Your story makes me think of my uncle (my mom's sister's husband) who was much like that in strength and endurance, also originally from Canada. My 26 year old athletic wife at the time went with him cross country skiing one sunny winter day. He was a little over 50 years her senior at the time. I get home from work that night, she's on the sofa in total body pain. "I'm never going skiing with him again!" She wailed. "He's not human!" He ran her ragged in under 6 hours of skiing. Funny as hell! He lived to age 90 and would have kept on going but died prematurely in an accident. His words of wisdom to me were pretty simple, "You use it or you'll gonna lose it." He had big gardens, so lots of fresh vegetables. I remember American Chop Suey was a fairly common meal there (his wife worked full time too, they had 3 kids). Coffee drinker, cigarette smoker to age 60. No alcohol. Was not a straight meat eater, was not a bulky guy, just lean hard muscle like a moose from being a hard working homeowner and sports enthusiast. Loved hunting, fishing, cross country skiing, made cedar strip canoes and kayaks, built and flew hobby planes with his grandkids, many, many other hobbies and skills ... He was an exemplary man, father, grandfather.