Oswego YMCA

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

Lake Placid Marathon was a beautiful choice for marathon #99. Larry and I
stayed at the Golden Arrow which was the host hotel and our room over looked
Mirror Lake. There were 1,600 runners which included the marathon, half
marathon and relay teams.

Sunday morning was a perfect start with the sun shinning and the
temperatures starting about 58 degrees at 8 but quickly warmed to a hot 80 degrees for
the runners. Our first mile was on Main Street through the center of town.
From there we continued around beautiful picturesque Mirror Lake and through
rolling hills and out to the country side. The runners were very friendly
and I talked with several along the way to find out many were running their
very first marathon. The water stops were very adequate and the volunteers
were very supportive . We make a big loop on a pine tree lined country road
and headed back to the finish to leave off the half marathons just before the
hills to the finish line. The marathoners went back to do about the same loop
again except for Mirror Lake. This time we circled the equestrian stables
and were on dirt paths. I thought we would turn around at the same spot but
this time we had to run an additional mile to turn around. On the way back
each time the runners were able to view the Olympic high ski jumps on the
mountain sides. I would still rather run 99 marathons as opposed to going down
those ski jumps. I was in awe each time we passed the jumps. At about the
23 mile marker the hills became very steep. It was just uphill and
something you did not want to see at this distance. The hardest part was the climb
up to the Olympic Oval which the runners ran around to the finish line on the
famous Oval.

Once again I was the oldest runner and the only one in my age group so I did
place first in my age group with a time of 4:44:50 and was very pleased with
this time as the day had become very hot for me and the hills very steep.

Only one more marathon to go to run my goal of 100 marathons. I hope you
will all be there to help me celebrate Health, Life and 100 marathons at the
Century Marathon and Half Marathon on October 12 in Fulton, NY.

Happy Running,

Ruthie

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