When she was growing up, Marilyn Olsen of North Olmsted says girls didn’t play sports. She herself was a party girl, preferring dancing to any organized exercise.
“When I got out of high school, it was the bars or the ballrooms,” Olsen said. “Never, never anything athletic, but the dancing was good.”
That changed when she was 45. A coworker recommended that Olsen join her for a race, and from there she fell in love with the sport of running. She ended up placing third in her first 5K.
“I tried it and I liked it. And it kept me fit — I could eat potato chips,” she said with a laugh.
Olsen, now 90, has been running ever since. Most recently she competed in a Skeleton Run in Amherst, dressed as Big Bird. She races nearly 40 times a year, and has been all around the world.
Olsen said she’s lost track of her total number of races. And for good reason: Her trophy case is filled with medals, plaques and trophies. She said she has even more awards in her basement and attic.
But one favorite event stands out.
“We did a half marathon in Switzerland and that was a real experience,” Olsen said.
The race was 17 miles, and the course was gorgeous — winding through mountains, caves, trestles and gorges. She finished in 3 hours and 15 minutes, by which time the medals were gone.
“I started crying, because that was a lot of work and you wanted to have something to show for it,” Olsen said. “So then, one of the ladies there said, ‘Here, take mine. I live here and I'll get one later on.’ So that was nice.”
Olsen is no slouch when it comes to her training regiment. Now that she’s retired, she has more time to focus on staying in shape.
“When I get up in the morning, before I get out of bed, I do a half hour of stretches," Olsen said. “They're just stretches to help the body get attuned to the day.”
After her stretches, Olsen goes to a Silver Sneaker exercise class for seniors. She said if she misses a workout — which she rarely does — then she’ll exercise at home instead. Then, in the afternoons, she walks around her neighborhood for about an hour.
“So that's kind of like how my day goes fitness-wise,” Olsen said, before breaking into another laugh. “And then, I sit and eat potato chips.”
Olsen said she doesn’t see the big deal people make of her hobby.
“I don't feel I'm that unusual, but some people, I guess think because you're 90, you're supposed to be one foot in the grave or something,” Olsen said. “I don't feel like I'm 90, and I don 't act it either.”
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