From the Sacramento Bee

By Sam McManis

Picture Aretha Franklin timidly answering a cattle call for “America’s Got Talent” or Robert De Niro deigning to do community theater.

That, at first blush, seems to be what former Olympic middle distance runner Michael Stember will be doing when he pins on a race bib for the 18th Run to Feed the Hungry in Sacramento on Thanksgiving.

Stember, a Sacramento native who starred at Jesuit High School and Stanford in the 1990s and blossomed into a world-class 1,500-meter specialist, has teamed with the website www.CharityBets.org to raise money for his favorite cause, the American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland.

But here’s the catch: If Stember fails to break 18 minutes for the 5-kilometer run, all bets are off and the school loses out.

Given Stember’s pedigree, this would seem to be little more than a jog, akin to Aretha clearing her throat and beating out other singing contestants.

Not so, Stember insists.

He is 33 now, long removed from his prime after retiring from track in 2008, and working long hours as managing director of Pacific Edison, a solar and green-energy project firm in Los Angeles.

All that time and sweat and dedication that formerly went into Stember’s running?

It’s channeled toward making deals, not breaking records.

“I’m playing a little tennis and golf and, occasionally, soccer,” Stember said. “But, man, to go for a three-mile run now without stopping is a challenge. I’m not going to lie to you.”

Some track fans on the website www.letsrun.com think Stember is doing just that. On the site’s oft-vitriolic forum, fellow runners have accused him of “sandbagging” – picking too easy a time. One commenter snidely wrote, “(Stember would) have to be eating Lays and drinking Bud all day to not be able to run a decent time. If he doesn’t break 18 min, it will be his choice to jog the race.”

To that, Stember has this rebuttal: Even elite runners can lose fitness if they stop training at high levels.

That’s precisely what he did in his post-pro track career. He has developed a client base for his company just as he had built an endurance base while running. He speaks of the deal he brokered to put solar panels on the Staples Center in Los Angeles with the same pride as how he qualified for the Olympics in 2000.

So, when the founder of CharityBets.org approached him, Stember had to dust off his racing flats and essentially start from scratch.

“Running is definitely tertiary at this point,” he said. “It is just trying to get back in some semblance of shape because it makes me feel healthier when I’m running at least a couple times a week.

“But, honestly, it doesn’t feel the same. It’s very difficult to get motivated just to go out and run. I think it’d be the same for anyone who played at the highest level and achieved some of those goals. It’s tough to come back and say, ‘I’m just going to run seven minutes for a mile.’ ”

And, no, it’s not as if Stember has been drinking beer and eating chips on the couch. But he has bulked up in recent years. At the 2000 Olympics, the 6-foot Stember weighed 155 pounds – still heavy compared to, say, Kenyan runners. Now, he’s 190.

“I’m probably in better health than I’ve ever been, and I’m active, but the cardiovascular system needs work,” said Stember, who has been working out with the USC track team. “My stride feels good, and I can stay with (USC runners) in some (of the intervals). But I can’t go on seven-mile runs with these guys. Not even close.”

So, when it came to selecting a time standard for the Run to Feed the Hungry, Stember chose conservatively. After all, his overriding concern is raising money for the American Indian Public Charter School. (He’s on the organization’s board of directors.)

“I’ve still got to run 5:47s (each mile),” he said, laughing, “and that’s a little scary to me.”

He will have pacing help from former Jesuit teammate Scott Abbott, now Sacramento State’s cross country coach.

“We’ll pull out that senior year in high school one-two punch,” Stember said. “Of course, there will be hundreds of people in front of us.”