Washington County's Peter Rettler is closing in on running every day for 30 years
Peter Rettler can easily recall the day he had his "worst pain" and felt he was dying.
When the Town of Trenton resident and a dean at West Bend's Moraine Park Technical College was seeing the doctor in 2003 due to symptoms that ended up being kidney stones, his wife, Kelly, brought up an important question: "What about his streak?"
Rettler was on a running streak; he had been running every day without missing a day for nearly 10 years. Was the streak going to end?
"Who am I to stop you?" was the doctor's reply, along with advice for Rettler to coordinate his running with his pain medication. Rettler ran that day and every day that week; it took a week for those kidney stones to pass.
It wasn't the only time Rettler faced a challenge with continuing his streak.
He ran outdoors when his kids were born, on a sprained ankle, when he felt under the weather, with a stroller and his children in tow, in temperatures over 100 degrees, in the rain, and in frigid cold weather when the wind chill was around 60 below zero.
Now, if he stays healthy, his running streak can reach 30 years on Dec. 31. He's using the milestone to fundraise for the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial in Kewaskum, which opened in June 2021 to remember the 9/11 victims, honor those who responded and provide education about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
How does Rettler's fundraising, '30 Runs to Remember,' work?
To celebrate his 30-year streak, on Dec. 2 Rettler started "30 Runs to Remember" to fundraise for the memorial. For each of his runs, companies or people can sponsor those impacted by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, EMS personnel and veterans for $1,000 a day. This will continue every day until the end of December.
All but two days are filled, but Rettler is considering running twice a day if he gets more sponsors. He said the money will be used for busing assistance for schools to take field trips to the memorial. He said the cost of busing has been a hurdle for the field trips, and he hopes this will help 60 local schools visit the memorial.
Rettler said this is important because school-aged students were born after Sept. 11, 2001. He said soon many teachers will fall into that category, too, and a visit to the memorial will serve as a good educational tool.
Aside from the "30 runs," on Dec. 31 there will be a 5K run/walk starting at the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial to raise additional funds for the memorial. Rettler hopes that event raises $15,000.
Rettler's passion for the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial
Rettler is thankful he has had "incredible luck" to be able to keep the streak alive.
"I have not broken a leg or needed surgery," he said. But shortly after the attacks of 9/11, he heard on the news that a Kewaskum woman, Andrea Haberman, was missing. He later met her father Gordon Haberman and learned more about Andrea's story.
Andrea Haberman was a Chicago-based employee of Carr Futures who had a business meeting on the 92nd floor in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The day before, her flight from Chicago to New York was canceled twice. She told her fiancé, Al Kolodzik, that if it got canceled again, she would not go. The flight did not get canceled so she flew to New York.
The next morning, she and her fiancé did a playful routine they do whenever they were apart: They had a contest to see who could call each other first. Haberman won.
An employee of Carr Futures, Tricia Perrine, who worked on the 92nd floor, was supposed to meet Haberman for coffee as a welcoming gesture. Perrine was running a little bit late so Haberman went inside and headed to the 92 floor. Perrine was at a nearby market when she heard the explosion at the World Trade Center. Haberman, who was already on the 92nd floor, could not escape. Everyone on the 92nd floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center died, but people on the 91st floor survived.
Haberman was 25, had spent the summer planning her wedding for the following year, and she and her fiancé had just bought a home in northwest Chicago, according to the book "Just a Few Sleeps Away" written by former Journal Sentinel reporter Mike Nichols on the Haberman family and the loss of Andrea.
"Everything that could have gone wrong for her did on Sept. 11 ... compared to the incredible luck I had," said Rettler. It was this concept that inspired him to use his runs as a fundraising goal to help and remember others.
Rettler has used his running to fundraise before
Since 2001, Rettler has used his runs to fundraise for various nonprofits. He organized the "25 Runs of Gratitude" in celebration of his 25-year streak and to show how thankful he was for his health. He partnered with United Way of Washington County and featured a different charity each day. He raised $25,000 for United Way.
