Sweat Home, Alabama: My 90 Year-Old Mom Demonstrates Staying (Literally) on Track Into Your 6th Decade

Posted on July 23, 2025 by gretchenwing

Look carefully at the number on my mom’s back.

USATF Master’s Nationals, Huntsville, Alabama, July 19 2025

That “W 90” means what you think it means: the person wearing that number is a woman at least 90. I only saw one other “90” at the meet, and that was a man.

All weekend, people kept approaching my mom, Martha Klopfer, to tell her how inspirational she is. Her response was generally something along the lines of a shrug and an “All I do is keep going.”

Waving at her fans? No, probably just loosening up before the start of the 800.

Exactly.

Here she is, “keeping going” in the 800, at one p.m. in July in what felt like a caricature of a steamy Southern summer day:

And here are the results:

As you can see, she just nipped under the 6-minute mark. This was almost 30 seconds slower than a year ago. Just as she’d kept reminding us, Mom hadn’t been training as much; COVID, then the chaos of the death of their farm’s last two equines (the Brown Boys) had pulled her off her schedule.

That race earned her the rest of the afternoon off. The younger part of her support team–me, my oldest sister & her husband–took our GIANT rental car…

Couldn’t resist this picture of the hood, which a storm decorated with a tiny snippet of pink crepe myrtle!

…to Huntsville’s main tourist attraction, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.

My brother-in-law kept coaching me: “Not a ‘rocket,’ Gretch–it’s a Saturn V!”

Even for a non-space-geek like me, it was pretty cool.

Next morning, the 1500 was blessedly scheduled before the heat took hold. Since I’m my mother’s daughter when it comes to competitiveness, I had to give myself quite the talking-to, not to hope for a national record in this longer distance either. (After all, she ran a 10:55 last year, and the record is 11:30!)

The 15 starts around the turn, so we had to watch them line up via Jumbotron.

Sure enough…she ran her hardest…every step an inspiration…

…and finished strong, at 11:59.

And I do mean strong! She beat at least two women–maybe 3?–in younger age groups.

Was she happy and proud? Were we all, especially her coach, my dad?

Go ahead and call her “inspirational,” as I did–reminding her that simply seeing her out there was the inspiration–records, shmrecords.

She’ll laugh and shrug.

Next week: Wait, did you say ALABAMA??? Tell me more.

Mamma Mia, Here She Goes Again, Again…Again! When You’re 90, a World Record’s Beside the Point

Posted on July 14, 2025 by gretchenwing

Here’s what my mom, Martha Klopfer, said about the upcoming USA Track & Field Masters meet in Huntsville, Alabama:

“My intention is to show up and run my best on that day.”

This time a year ago, at 89, she set an American record in the 1500m: 10:55.45.

Now she’s 90. New age group.

Will that mean a world record, in the 800m? In the 1500?

Does it matter?

Here are three moments to take:

Right now, think about what Martha’s race means to women athletes of all kinds.

2. Next weekend, take a moment to cheer: Marth-A! Marth-A!

3. After next weekend, take a moment to tune back in and see what Martha has to say this time.

Mamma Mia: My 89 Year-old Mom Sets An American Track Record

Posted on July 23, 2024 by gretchenwing

(Spoiler alert.)

Also, I need to correct a mistake from my previous post, wherein I stated Mom was going for the WORLD record. That one, turns out, is WAY beyond reach (a ridiculous 3+ minutes faster, currently held by an amazing Japanese woman). But the US 1500 meter record for women 85-89? That’s the one Mom had in her sights.

Yes, my attendance at the US Masters Track Championships in Sacramento was part of a mini-road trip with The Mate. But you don’t want to bother with the road trip now, right? Let’s cut to the chase.

That record: 10:55. One year ago, Mom ran 11:06. But she’s been training.

Up first, though: the 800, not her best event (Mom was always more of a 10k or marathon-type gal). It was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. At 2:15. In Sacramento. In July.

At race time, it was 104.

*not pictured: bleachers that were too hot to touch, let alone sit on*

That’s Mom’s friend Jackie–they’ve known each other for over 8 decades. (The Mate actually took this photo next morning…it was MUCH too hot for posing.)

Actually, she was lucky–by 5 pm, the temp had risen to 109. And we were pretty shocked to find that the organizers had no cooling tents set up for the athletes–no fans, no misting machine. Nothing. Welcome, Senior Athletes: you’re on your own!

