Oswego YMCA

249 West First Street
Oswego, NY 13126
(315) 343-1981

                           

MY LIFE AS A RUNNER                        

Running did not become a part of my life untill the age of 40.  My brother had started to run and told me how much fun it really was.   The Corporate Challenge, a race which is held every year, is attended by my many friends who would run and have a great time.  Finally, I decided I would run the Corporate Challenge.  A couple of my soon to be running friends told me to run some other races before the Corporate Challenge just to see what it was like to actually run in some races.  At first I thought, this is not for me, but then every race I participated in after that made me feel a little more confident as my time  became a little faster at each one, not to mention I always felt so much better when I finished the races. I was hooked on running and went to every race in the area.  The very best part of running was all of the friends that I made at the races here and now all over the United States.

After 5 years of running the shorter distances, my running friends decided that I needed to run a marathon.  So, on November 3, 1991 I ran the Marine Corp Marathon.  As soon as I finished I told myself I would never run another marathon again.  After a few days the pain eased and I thought it wasn't so bad after all and continued on my marathon career, never dreaming I would run 100 marathons in my life. 

My first marathon goal, of course to finish the marathon and then my second was to run the New York City Marathon.  You get into the NY City Marathon by a lottery and it took me a couple of years to do that.  After running the New York City marathon, and everyone needs to do this for the experience, I wanted to qualify to run the Boston Marathon.   Not being a very fast runner, I finally had to hire a coach to help.  About ready to give up on this dream I qualified at the Pittsburg, PA Marathon and that was after running 8 marathons.  It was the thrill of my life to be able to run in the 100^th running of the Boston Marathon along with 36,000 other runners!

When I finished this goal, I wondered what I should do next and ended up reading this article in Runner’s World Magazine about running a marathon in every state in the United States.  So, off I went to see the United States and ran the 50 marathons.  My husband Larry, son Matt and daughter Amy were my very best supporters as they traveled with me many times all over the United States. Other wonderful supporters who I would travel with included Sam and Sue Familo, Kathy Hatter, Karen Davies, Cathy Troisi,  Elsa Hickey, Debbie Smith , Sue and Fran Talaber, Elaine Devereaux, Diane Goode, Julie  Ball , Miles Ross and my brother Roger to name a few.  We had a wonderful time and with so much to see in our beautiful United States.

Everything was going along as planned until January 2002.  During a routine mammogram they found a suspicious lump and after further testing it was determined I had Breast Cancer.  With a marathon already scheduled I talked my surgeon into delaying the surgery for one week so I could run one more marathon in my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. 

I had opted to have a double mastectomy with no reconstruction.  After a very lengthy discussion with my surgeon, he agreed to this request because I could not run with just one breast...  The day after surgery my surgeon walked in to tell me I had made a decision of a life time with my request for a double mastectomy, as it turned out I had cancer in both breasts and it would have only been a matter of time until the cancer would invade my second breast.  

I do credit running with saving my life because I would not have made the decision for a double mastectomy otherwise... The down side was the cancer had spread into my lymph nodes and I needed chemotherapy.  After visiting my oncologist about the chemotherapy he did agree to delay the chemotherapy for another week so I could run one more marathon, five weeks after surgery and before starting my chemotherapy.   During my chemotherapy I did not have the energy to run the long distances, and I didn't. This period of time was a very dark down time for me.  Author Joe Henderson had e-mailed me and stated,  "running even 5 minutes would be okay and that I would be back running marathons in no time."  I did run some during Chemotherapy, but often limited it to 5 minutes due to exhaustion, but I did keep running and working during my chemotherapy.  I never missed one day of work in the busy Emergency Room Department at Crouse Hospital, where I have worked as an RN for 38 years on the 7pm-7am shift.

I just kept my thoughts, during this period of time, on the future of traveling and running a marathon in October and seeing our friends in South Dakota, that is what kept me going.  Running friends, work friends and family accompanied me to the chemotherapy treatments, which always kept my sprits high.

October came and I did run in South Dakota it wasn't fast, but I was back to running marathons again.    With my ordeal with cancer  and not knowing just how much longer I would live, I picked up the marathon pace and started running 1-3 marathons a month in different states.  In October 2004 I would complete my quest for running a marathon in all 50 states, with my friend Sam holding my hand as we crossed the finish line together in Durango, CO.  What a thrill it was! Tears came to my eyes as I crossed the line alive and well, to think I have been in every state in the United States to run a marathon. I was still alive and feeling fine and wondered if I could run more marathons.  It just didn't seem right to stop at this time, so I kept going.  

My dream now is to complete 100 marathons.  As the 100 mark grew very close Sam thought it would be a wonderful idea to have a local marathon in Fulton, NY.  So we contacted the YMCA in Fulton and Oswego to see if this would be possible.  They agreed, so we set the date of October 12, 2008 which is now set for my 100^th marathon locally.

 

Many friends are planning to run their first marathon ever on October 12th.  It is just so thrilling to see so many excited about this very special marathon and to have it run locally makes it even more special. 

The name of the marathon is the "Century Marathon" with the slogan being “100 IS ENOUGH”.  And 100 is truly enough for me!  I am looking forward to running the shorter local races and seeing the many friends I have not seen for a very long time due to all of the traveling for the last several years. 

I will never stop running, and will do so only when I can no longer put one foot in front of the other.  Many thanks to my friend Sam who had this wonderful dream to have my 100th marathon be a local event and to Betty Fadden from the Fulton Y and Kim McPherson from the Oswego Y who is making this dream come true for me.

 

Happy Running.

Ruthie

 

   

News