89 Year Old Runs Up Mount Washington!

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Yeah, he ran an 8-mile course up the mountain - 5,000 feet uphill! Kudos!
I was so inspired by the recent marathon accomplishments of Momof WildChild and Golfing Mom that I just HAD to post this for everyone to see. Wow. </p>

<p>Hey girls, I don’t know how old you are but I bet you have at least 40 more years of fun competition in your future!</p>

<p>[State</a> College man conquers mountain again | Penn State News | Local - Centre Daily Times](<a href=“http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1364832.html]State”>http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/1364832.html)</p>

2

<p>Wow! He looks good for 89. My 89 yo father-in-law with Parkinson’s can barely make it down the hall of his apartment bldg.</p>

3

<p>I’ve read about this race. I’ve also seen Mt. Washington. Maybe I should celebrate turning 50 next year by running it.</p>

4

<p>Wow! That’s awesome.</p>

5

<p>He’s amazing. I’m out of breath just reading the article.</p>

<p>btw The drive up Mt Washington (that used to be a popular bumper sticker, “this car climbed Mt Washington”, or something like that) is still the scariest of my life, years later. Worse than any road I’ve driven out west, in higher mountains, including the Cal coast. I remember hairpin turns, white knuckles and no guard rails…just straight down.</p>

6

<p>My H has ran (and biked) Mt. Washington several times (but not anymore), and it’s a brutal race. Hats off to Mr. Etzweiler.</p>

<p>2331clk - I’ve driven Mt. Washington so many times (since I have to bring my H down), most of the time in horrible conditions, and I have always been terrified every single time! I was so happy when my H decided to “retire.”</p>

<p>GolfingMom - Getting in the race is through a lottery. My H always managed to get in because he was “grandfathered” from running the race since I can’t remember when.</p>

7

<p>I think we need an ID check! [Congrats to them]</p>

8

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<p>You ought to try it on a big Harley sometime. Here’s the thing about a motorcycle – you can only go so slow. Ideally, on that steep curvy uphill gravel road with no guardrails, you would just pick a nice low gear, like second, and do a steady 15 mph or whatever all the way up the mountain.</p>

<p>But, no. The cars insist on playing the stop and start game. So you find yourself unable to cruise up at a steady pace. Instead the cars slow for each curve, forcing you to pull in the clutch, even in first gear, in order to slow down. I’ve never seen traffic drive so slowly that I couldn’t just creep along in first gear like that.</p>

<p>Once you pull in the clutch in first gear, you fall over unless you just stop and put your feet down. Now you are on a very steep uphill gravel road, having to hold the bike up, ease out the clutch, and get going again – all while looking at a very long drop off the side of the road with no guardrail. </p>

<p>Very annoying.</p>

9

<p>If you want to go up Mt Washington in relative comfort, take the train. It is still a little scary given the grade. It’s an old steam locomotive (they refill water on the way up).</p>