Six old men gather for a run in the mountains outside of State College, Pennsylvania. “Old,” of course, is a relative term. If you’re 25, 60 seems ancient. If you’re 55, 60 is the new 50. But by any measure, these runners shuffling down the mountain in the morning mist qualify as old. They are grey-haired, hunched over a bit, creaky in the knees, a little hard of hearing—everything you’d expect from people who were coming of age when the Beatles crossed Abbey Road.They are “The Old Men of the Mountains.” But you’d be wrong to call them elderly. They’re runners, after all, members of a 50-mile relay team that’s famous in these parts of the Allegheny Mountains in Centre County. The youngest runner, “the kid,” recently turned 67. The eldest, George Etzweiler, is 99 years old. Ninety-nine! He was born in 1920. That’s the same year Charlie Chaplin’s silent movie The Kid made its debut. George Etzweiler, running with his hearing aid and stop watch around his neck at Tussey Mountain.Brett Carlsen Brett Carlsen Short in stature, and breathing like a struggling freight train, George leads his team around mountain switchbacks and gravel roads on this cool June morning for a training run. The boys are preparing for the annual Tussey Mountainback 50-miler. Since 2007, George has coaxed and cajoled other old runners out of their easy chairs for the event.A black Chevrolet Avalanche speeds up the gravel road as the men are pausing for a rest stop. “Car!”… Click below to read the full story from Men’s Health
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