By Matt Marn, published in the Rockford Squire
Rockford resident Tim Klaes has a vast running background, including many Relay for Life teams in Rockford and the local Early Bird Running Club. Not to mention, he has run eight marathons in the past, including more than one stint in the Boston Marathon. But the run he will undertake Saturday, October 15 will be the longest distance he has tackled in his life.
Klaes is running from Forest Hills Foods in Cascade all the way to Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, a distance of around 100 Kilometers, or 62 miles. For those who are keeping track, that’s over two full marathon lengths. Straight.
Klaes plans to make this run to East Lansing with a friend with whom he has ran and trained in the past. His friend is running for another cause, but when Klaes made the decision to run this vast distance, he knew he wanted to do it for more than just his health. He wanted to run for a cause that held a special place in his heart.
“As soon as I looked into the Wounded Warrior Project, I knew that’s what I wanted to support,” Klaes said. “Wounded Warriors gives opportunities for soldiers to stay active.”
From running and athletics to hunting and more, Klaes said the Wounded Warrior Project helps injured service members continue to do what makes them happy and be successful, including business mentoring.
“They want to provide these veterans with as many opportunities as possible,” he said. “I see that as a great cause, if I can use my talents to raise money and awareness to help, that’s great. I can run, and I can use that to help. It makes absolute sense.”
The Wounded Warriors Project states on their website that their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, and their vision is to foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded warriors in this nation’s history. To Klaes, that is a purpose well worth running for.
“People come home, they have left a lot there, for us,” he said. “They gave their leg or their arm… We owe it to them to make them as whole as we can, whatever that means.”
Klaes said regardless of politics or how you feel about the war, it comes down to appreciating what our military forces and personnel are doing.
“People deploy, the family watches and walks away… How do you do that? I have a family and I can’t imagine that,” he said.
That family of Klaes’ is very proud of him and how hard he is working for something he cares about.
“I am so proud of Tim,” said Klaes’ wife, Kim. “As a family we really care a lot about this cause. Bottom line, he lives in a time of war where the draft never called him to step up, as his father and grandfathers, and yours and mine were, but he truly respects what he can do on a Saturday, because of our U.S. troops.”
Kim said her husband knows of no better way to honor those in the armed forces then to run a distance most people would never attempt in their life.
“This run is putting a toll on his body to help carry those that daily put a toll on their own for our freedom, leaving their kids and spouses for us,” Kim said. “That is freedom. That is giving back.”
Klaes said yes, there are times when the fatigue and mental stress grow overwhelming, but he said there is no way he is stopping yet.
“You’ve got it in your head, ‘I’m not stopping. I’m going to finish this,’” he said. “There are days you don’t want to go out and do it, but you always feel better when you do it. It can apply to a lot of situations in life. The battle is greatly mental. Your body is going to hurt no matter what, just finish what you started. People are a lot more capable of finishing what they set out to do than they expect.”
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