Tom Knoll and his son Warren met the planned Fourth of July goal for completion of their cross country run from San Diego to the Marine Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday.
Tom, 75, and Warren, 44, who departed San Diego on March 1, arrived in the Washington, D.C., area Thursday night, leaving only a mostly celebratory five-mile jaunt to the finish of their 3,385-mile trek. It was accomplished at 10:30 a.m. EDT and the welcoming party numbered 30-40.
“It was fantastic,” Tom Knoll said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon. “We had military personnel, including one lieutenant general and two Navy captains, civilians, a reporter from The Washington Post and NBC-TV.” Tom, who was one of the 12 men who finished the original 1978 Ironman Hawaii Triathlon, also was greeted by two other Ironman originals, Dave Orlowski and Henry Forrest.
Tom and Warren, who ran six days a week and averaged 25 to 30 miles a day, both had mishaps that led to injuries during the run. But Tom said they both were fine at the finish. “My body's in perfect shape,” he said.
Tom, a retired Marine, has run 187 marathons and made a similar cross-country trip 25 years ago. Today, he said he'd limit activities to swimming and walking but also planned to catch a Baltimore Orioles baseball game.
– HANK WESCH
