Courtesy photo Nikki Decker competes in the Erie Marathon.

Nikki Decker had never run an organized road race until after her 40th birthday, when she competed in the 2017 Angie Gioiosa Memorial Fourth of July 5K race in downtown Altoona and finished the 3.1-mile course in an average time of less than 10 minutes per mile.

“I think I averaged a 9:49 mile time through that race, and I was over the moon about it,” said the 1994 Central High School graduate who now lives in Pittsburgh. “I didn’t know anything about running back then, and the great thing is that I didn’t worry about pace or anything because I didn’t know any better.

“When I finished that race, I was addicted to running,” added Decker, 49, who works as an account manager for an IT consulting company. “I thought it was the greatest thing in the world, and I was so excited. Everything literally took off from there.”

Since that time, Decker has run seven full 26.1-mile marathons and 19 half-marathons, along with some 36-mile trail challenges and four ultra trail marathons.

Late last year, she completed three full marathons in three months at different venues around the country, while qualifying twice for the 2025 Boston Marathon, which will be held Monday.

It will be Decker’s first appearance at the prestigious Boston race, and being part of its field on race day is an accomplishment that Decker had long considered to be beyond her reach.

“A lot of runners will tell you straight up that they’re trying to qualify for Boston, that they’re chasing it, that they want it,” Decker said. “Boston was something that I truly never went after because I honestly never thought that it was in reach for me.”

Her thoughts changed when she punched her ticket to this year’s Boston Marathon while earning a qualifying time of 3 hours, 38 minutes, 29 seconds in last September’s Erie Marathon. Two months later, in November, Decker completed the Las Vegas Marathon in a time of 3:33:34 –which was a personal marathon best for her and gave her a second qualifying time for Boston.

Decker ushered out 2024 by running and completing the Tuscon (Ariz.) Marathon last December.

“I ran three in three months,” said Decker, who first began running recreationally back in 2016. “I kind of burned myself out by that time, but to make it to Boston will be so exciting.”

Decker’s fiance, Dustin DeBonis, also resides in Pittsburgh and is a marathon runner himself. The couple met on Instagram in 2020 and began dating and running together in 2021. DeBonis will not run in Boston but will be on hand there to support Decker. Both of them plan to compete in the Pittsburgh Marathon next month.

“We are both runners, and we followed each other on social media,” DeBonis said. “Our enjoyment of running brought us together.”

Decker and DeBonis ran the 2022 Mesa, Ariz. Marathon together.

“She had already run a previous marathon in Chicago, but she was really hesitant to sign up for Mesa because she was scared of the marathon distance, even though she had run one before, but I think that Chicago Marathon had beaten her up pretty badly,” DeBonis said.

“It’s been incredible to watch her grow as a runner and as a person. I’m really proud of her.”

Decker believes that keeping a steady pace at Boston will be important for her.

“Anybody who knows anything about the Boston Marathon knows that it is a pretty tough course,” Decker said. “You have Heartbreak Hill and actually another set of other rolling hills in there, so my goal for Boston, honestly, is to take in every single mile, to cross that finish line smiling, and to get a finisher’s medal and jacket.”

Decker’s perseverance in distance running is matched by her perseverance in life itself.

She was sidelined from competition for eight weeks in 2022 after suffering a broken foot, and in December 2023, she said that doctors discovered a very large mass on her uterus. She underwent a complete hysterectomy, and the mass turned out to be benign, but the experience allowed her to gain a new perspective.

“It was a scary time for sure, but honestly, I think that having come through that and having the gift of running has been such a blessing,” said Decker, who had surgery in February 2024 and was cleared to resume running six weeks later. “I have never taken running for granted, and making it to Boston now is, I think, a reflection of my dedication to running.

“I’ve faced some pretty big medical setbacks and I’ve never quit,” added Decker, whose parents and three grown sisters still live in the Cove area, and who has an adult son who resides in Altoona. “And every time that I faced an obstacle on the road, I got through it and would get back at (running), so I think that going to Boston is so special to me for that reason.”