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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mirror Marathoners Born In Germany, Living In The Valley And Sharing A Love Of Running, Two Women Have Traveled Parallel Courses

Until they ran against one another 16 years ago in the Spokane Marathon, 7,000 miles from their homeland, Gunhild Swanson and Chris Olson had never met.

Yet they had led mirror lives in numerous ways.

Swanson and Olson were raised in neighboring German towns, married American military men as teens and came to this country.

Although both have lived in the United States for more than 30 years, neither has found it compelling to gain citizenship.

They raised families in Spokane and eventually moved to the Valley.

Despite their like backgrounds, the pair do not socialize.

“We’ve never talked to each other about our similarities,” said Olson.

“Just enough to know we’re basically from the same area and that our circumstances are the same, but never in great detail,” said Swanson.

But when they began running 18 years ago in Spokane, their common passion ultimately linked the pair.

Swanson and Olson were born two years apart in Babenhausen and Phungstadt, respectively, small towns near the city of Frankfurt, Germany.

“I think we lived maybe 20 miles apart and never knew it, darn it,” Olson said.

Neither was an athlete. Growing up there were few sporting opportunities for girls.

At age 18, Swanson married her first husband, Joe Morlan, an Army man stationed in Babenhausen, and arrived here in 1963.

“He was getting out of the service and came straight to Spokane,” she said.

Olson married her husband, James, stationed with the Air Force at Darmstadt, in 1966 at age 19. He was transferred to Los Angeles in January, 1967.

“It was a little frightening,” said Olson, who barely spoke English and had a 4-month-old son. “I was bundled up in winter clothes and here it was 85 degrees.”

Added Gunhild, who was pregnant with her first child, “I didn’t bother to ask questions about where I was going. Luckily the climates were similar.”

Olson’s husband, who had no high school diploma, left the Air Force with no money and his GED and entered college.

He moved to Spokane in 1976, got his law degree at Gonzaga University and has remained as a practicing attorney.

Olson’s first job was in a California dime store.

Today she is a self-employed accountant, managing family trusts.

Swanson, a claims adjuster for Safeco Insurance since 1979, was divorced in 1985 and remarried fellow runner Jack Swanson a year later.

For various reasons, the two took up jogging at about the same time in 1977-78. Today, running is a compulsion.

“Obviously we enjoy it,” said Olson, trying to explain the lure. “But it’s an addiction.”

“It becomes a lifestyle,” added Swanson. “Sometimes getting out the door is tough. But it feels so good.”

For Olson it was a way to compensate for the inevitable weight gain that would come with giving up smoking after 15 years.

“I got tired of my own smell,” she said. “There were ash trays everywhere and I couldn’t go anywhere without a pack.”

Swanson began by taking aerobics. She wound up spending an extra half-hour after class to run.

Like all beginning joggers, both struggled to complete a mile. Olson would train at night to avoid the embarrassment of being seen.

Ultimately, Swanson set her sights on running Bloomsday.

“Three of us egged each other on,” she said. “Once I decided, I became a demon.”

Both had a similar style: run as hard as they could for as long as possible, rest up and go again.

“It must be something with our heritage,” said Olson. “My problem was I did not have enough patience. I wanted to get it over with.”

From humble beginnings they graduated to the Spokane Marathon in 1980. Olson won the women’s race in 3 hours, 19 minutes. Swanson finished second at 3:24.

“It was probably the following year we were actually introduced by a mutual acquaintance,” said Swanson.

Since then Swanson has run 71 of the 26-mile, 385-yard events. A knee injury in the early 1980s caused Olson to take up cycling.

“To my amazement I was a better cyclist than runner,” she said.

In 1988 she finished first in a national time trial in Pensacola, Fla. A year later, burned out on the sport, she put her bike in a corner.

The pair train as often as twice a day and run between 40 and 65 miles per week.

During successive weeks in late September and early October, Swanson and her husband ran the Portland Marathon, the Colbert Half-Marathon, the Victoria Marathon in Canada, the Humboldt/ Redwoods Marathon in California and Tri-Cities Marathon. Her times were all under 3:30.

Swanson will run her 72nd marathon, in Seattle on Thanksgiving weekend, in preparation for a 50-mile ultra-marathon, Dec. 14 in Texas.

Swanson’s son, Chris Morlan, who began running with her as a youngster, last year qualified for and ran in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials.

Olson’s husband isn’t a runner, but is no less supportive. He brings a newspaper and drives to locations at three-mile intervals to give the runners water and kind words.

“He said he wasn’t born to run,” said Swanson. “He loves to sail. That’s his passion.”

Why, after three decades of life in the United States, have they not become citizens?

“My husband says I should, every once in awhile,” said Olson. “But I don’t want too.”

Swanson said the she is a contributing member of society, and pays taxes.

“I have not found it to be a disadvantage not to be a citizen,” she said. “The only thing I can’t do is vote.”

Neither, however, would change their lives. From the first day she set foot on U.S. soil, Olson said she was born again.

“I just loved it,” she said. “Not the language barrier or the insecurity, but the freedom and diversity of lifestyles.”

They have learned during visits that Germany is no longer home.

“Germany is old, conventional and small minded,” said Swanson. “Here people are open and friendly. You can do your own thing.”

For these two Valley women, it means going out somewhere in this vast country for a long-distance run.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)