Knox Set to Compete in First Boston Marathon

Fred Lowe
Bulletin Sports Writer

Mountain Home resident Dr. Tom Knox prepares to run in his first Boston Marathon, held on April 17. The 54-year old orthopedic surgeon met the strict qualifications for the prestigious event last May in a marathon at Eagle River, Wis.

Those first steps for Dr. Tom Knox were slow and painful following his first marathon in 1998.

"I was barely able to walk," he recalled after running the Napa Valley, Calif., Marathon. "In fact it took me two minutes just to gain concentration to step up into the seat of the van. That's how fatigued I was."

Eight years and five marathons later, Knox, a 54-year-old orthopedic surgeon, is preparing to run his first Boston Marathon.

Knox qualified for the prestigious April 17 marathon - which fields 20,000 entrants - with a three-hour, 27-minute run at the Eagle River, Wis., Marathon last May.

It was the best time he's ever ran, easily besting the qualifying time of 3:35. Knox was on pace for an even faster mark, but slowed down over the final three miles to avoid injury.

"It was a very exhilarating feeling," said Knox, who grew up in Thayer, Mo., and moved to Mountain Home in 1983. "Everything went well for me that day. The weather was perfect... it was just a perfect day to run."

Contrast that to eight years ago, when Knox ran his first marathon in a little less than five hours.

"It wasn't a great time, but I finished it, that was the important thing," Knox said of his 4:57 time. "In 1998 no one would have ever thought I'd be here."

Knox was first inspired to run a marathon by some of his friends. Back then he considered the 26.2 mile feat "rather daunting."

Now he's running between 50 to 62 miles a week training for the Boston Marathon. He was thrown off-schedule recently by an illness, but is now back on track.

"You reach a level of fitness where as long as you don't take two or three weeks off, you can come back," noted Knox, who over the weekend placed first in the 5K (3.1 miles) for 50-54-year-old males at the White River Run at Cotter Spring.

Having goals — and keeping them — is the key for Knox, who admitted qualifying for the Boston Marathon has long been "a secret goal."

"But you have to keep your goal," he said. "The problem — and I've found this running with friends — is that sometimes not everyone wants to stay on the same pace or the same training program. And that's where you have to be very self-motivated in terms of pushing your limit to what you want to do."

Initially, Knox ran just to enjoy the company of friends. But that was before he got into the "science of training."

Now Knox wears a heart rate monitor whenever he runs, noting it improves his performance as he works to his optimum heart rate.

However, Knox is unsure how his body will react to running at the Boston Marathon with its noon and 12:30 p.m. start times. The previous six marathons Knox ran all started in the morning.

"I'm a morning person," he said. "I don't know how my body is going to (react), but I would like to run basically the same time I ran at Eagle River. And if I could beat that, that would be nice."