Meet Team CMT member Kim Petak

Kim started running in 1981 just to keep the weight off.  After she trained for a 5 mile race, that really motivated her to want to do more races and has kept her interested in training all these years.  The running is nice for weight control and keeping fit and healthy, but for her the races are the frosting on the cake.  It’s what she really looks forward to, and what motivates her to train.

She is a mom of a 16 year old daughter Julie, and 12 year old son David.  Julie, is a senior at Muskego HS, and is a straight A student.  She’s on the cross country team, the ski race team, and does track.  Basically, one sport ends for her, she gets a couple weeks break and then it’s on to the next sport.  Ski racing will be starting up the beginning of December, and their team has gone to state for the past 5 or 6 years in a row.  It’s a very exciting event to watch.  They wear the race suits, just like the Olympics, and some of the kids are flying down the hills.  

David, who is a 7^th grader at Lake Denoon Middle School and is on the cross country team, Chess Team at LDMS, and is in Boy Scouts.  He will be doing ski race team thru the Alpine Valley program called SWAT (Southwest Alpine Team) this year.  

Her  husband, Jeff, is a real estate agent with Realty Executives in Elm Grove. They met at a Badgerland Strider meeting in 1984 and got married in 1990.  They used to do races together and really enjoyed that, but about 5 years ago, Jeff went in for hip pain.  X-rays showed that his cartilage was wearing away, and doctors recommended he give up running.  So now, instead, he does a lot of bike rides, and has done some century rides, too.  He has logged close to 2,000 miles this year on the bike.

Kim is signed up for the Elf Run, and plans on doing the RACC series again this year.  It’s a great event – very well organized and good food.  She likes the notion of doing several races where you have to do well, for the prize at the end of all of them.  Kim ran a sub 4 hour marathon at Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee this year, good enough to qualify for Boston. She also recently took 3rd place in her age group at the Lakefront Discovery run in Milwaukee in November.   She is a busy lady with lots of hobbiles including; downhill skiing, sewing, reading, doing things with my kids.

Kim works at We Energies and I recruited her after Team CMT's first race last year. She had won her age group in the 5K.  I had seen Kim's name for year as an age group winner in area races.  She also races for Performance Outfitters. We are glad to have Kim race for Team CMT. Welcome Kim!


Chris Wodke
Founder & Manager Team CMT
www.run4cmt.com


Team CMT is a group of athletes and supporters working to raise awareness and to find a cure for CMT. We have almost 100 members in 17 states. If you wish to join us visit our web site.

CMT or Charcot-Marie-Tooth is the most commonly inherited peripheral neuropathy. It affects over 155,000 Americans (as many as MS).  It is a disease of the nerves that control the muscles. It is slowly progressive, causing loss of normal function and or sensation in the lower legs/feet and arms/hands.

Symptoms include; muscle wasting in the lower legs and feet leading to foot drop, poor balance and gait problems Atrophy in the hands causes difficulty with manual dexterity.

Structural foot deformities such as high arches and hammer toes are common.

Poor tolerance for cool or cold temperatures and many people have chronically cold hands and feet.

Additional symptoms may include fatigue, sleep apnea, breathing difficulties and hearing loss.

Running, triathlons, impaired athlete, paratriathlon, USAT, running and CMT