Schaumburg native completes coast-to-coast run
With an especially emotional final day, Schaumburg native and Conant High School alumna Kristin Decker completed her coast-to-coast run last weekend to raise money and awareness for young adults with cancer.
On the nearly marathon-length day in Baltimore, Decker was surprised by her brother Joe, who took leave from his military posting in Japan to run alongside her.
Though the concept of running with a relay team every day from San Francisco to Baltimore seemed daunting before it started, the memory has become something amazing and exhilarating for her.
"It's crazy, now that I'm home, to think I actually ran 4,000 miles across the country," Decker said.
Each member of her team dedicated his or her efforts to one particular person. Decker ran in memory of the late Rev. Matt Peterson, the youth pastor at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg before his 2011 death at the age of 41.
Thoughts of her friend and mentor were high among the reasons that made the final day an epic experience.
"It was more emotional," Decker said. "I knew this was the last day I was able to run in Matt's memory."
Decker was not a runner before this year, beginning her training only during the winter.
Nevertheless, there were only three days this summer that she had to walk some of her miles due to pain. Her cause and the people she met along the way inspired her to fight through the discomfort she experienced - particularly among the steep inclines and high altitudes in the west.
A 14-year-old girl she met in Wisconsin, who'd had her leg amputated due to cancer, was a strong inspiration to deal with the pain of the run.
Unique among the 28 members of the team, Decker found herself in her own hometown of Schaumburg in mid-July when the coast-to-coast route made a stop at St. Peter Lutheran Church.
During that visit, Decker said she still didn't think of herself as a runner so much as someone making an effort for a specific cause.
But within days of completing the run last weekend, she registered for a marathon in Florida in November.
Another thing that has changed is how well the 28 former strangers on the team know each other now. Decker said they will stay in touch and look forward to a reunion next year when they will see a new team off on a similar run.
In the meantime, Decker - who graduated from college in the spring - will begin pursuing a master's degree in social work. She's considering opening a practice of her own when she's done.
Both her own family and the family of Matt Peterson - who enthusiastically greeted her on her arrival at the church in Schaumburg last month - are extremely proud of her efforts this summer, Decker said.
Each member of her team was required to raise $4,500 for The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, just to be able to start the run June 14.
But Decker has raised a total of $10,665 for the fund, which focuses on patients between the ages of 18 and 35.