The Amazing Women Behind the Pittsburgh Marathon

When Fox Chapel resident Michele Fetting  came to Pittsburgh in 1990 to visit her parents, she had no intention of staying. It had been years since she lived in Pittsburgh as a child, so it took her by surprise when she fell in love with the city. Soon after, she decided to make it her home.

Just out of college and starting a new life, Fetting decided to take up running as a way to meet people and get in shape. Then she got serious and decided to tackle the Pittsburgh Marathon.

“I had absolutely no idea what I was doing back then. There were no guidelines or online training programs like there are now. I ran my first marathon in old tennis shoes without ever running farther than 12 miles,” Fetting says.

She finished her first marathon in 5 hours, 19 minutes—and was hooked.

Fetting started to run marathons in other cities, including DC, New York, and Columbus, and even qualified to run the 100th Boston Marathon shaving nearly 2 hours off her time.  She completed nine Pittsburgh Marathons, and became an active member of the board of directors. But then financial problems and the loss of UPMC as a title sponsor, forced Mayor Tom Murphy to cancel the 2004 race.

A 26.2 Mile Longing
Along with Fetting and thousands of other runners, Dr. Jennifer Rudin had a pang inside that wouldn’t go away.

“The first time I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon was, unfortunately, in 2003, the last year the event was held,” says Dr. Rudin, a Squirrel Hill physician specializing in infectious disease with the West Penn Allegheny Forbes Regional Center.

Fetting and Rudin both went to the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon in 2006 – Rudin to run and Fetting to watch her husband Mark run.  Both came home with the exact same question: Why couldn’t the marathon come back to Pittsburgh? 

They each wrote nearly identical letters to Mayor Bob O’Connor, asking for his help to bring the race back.   A spark was ignited.

The mayor had the keen instinct to plan a meeting and bring both together, thus making the introduction of the two women who would lead the movement to resurrect the Pittsburgh Marathon. Unfortunately, within weeks of the meeting, Mayor O’Connor became ill and died of cancer only a short time later.

“The death of the mayor was devastating for the city and once again, we had to place our idea on hold. We kept running into road blocks,” Rudin explains “but the momentum had begun and Michele and I formed a friendship. We shared a vision that brought us together – and we were committed to seeing it through.”

Fetting and Rudin persisted. Gaining the support of Luke Ravenstahl as the new mayor and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, the missing catalyst was a title sponsor for the marathon.

Fetting worked for two years trying to find the perfect sponsor – but the daunting challenges of the marathon seemed minimal when the next hurdle she faced suddenly threw things off of her own course.

In August of 2007, Michele was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. For several months, she went through treatment and chemotherapy and was thrilled at the start of 2008 when a PET/CT scan came back clean. She wasted no time getting back in shape to run a marathon later in the year, but by April, another CT scan showed that her remission was short-lived and the cancer was back.

“I had three young children and was going through chemotherapy at the time,” Fetting recalls. “But the marathon was something I strongly believed in. It wasn’t something I would easily give up on because I knew there were thousands who also wanted the event to come back.”

“Initially, Jennie and I did not have a lot of people helping us. We felt like we were on our own.  There were moments when I was ready to give up, and someone would call or e-mail and give a glimmer of hope that would get us going again.”

That glimmer of hope became brighter when Dick’s Sporting Goods agreed to be the title sponsor. As a Pittsburgh-based company, and with the leadership of senior VP Jeff Hennion, Dick’s saw the possibilities of resurrecting the Pittsburgh Marathon.  “They were a perfect fit,” said Fetting.  “And the best part of their sponsorship was not just putting their name on it – they wanted to create one of the best marathons in the country.”

Shortly after, Philips Respironics agreed to sponsor the half-marathon event – and the pieces started falling into place.   A core team and board of directors was formed and legal counsel/local runner Lou Kushner filed paperwork to recreate the official marathon entity. Fetting became president of the board.

With the key sponsors and board in place, a race director was needed to begin the intensive planning process. Patrice Matamoros was a woman Fetting knew who had launched the “Run for Fun” program for kids and families to train for a 5K in the Fox Chapel School District.  Fetting was impressed with Matamoros’ ability to organize the training program, plan a race, and secure over $50,000 in sponsorships to benefit the UPMC St. Margaret Foundation. 

Fetting knew that this was the kind of multi-tasking that would be necessary for the marathon and hand-picked Matamoros to be involved.

“I was so amazed with her courageous battle with cancer while continuing to work on the race," says Matamoros. "She had been through three mayors and countless meetings, all while raising a family and going through chemotherapy. I told her that I would support her in any way that she needed me.”

That’s when Fetting told her, “I really want you to be the race director.”

Matamoros did not hesitate. “Running is part of who I am and after seeing what Michele has done on her own, mentally, physically and emotionally, I wanted to carry through for her. I owe it to Michele, to the runners and to the city of Pittsburgh to carry off this event. I feel that this is her baby and I’m raising it,” she says.

Ones to Watch
The Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon was recently listed in Running Times as one of the Top Marathons to Watch. The event had grown to more than 6,000 runners by its final year in 2003 and was considered to be among the top five marathons in the country, even hosting past National Championships and Olympic Trials.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, Phillips Respironics Half Marathon and Fed Ex Ground Relay (a four person marathon relay) already has about 5500 runners registered from all 50 states and five countries.  Volunteers are planning neighborhood celebrations and booking bands to play along the course – joining the Pittsburgh region together in a spirit that promotes health and wellbeing – beyond race day.

Fetting’s health has taken a positive turn as well. During the past nine months, she has undergone the most aggressive and effective treatment available – high dose chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplant, the grueling procedure of using her own cells.  Her first scan, on February 16th, was clean – and she is hoping to cross the finish line of the Pittsburgh Marathon for the 10th time this year.

And now? “My work on the marathon has come from the heart, “says Fetting. “That’s the only way I’ve been able to continue working on it. I’m thrilled that the city is able to experience it again. And the runners are also in for a real treat – the rivers and beautiful topography, the people, the music, the smell of barbeque.  This is what defines our marathon.  And you won’t find anything like it anywhere else in the world.”

No doubt on May 3 when the marathon is finally here, Fetting, Rudin and Matamoros will discover thousands of runners, along with a city of Pittsurghers lining the streets, who are grateful for the persistence of a dream.

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Joann Cantrell is a freelance writer. Inspired by Michele Fetting, she will be running a relay leg of The Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon in memory of her brother, Don Bugrin. Don was one of the oldest lifelong patients of Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital and the marathon falls on May 3, what would have been his 40th birthday.

You can visit the Pittsburgh Marathon at http://www.pittsburghmarathon.com/.

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Image of Patrice Matamoros courtesy Patrice; bottom picture of Michele Fetting courtesy Michele; marathon courtesy Pittsburgh Marathon.

Michele Fetting (top) and Jennie Rudin copyright Brian Cohen