Tammy Dewey (l), of Algoma Township, and her daughter, Janna Miller, (r) after the Charlevoix 10K run

What started out as a way to keep her husband fit and healthy has turned into something more for a local runner.
Tammy Dewey,  of Algoma Township, will lead the way across the Mackinac Bridge at sunrise, along with nearly 400 other runners, before the traditional Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Walk  on Monday, September 5.
She was selected as one of the 400 runners in the Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Run lottery, and her inspiring story helped her to be chosen as one of 11 fitness ambassadors by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports. As a fitness ambassador, Dewey serves as a role model for health, fitness and physical activity to all Michigan residents.
Dewey, a respiratory therapist for Metron in Greenville and Cedar Springs, said she began running after her second husband, Dan, was diagnosed with the same cancer that had taken the life of her first husband. To keep her husband fit and healthy for a liver transplant, she began to exercise with him.
“He was walking the trail, and I was running back and forth,” she said.
Her husband received a liver transplant two years ago at University of Michigan and is now healthy. And Dewey is still running. She runs 25-35 miles weekly on nearby trails and tries to run at least one 5K or 10K race monthly. Dewey and her sister have also participated in the Fifth Third River Bank Run every year since 2007, which was Dewey’s first race.
This year, she set her sights on Mackinac. “I really wanted to run the Mackinac race this year,” said Dewey. She first had to run a qualifying race, then 400 participants were chosen through an online lottery drawing. She then was also chosen as a fitness ambassador. “It was kind of like a double whammy,” said Dewey. “I’m really excited—I’m working really hard for this.”
To sweeten the deal even more, her daughter, Janna Miller, 27, also was chosen through the lottery. “I really wanted to run it with her. We get to do it together,” she said.
Dewey also has a son, Jim Eddy, 30, and two grandchildren.
For more info on the Michigan Fitness Foundation, visit www.michiganfitness.org.