Motivated to run

ST. CHARLES – Glen Kamps said he has watched people lose hundreds of pounds and slowly ween off certain medications after they’ve joined his running club.

He and his coworkers at Dick Pond Athletics in St. Charles organize a running club that helps people who have never been runners work their way toward completing a marathon or half-marathon.

Kamps organizes the second phase of the club called Next Step, which is for runners who can run at least three miles.

The group members meet at 7 a.m. every Saturday, rain or shine, and they run varying 5- to 6-mile routes in the area.

“Once you start running, you start eating better and sleeping better,” he said.

Kamps, 59, said the hardest part about starting a running routine and getting in better shape is taking that first step. He said it doesn’t necessarily have to be running – it can also be biking, or whatever suits a person best.

He said when people first join the club as non-runners, some walk or jog slowly during certain parts of the route.

“You can [become a runner] if you do it in bits and pieces,” he said. “The key is to just do something.”

Kirsten Pond, one of the people who nominated Kamps as an Everyday Hero, said between working as a manager at Dick Pond Athletics and organizing the running club, he works more than 70 hours each week. Pond helps run Dick Pond Athletics, which was started by her father, who died from leukemia. Kamps was the only full-time employee with the company, and Pond largely credits him for expanding the business to what it is today.

She said Kamps is involved with more than 30 races in the Kane County area, and can usually be found on the sidelines cheering on runners and passing out bottles of water.

“Glen is the face of Dick Pond Athletics in Kane County,” Pond said. “He has a huge responsibility for the Fox Valley Marathon, so he hosts training runs and got almost 200 people started before the marathon.”

Kamps said he’s been involved with the running club for five years. He said when he started working at the St. Charles branch of Dick Pond Athletics, he wanted to get to know the people in the area better.

In addition to helping people start running, Kamps and the members of his club have made it a habit to look for loose change on the ground during their weekly runs. The group spends all the money it finds at a trip to Aldi to purchase food to donate to The Salvation Army.

“Last year, we found over $400 in pennies on the ground,” Kamps said. “[The running club] is way beyond the store and it’s slightly beyond the people running. It’s helping people become better people.”

The Kamps lowdown

Name: Glen Kamps

Town of residence: St. Charles

Age: 59

Family: Daughter, Ellen; and son, Dean

Hobbies: Running and helping people become runners

Fun fact: Kamps used to be a teacher, and he taught his current boss in his seventh-grade class.