10/29/2026
First marathon at 52. First 100-miler at 59. An age-group win at a UTMB World Series Major in the Pyrenees at 61. 🏔️
Meet Arnold (Arnold Twitchell ): an engineer from rural Maine who trains after work, keeps Friday nights for family and thinks six hours of cutting firewood is a normal Saturday. He calls it “invisible training.”
When he started, his plan was a long run, a short run and a medium run, on repeat. No speed work, no strength. “I was indestructible, after all!” Then came a stress fracture.
Coaching changed three things:
1️⃣ Structure: every run with a purpose
2️⃣ Accountability, especially for strength
3️⃣ Adapting instead of stopping. Coming back from injury the winter before Boston 2022, he still ran it and requalified. The next year he ran a 3:06 PR there.
Then came the patient climb: 50K at 55, 100K at 58, his first 100-miler at 59. At Midstate Massive more than 60% of starters didn’t finish. Arnold was the oldest finisher and won his age group. At 2 a.m., with his crew asleep, his coach was just starting her day in Spain and sent him the encouragement he needed. A year later he ran the Vermont 100 in under 24 hours and won his age group again.
At Val d’Aran by UTMB (shortened to 88 miles for storms), he won his age group by nearly two hours. His son Daniel ran the last 50 yards with him and rang the finish bell beside him. 💛
His marathon time went from 4:01 at 52 to 3:03 at 60, top 1% of his age group in New York. He still calls himself a “recreational runner.” When he wondered what an “elite” 60-year-old looks like, his coach told him: “Looks like you!”
That’s what a WildPeak coach does: knows you well enough to know when to push, when to adapt, and when to say “keep going.”
If you’re 40+ and wondering whether your longest ultra is still out there: it is. And we’ll climb it with you.
👇 Comment CLIMB and we’ll DM you the 3 phases Arnold climbed through, and what that path could look like for your goal race.
TeamWildPeak
