At the youthful age of 95, Mary Nitschke walks one mile, twice a day outside of her home at Granite Ledges Assisted Living Community in Concord.
She often walks alone because, as she put it, the other residents hold her back. One mile takes her about 15 to 20 minutes.
“I’m too fast for them,” Nitschke said.
So fast, in fact, she may have burned through her eight-year-old white “sneaks.” They’re ripped out with holes in the soles, but Nitschke loves them nonetheless for the miles they’ve given her – and the memories.
Nitschke recently placed first in her age group, women over 70, in her first-ever 5K Race to the Ledges, held each year to support senior programs through Concord Hospital. She walked the 3.1-mile race with her daughter after volunteering at the event last year. She said she will participate in August 2017 race if she is able.
While Nitschke is proud to have taken part, she doesn’t boast about the win or believe she did anything extraordinary. After all, “age is only a number,” she said.
“If my walking inspires anybody, I think that’s very nice, but my motive is very selfish. . . . It’s what makes me, me,” she said while seated cross-legged on a plush couch in the living facility’s library.
Nitschke explained that walking is a way of life for her and always has been. She grew up during the Great Depression and her family could not afford a car. If she wanted to go somewhere, she had to rely on her own two feet.
She said she has always been active, and fondly remembers horseback riding, swimming and roller-skating as a child in Schenectady, N.Y.
That continued into her adulthood. She and her late husband, Eddie, were avid golfers and would spend much of a day walking the course.
Today, she takes the stairs to get from her third-floor room at Concord’s Granite Ledges to the first-floor dining hall and back again.
Once she enjoys breakfast, she returns to her room each morning to put on her old white sneakers before heading out to do her four laps in the fresh air. She often repeats the process after lunch or at another time in the afternoon.
When her teenaged cat Ben was younger and weighed less, she used to walk him on a leash too. But Ben doesn’t get out much anymore, she said.
“I will walk for as long as I can. I know it’s coming to a screeching halt, but I’ll do it as long as I can.”