Joan Mauch was at work one day when a young colleague begged her to join an office team and participate in East Moline's Firecracker Run, a competitive 5-kilometer race held annually on the Fourth of July.

Mauch, 69, and with no athletics in her background, suspected that she was getting the invitation so others in her workplace would not finish last. Still, she likes to stay busy, so she accepted the challenge and downloaded a computer program - From Couch to 5K - to help her train.

She did not finish last in that 2008 event. In fact, she was more enthusiastic than she expected to be and sought out a class on running at the Bettendorf Life Fitness Center. She now runs many miles a week and has competed in several races, including the Quad-City Times Bix 7 and the half-marathon that is part of the Quad-Cities Marathon.

These days she is training for the Bix 7 that will take place in about three weeks and runs four to five miles on Mondays with her classmates, the Thursday evening Bix at 6 practices and a five- to seven-mile trek on Saturday mornings.

She is having a ball.

"When you start to run, your head tells you that you can't do it. You have to get past that," she said. "The rewards from this are just amazing."

Mauch, who is fit and petite, has lowered her cholesterol levels by more than 100 points, feels more energetic than she has in years and has lost some weight. She works hard to increase her speed and is running a mile in about 13 1/2 minutes on average.

Moved back home

Mauch used to be vice president of marketing and public relations for the Appraisal Institute, a downtown Chicago firm for professional real estate appraisers. She lived in suburban Evanston, Ill., while raising her son. Now an adult, he is a news videographer for Fox Television in Tampa, Fla.

She has roots in the Quad-Cities and lived in Rock Island for six years while attending junior high and high school. A year after graduating from Alleman High School, she headed to Chicago to earn degrees from Mundelein College and Loyola University.

Mauch began her career as a teacher and also worked in the social services field for a firm that found housing for minority residents. She's interested in politics, too, but she settled into a niche at the Appraisal Institute, from which she retired about five years ago.

Interested in selling her Evanston home, Mauch considered moving to smaller Illinois communities before she visited her closest girlfriend in Bettendorf. She had returned to Rock Island several times to visit her mother and still has relatives and friends in the area.

"But people were surprised when I moved home," she said. It took her only four days to sell the house in Evanston and another four days to find a pretty Cape Cod-style home near Davenport's Duck Creek Park that she simply loves.

"I am just stunned by the beauty of the Quad Cities," she said, noting that she never noticed or appreciated the area's natural assets as a teenager.

Runs safely

Mauch credits running class instructor Ray Porter with being the big reason why she, as a former non-athlete, now competes in road races.

"Joan is like a whole new woman," Porter said. A lifelong runner and a Lutheran minister for 27 years, Porter moved to the Quad-Cities two years ago and is the community impact manager for the United Way of the Quad-Cities Area.

Porter also teaches karate classes at the Life Fitness Center, and Mauch has been in his running class from the start. "It's more like a support group," she said.

"After she did the Bix 7 last year, she was elated," he said. "She did have some serious concerns about the Quad-Cities Marathon, but she did the 13.1-mile half-marathon event, and when she finished that, her expression was priceless. She got a whole new lease on life."

Porter preaches safety during running, which Mauch appreciates. "Too many of us try to run as fast as we can or to build miles too quickly. That's when injuries happen," he said.

"Running can wear a body down. You have to start out very slowly and gradually build up," he added.

Mauch has been careful as she runs, but she has had muscle strains and once pulled a hamstring.

"That hurt like crazy!" she said. She also experienced shortness of breath and chest pains one day, which she immediately reported to Porter. Mauch then went to her doctor, who ran stress tests and discovered that she has exercise-induced asthma.

"Now I've learned to control that," she said, noting that it basically requires her to exercise a bit before the actual workout begins. She also maintains her running shoes in good condition by replacing them every 300 miles and uses a hand-held gadget to track her time.

Running is fun for Mauch even though it presents a challenge.

"But when you finish, how good you feel!" she said.