Edward Payson Weston, 1836-1929, believed that walking could actually make a man “improve with age and never go stale.” And he lived to age 93.
In 1861 at age 22, Weston walked from Boston to Washington in ten days, as part of Lincoln’s inauguration. He missed the ceremony by half a day, but launched a professional career in long-distance walking.
At 70 he walked 512 miles in 12 days, breaking a world record. At 74 he walked 1,500 miles from New York to Minneapolis in 60 days. He also walked across the country in his seventies, breaking no records but thrilling thousands.
