the way. Actually, he'll be standing a step away from the runner and his treadmill. "Honestly, I don't have any worries about B.J. He's the kind of athlete that can kind of mentally shutdown and go forward," Ramsdell said. "He's crazy, no doubt about it," Erik Munson said as he stopped by the gym to check on his friend's progress. Munson will pay money to run with Van Beusekom from 2 to 3 a.m. on Tuesday. "I knew no one else was going to be here to support him (at that time)," Munson remarked with a laugh. B.J. is raising money for the American Lung Association. He figures he banked $2,000 by the time he started running, and he hoped to max out around $5,000. "It's inspiring that he's able to do such a... it's going to be painful, you know, the last half of this is not going to be fun for him," Munson explained. Van Beusekom said he knows that people will call him crazy, and he calls that a compliment. What he's really hoping to accomplish is to be labeled inspirational. "People don't have to be limited to what they think they can do. You know, just put your head down and keep going forward and it's amazing what the body can do," Ramsdell said. Van Beusekom hopes to be living proof. A fourth of the way into his quest, he had already run a marathon. Click here for more information on how to support B.J.'s charitable effort. Click here to see the Perk @ Play segment with B.J. Beusekom.
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