“Are we really doing this?” (actually this is a post-race pic, I just couldn’t resist)

But Martha Klopfer is smart; she played it cool. Stayed indoors all day. Stayed hydrated. No need for warmups, right?

Let’s get this party started. And FINISHED. (They run all the women, 70 and up, in the same race.)

For the 800, I took videos, not stills, but really I was just praying Mom’s North Carolina-based heat tolerance would be kicking into high gear. And it did.

She ran a 5:33…breaking the American record by 35 seconds! HOWEVER, that woman in the green up there? That’s Lynne Hurrell. She ran 23 seconds FASTER, and she’s the same age! So extra kudos to Lynne, who got the gold.

Next day, thank GOODNESS, the 1500 was scheduled for 7:30 in the morning. There was SHADE on the campus of American River College, where the meet was held.

The 1500 is harder to keep track of (no pun intended), as it starts on the far side of the track, just past the curve, so you can’t quite tell when they’ve run exactly one, or two, or three laps. I spent the race alternately narrating the action to my dad and my sister on the phone in NC, and cheering so loud Mom said she could hear me on the back stretch.

Coming around the turn for the bell lap. (Both those ladies she’s passing are in the 80-84 group.)

Her splits seemed even…but slowing slightly. Would she break 11:00? Not without a kick.

Just in case it made a difference…I screamed myself hoarse. (j/k; I couldn’t help it.) And Mom crossed the finish line in 10:54.45. She broke the record by less than a second.

I had to give up running before 60, thanks to my knees and back. My mother has literally outrun me. When I’m asked about her ongoing running prowess, I sometimes say, “Good genes, good habits, good fortune.”

But usually I just say I how proud I am to be the daughter of such an inspirational lifelong athlete.

Way to go, Mom. Now how about those 90-94 records, next year?

[Next post: the actual road trip!]

Mamma Mia, Here She Goes Again: My 88 Year-Old Mom’s Track Meet

Posted on August 2, 2023 by gretchenwing

“That’s amazing!” said most folks, hearing of my sisters and I road-tripping to cheer on our mother as she raced the 800 meters and the 1500 at the international Masters meet.

I disagree with that assessment. Admirable? Definitely. Humbling? Yes. Pride-inducing? Hugely. But amazing…no. If you know my mom, Martha Klopfer, you would not be at all AMAZED at her racing. You would EXPECT it.

Martha’s been running since the late 1960s. So have I, for that matter; our whole family formed early part of that first big Fitness Wave. But MY knees called for retirement about four years ago, in my late 50s. Hers still work just fine. My mom has literally outrun me.

Since COVID interfered with my 60th Birthday Sisters Weekend a couple of years ago, I lit on the idea of turning Mom’s race into a way to spend quality time with my sisters. So my Texas sister & I both flew to my Michigan sister, and from there we three “girls” drove down to North Carolina…

Did someone say ROAD TRIP?? Quick stop in the lovely Hocking Hills of southern Ohio

…via Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia…

Another quick stop: New River Gorge in WV (& highest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere, we learned)

…for 48 hours of family…

…and track. While Martha did her stretches in the shade…

her fans braved a sweaty July afternoon to cheer her…

Carolina Friends School Principal Karen Cumberbatch (in CFS tee) brought family members,
showing their support for one of CFS’s founders!

through the 800 meters (2 laps)…

They combined all the age groups from 70 up. The woman second from left
set a world record for 75 y/o’s in the 5k the day before, 22:41!!!

When she finished (in 5:49), I was so proud I did something I almost never do: took a selfie.

But Mom? She and Dad watched the video I took of her race, then watched it again, like coach and player, and both agreed: Not enough up on my toes. Better try a different pair of shoes.

Believe me, this man would be out there too if his legs would let him.

The result, for a race less than 18 hours later and nearly twice as long: a 1500 meters in 11:06, which translates to a proportionately faster pace than the 800.

I didn’t need to take a selfie for pride this time. I had Mom with Medals.

If this were a different blog post, I might write more about my first-ever Sisters Road Trip. I might even mention the buffets we hit in West Virginia, both south- and northbound.

Or the bath I gave my hot feet in the Huron River in Ann Arbor

But this blog is about how our Amazing Mom isn’t really that amazing, in the sense that she’s trained us not to be amazed at the things she’s still able to do.

Proud, though. So very, very proud.