Ruthies 97th Marathon
The end of my marathon running is fast approaching with 100 as a goal for my
life time. This past weekend Sam Familo, Kathy Hatter and I traveled to
Stroudsburg, PA and ran the Run For The Red Marathon in the Pocono Mountains to
support the Red Cross. I had never been to the Pocono Mountains and thought
this would be a great marathon to run for my 97th.
We stayed within walking distance of the Finish Line and were bused to the
start. It was a small marathon with about 400 runners in the marathon. Just
the kind of marathon that I enjoy, small and out in the country. The hardest
parts were all the steep down hills. Many think that running a down hill
marathon would be easy but it is really one of the hardest marathons you can
run and your quads are painful much longer after the marathon. The day was
perfect with the temperatures in the 40's to start and in the 60's to finish.
We were just a little nervous to begin with our bus driver who said he did
not know the way to the start and anyone that did could just yell out
directions as we went along. The bus driver did map quest the directions but he
still was not sure how to drive to the start. We did make it to the start with
runners directions and stayed warm in the elementary school. The water stops
were very adequate and the down hills became killers. After 8 miles I was
wondering about my legs because they felt like they had been trashed already
and the finish line was a long, long ways off.
I finally started to feel better and kept going and chatting with several
very friendly runners along the way who said they would come to my 100th
marathon in October in Fulton.
We finished the marathon on the school cinder track. Something I had not
been on in many years. I finished last in my age group or third and did
receive a trophy with a time of 4:30:59 chip time. Sam witnessed my charge to the
finish line to come in at 4:30 and knew what my final push was for and
laughed.
He then loaded us in the car and headed home. Sam elected to do only the 5K
due to a respiratory illness, and Kathy was in at 3:59 with very painful
quads already. It is sad to think this is the last time I will be traveling
with other running friends to a marathon to run and staying overnight. I have
so many wonderful memories of all the great times I have traveled with many
running friends to the marathons. On May 8th I will be flying out with Larry on
our last flight to Ames, IA to run a FREE marathon on Mother's Day. The
marathon is free because I am a mother. You just have to bring your child as
proof or a picture to have free entry into the marathon.
Happy Running,
Ruthie
