He started running to lose weight, and hasn’t stopped for 24 years; how he’s now helping others 🏃

Peter Rettler

WEST BEND — Some years back, a West Bend man, intent on losing a little weight, settled on a very ambitious New Year’s resolution. He not only achieved his goal of running every single day for 24 years, but now, he runs for more than just himself.

New Year’s resolutions can come and go, but Peter Rettler really kept it going!

A few years back, Rettler, who was a wrestler in high school and college, figured a New Year’s resolution would help him and a former teammate lose weight.

“We were like, ‘God, we felt so much better when we were down to our wrestling weight,’ and we made a resolution that we were going to run every single day in 1994 and that’s how it started,” Rettler said.

Twenty-four years later, it hasn’t stopped. Just ask his wife of 25 years!

“It’s been tricky at times — trying to get things in like childbirth,” she said.

Or, the occasional visit to the emergency room.

“Kidney stones. I had two Kidney stones and I asked the doctor ‘can I go for a run?’ And the doctor said, ‘why would you want to go for a run today?'” Rettler said.

Rettler couldn’t be rattled. He set a minimum distance of 1.2 miles per day, and the run had to be done outdoors.

“None of my kids, it’s interesting, none of the kids have known a day that I haven’t went for a run because my oldest son is 22 years old now,” Rettler said.

Since year 20, Rettler has had more reason to run.

“Once he started working on the scholarship, it really brought some people out of the woodwork,” Rettler’s friend said.

“Now it’s $1,500 I’m hoping to raise this year for scholarships and they go to a Washington County high school student who attends Moraine Park,” Rettler said.

That’s why, on New Year’s Eve, 53-year-old Rettler didn’t have to brave the cold alone.

As for his streak, Rettler said he’s not an Iron Man, and he honestly doesn’t love running, but he said he does get a kick out of what has come from it.

“In 24 years, there’s probably only been two or three times and I came back and said ‘that felt great,'” Rettler said. “Like I’ve said, our goal this year is $1,500, which would be three $500 scholarships.”

Rettler noted that next year, for year 25, he’d like to do something “really big.”