Fundraising to help others gives his achievement a whole new purpose, he said. He started funding for the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial to celebrate achieving his 26-year streak.
Rettler became a board member for the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial six years ago. He watched Gordon Haberman raise $2 million for the memorial as it opened in June of 2021.
The memorial is now a visiting attraction. At its center is a 2,200-pound steel support beam from the North Tower where Andrea Haberman was killed. The cellphone which Haberman called her fiancé on Sept. 11, 2001, is also there.
Rettler's thought was: Why not give everything he has to the memorial — one that his students at MPTC in the construction program helped build?
Why did Rettler take up running?
Rettler has always been a wrestler. He wrestled at Hartford Union High School and at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He never particularly liked running, but he did it.
"I am built like a wrestler," he said.
When he was almost 30, he had put on some weight, so he and his friend challenged each other to run every day for a year beginning on Jan. 1, 1994.
His friend made it a year and stopped; Rettler kept going.
"I also do enjoy super cold runs in the morning when no one is outside and there is no wind, and it's so cold that the snow squeaks when you run on it," he said.
He said he normally runs each morning at 6 a.m. He runs about 2 1/2 miles a day. On his day "off," which is usually Sunday, he runs 1.2 miles, he said.
"It feels good to have it done," he said about completing a week's worth of runs.
Rettler's advice on continuing his streak
Having raised four kids with Kelly — Jake, Max, Drew and Maddie — having been always involved in the community and coaching numerous sports teams during that time his advice is this: "...If you want to find the time, you can."
He knows he got the work ethic to do a hard task from his father, Wallace Rettler, who passed away in early September at age 92.
Wallace Rettler had a streak of his own.
"My father never missed a morning and night milking for his first 25 years of marriage," Rettler said. The first time his father missed a milking, Rettler recalled, was when he and his wife redid their honeymoon for their 25th wedding anniversary.
Wallace Rettler was a lifelong farmer who worked into his 80s, and he and his wife Anna Marie raised seven kids on the farm.
"I believe I am as busy as anyone else," Rettler said about finding the time to run. He said that now running is just a part of him. And while he runs each day, he said he did not make "any major lifestyle changes" to keep the streak going.
For instance, a friend asked Rettler if he wanted to do a "very demanding and risky activity" like a tough mudder, an obstacle course through mud. Rettler, whose streak was then at 25 years, empathetically said no. Why risk it by doing something that can hurt him?
Then, he decided he was not going to change his lifestyle or activities for the sake of the streak. He called his friend back five minutes later. "I'm in," he said.
"I don't want to quit doing things that I enjoy just because of the streak," he said.
Will Rettler continue his running streak past 30 years?
Without question, Rettler said he absolutely plans on continuing his streak after he reaches his 30-year milestone. He will be 60 in April 2024 and said he is running his best runs. His son, Jack, offered to keep up his father's streak if he could not. But his father was realistic: It may be the day I die and would you want to start running then?
Instead, Jack started his own streak and will be celebrating two years at the end of 2023.
Peter Rettler said if he lives to be as old as his father was, he wants to still be running at age 92.
"I would like that," he said.
How can I join in the Rettler's Run on New Year's Eve?
To join in the run, register at www.wisconsin911memorial.com/product/rettler-run-2023-entry. The run is from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 31. It begins at the Kewaskum Municipal Building Annex at 1308 Fond du Lac Ave. in Kewaskum. The cost is $30 a person.
How can I become a sponsor?
To become a sponsor, email contact@wisconsin911memorial.com.
How can I read the stories of the people being sponsored?
Each day that a company or individual is sponsoring someone, the person being sponsored will get a story written up and posted on the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial website at https://bit.ly/30dayruns.
How can I learn more about the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial?
To learn about the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial in Kewaskum, visit https://www.wisconsin911memorial.com.
More: 'No finish line': A Milwaukee man is running a 100-mile ultramarathon for Mel's Charities
Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or cathy.kozlowicz@jrn.com. Follow her on X at @kozlowicz_cathy.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Washington County man fundraises to celebrate 30-year running streak
