TO OUR READERS

SI copy editor John Shostrom began running out of frustration. Shostrom, who played on the Yale tennis squad's No. 1 doubles team in the early 1970s, found it nearly impossible to play the sport when he moved in 1984 to New York, a city where finding a parking place, never mind a court, is a chore. "It isn't practical," says Shostrom, who grew up in the tennis-friendly suburbs of Chicago. "It's difficult to find people to play with, and it's expensive. That's why I started running. You put on your shoes and go."

Shostrom first laced up his running shoes for competition in 1989. Since then he has run in some 50 races, and last weekend he completed his first New York City Marathon, in 3:36:29. Shostrom, 40, runs at least 40 miles a week whether he's at home in Brooklyn or on the road. "I remember when I was with my wife, Sofia, in Sicily, training through our vacation. Every day I would run off into the hills, and all the old women dressed in black would ask Sofia, 'Why is your husband running away?' "

Shostrom has spent much of his life on the run, in search of new challenges. Following a summer of tennis in England after his junior year at Yale, he decided to stay awhile. For a month he lived outside London, in Kent County, and financed a trip to France, Spain and Morocco by picking hops for a local farmer.

Shostrom briefly returned to school at California in 1978, then held a succession of food-service jobs that led to a stint as manager of a Greek restaurant in San Diego. When he moved to New York, he did freelance proofreading for FORTUNE and SI before landing a full-time copy editing job at New Woman, where he was eventually promoted to copy chief. Since returning to SI in 1988, he has dazzled our editorial staff with his eclectic store of knowledge. "From politics to power hitters, John makes sure he knows everything he can about a subject," says SI copy chief Gabe Miller. "It's always clear how much affection and respect John has for all his pursuits. He cares."

PHOTO

CHUCK SOLOMON

Shostrom was our marathon man.