Training Log Archive: Bash

I stayed up until 1 a.m. to watch our amazing 70-year-old friend, Bob Knuckey, cross the finish line at the Ironman World Championship in 11 hrs 55 mins. He finished ahead of 34 other men to become the new world champion in the 70-74 age group. His time was faster than when he raced at Kona four years ago when he was just a young buck of 66. We've watched him working toward this goal for several years - lots of 6 a.m. workouts, a few training sessions in the Arizona heat and much more. He is also a super nice guy.

A few hundred meters from the finish line, it almost fell apart. Bob started staggering and leaning. He banged into the guard rail and fell on the ground. But he got up and kept going. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for his friends and wife to watch him. In this raw video, you can hear his friends yelling at people not to touch him. (It would have disqualified him within sight of the finish.) I found it very emotional to watch this today even though I know Bob is OK (albeit with 6 stitches over his eye), he won the championship, and he got up early to do the laundry and clean up from last night's celebration. He joked on Facebook that I'll have to teach him how to run long distances without leaning. In recent months, a documentary film maker has been following him around and he certainly made it dramatic for her!