Carrie Parsi - Intrepid Runner

By Dr. Cathy Utzschneider

"I was marveling at her stride – so smooth, great reach," said former Boston Marathon age division winner Sue Gustafson.

Sue was watching a woman race around the track at the 2010 National Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston.

That woman was hardly a 40s runner, an Aeron Arlin Genet or a Christine Olen. She was Carrie Parsi, 71, who - along with Liberty Athletic Club members Mary Harada, Sandy Hayes, and Liz Slazlowski – established a world record (W70-74) for the 4 x 400 indoor relay.

"Established" is the key word here. (There was no official time for a W70-74 4 x 400 indoor relay.)

Parsi has been a pioneer in masters women's running since she started running in 1977 at 37, a medical surgical nurse, wife and mother of three. "I was out there with the earliest competitors,” she said. “The running boom had started. More women were running and I wanted to jump in. We jumped into everything – mostly 10ks," she said.

For Parsi, running’s been an anchor and a source of lifelong friendships. “Running has been an integral part of my life. It’s the fuel that gives me the energy to get on with my life. It’s also a spiritual experience that gives me time to think and appreciate life.”

She’s been a member (and past president) of Liberty and also a member of the Concord Runners, a social running club, for more than three decades. She’s continued to run and race after her husband – a chemical engineer and golfer – died twenty years ago.

Called "Iron Legs" by former Liberty Coach Bill Squires, Parsi has lived up to her name. Over the years she’s run 24 marathons, including 14 Bostons with a second place age group 2009 finish (W70–74, 4:27:05). Parsi has also run the Honolulu Marathon, a trip and entry which she won as a prize, having placed fourth in the Milk Run after Olympian Judy St. Hilaire.

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There have been numerous ("Oh Lord…I could never even count") half marathons, not to mention 5 and 10Ks. She's run the 7.6 mile race up Mount Washington 14 times, with single age group records for ages 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60.

Ask about cross country and she remembers winning two age group national cross country championships (W65–69). Oh yes, she also remembers that she set the course record (W70–79) in the Hollis Half Marathon (1:56 “and change”).

Like other runners her age, over the decades she’s cut her miles since her forties and fifties – from 50 to 30 miles in marathon preparation, for example. Since her fifties, she’s also weight trained twice a week.

She offers two bits of advice for younger masters runners.

1. "Listen to your body. Don’t push the mileage up too fast. It’s the time when you're feeling good, invincible across the ages and want to push that extra mile when you get injured."
2. "Shoes are important. All kinds of problems can develop from the wrong shoes."

Parsi's most challenging physical experiences have occurred since retiring in 1999 at 60 – and they weren’t the Boston Marathon or Mount Washington.

That year Parsi ran 27.5 miles of the Inca Trail in Peru in "seven plus hours" one day. "That was a kick, very tough. There was altitude, lots of ups and downs with steep and narrow steps. It reduces you to a walk many times. It was a privilege being on that trail, something historical about the whole setting. Coming into Machu Picchu at the end of the day was awesome."

This past February, she leveraged her fitness to achieve her longtime dream of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Most who climb it are in their thirties and forties. Other than Parsi, the youngest on the trip was 56.

"It was the toughest thing I've ever done," said Parsi. “The final summit was a gut-wrenching piece with the altitude (19,339 feet) and the lack of oxygen. We left high camp at midnight. For six hours in the dark we climbed up and up and up – there is no 'give'. It was cold and windy (with the wind chill factor it was zero degrees on the top.)

My muscles were sorer than during a marathon because of the altitude and lack of oxygen. But it was just amazing! We got up to the summit in time for the sunrise over Kilimanjaro."

In addition to training and traveling, Parsi stays very busy, helping others – family, friends and the world at large – much of the time. She travels frequently to visit her children, including trips to Norway, where she has two grandsons.

Last fall she traveled from Boston to Denver to help a friend recover from surgery. A number of years ago, having retired from nursing at 60, she volunteered for two years with the Peace Corps in Kiribati, one of the Atoll Islands in the Central Pacific.

She gardens for her church, hands out food at her local food pantry, and builds houses ("I'm out there with a hammer and nails") for Habitat for Humanity.

One thing’s for sure. Parsi will keep on adventuring. "She is one of the most intrepid travelers I know," said Harada, Liberty’s president.

We’re wondering what's next?!

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This article was originally printed in National Masters News.

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