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The reminders never left Chris Peters.
An estimated 50 people rescued during his four years serving the U.S. Coast Guard in the 1970s. A close friend who died of pancreatic cancer. A head-on collision caused by a drunk driver in 1982, leaving Peters with a broken neck and kneecap, and the devastating loss of his girlfriend.
After witnessing the fragility of life, Peters chose not to dwell on his grief and misfortune.
“I thought, ‘You have this great gift of health. You might as well do something with it,’” he said.
A former Pittsburgh resident who now lives in Severna Park, Peters ran his first marathon in Toronto at the age of 48. He intended it to be his only one. One year later, in 2006, he registered for a marathon in China.
“China was fascinating — only 300 people (did the run), so I was on part of the Great Wall by myself,” he said. “The wall was closed off to tourists.”
The China race showed him that he could still improve at endurance running.
“I still had a lot to learn about proper hydration, fuel and salt,” Peters said, noting that his aha moment came when another runner gave him a salt tablet.
With help from Marathon Tours & Travel, a Boston-based agency, he planned to become part of the Seven Continents Club. As the name suggests, the club encourages runners to complete marathons or half-marathons on every continent.
He created fond memories with every race. Because Easter Island is only about 15 miles long at its widest point, Peters’ wife, Kelly O’Toole, followed him on a scooter for part of the run. Along the way, large Moai statues with somber faces and elongated noses greeted the visitors.
Antarctica offered close views of penguin colonies and humpback whales, after a few unsettling moments.
“We took a Russian research vessel through Drake’s Passage,” Peters said. “That was rough because of the waves and storms.”
During each marathon, O’Toole cheered for her husband while sporting a crab hat she purchased in Annapolis. The hat quickly became a favorite sight wherever the couple traveled.
The good vibes continued for a decade. Five races in with two to go, Peters received unwelcome news in 2015: stage 3 throat cancer. O’Toole recalled details of the diagnosis.
“He had a tumor the size of a golf ball lodged in his throat,” O’Toole said. “He underwent a grueling treatment plan – 39 radiation sessions and three day-long sessions of a chemo that took away his sense of taste and all saliva.”
“He had a trach and feeding tube – I nicknamed him Swiss cheese because of how many holes he had in his body,” O’Toole said. “He lost a good portion of his body weight, and he was sleeping upwards of 20-plus hours a day toward the end of treatment. He went through it all with grace and humor.”
Peters cited one example of maintaining his good spirits. “We took a picture where (Kelly) has a margarita and I have a feeding tube and we clinked them together,” Peters said.
Determined to reach the last two continents on his list — Australia and Africa — Peters started from step one. The first time after beating cancer, he ran half a mile. “It was like a lope,” he said.
O’Toole said, “He donned a singlet and shorts, with arms and legs like sticks jutting out. He shuffled 150 yards to the end of our street the first day and walked back. The next day, he added yardage.”
He continued building up his mileage until, in 2016, he had a recurrence of cancer. This time, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital were able to remove the new tumor.
Peters completed the Sydney Marathon in 2019 to cross Australia off the list. With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing and a newly diagnosed autoimmune disease, the seventh marathon remained out of reach until this summer.
His final competitive run was the Big Five Marathon on a game preserve in South Africa this June at age 67.
The marathon had to be delayed by 15 minutes because rhinos entered the course. Next, another 15-minute delay, this time for cheetahs. Once it got underway, the marathon was no walk in the park. Peters suffered severe leg cramps and conditions that caused several younger runners to pull out of the event.
“The course had a 1,900-foot elevation change in a mile and a half,” Peters said. “The roads were like packed dirt … and because of a recent flood, we were running on miles and miles of sand.”
At the end of the race, he was greeted by a “loud, deafening roar.” Many of the runners had stayed to congratulate him on ending the race, even though he was last to cross the finish line.
“I knew it was my final race,” he said. “Kelly was at the end, so that was emotional for me.”
With that feat, Peters capped a nearly 20-year effort to join the Seven Continents Club. Since the club formed in 1995, 758 men and 426 women have completed the quest at the marathon distance.
Now 68 years old, Peters plans to continue traveling the world, cycling instead of running competitively. He will stay connected to running by volunteering with the Annapolis Striders.
Though the reminders of injuries and personal loss have never left him, Peters uses them as motivation to live life to the fullest.
“Long runs can be boring, so I go through the people we’ve lost,” he said. “That list has gotten longer and longer.
“I run because I can and others can’t,” Peters added. “There are so many people with different challenges in life who would do anything to do this. It’s a gift.”
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