BEAR LAKE, Idaho — Mike Knobler, 62, finished the hilly Bear Lake Marathon on June 5 to complete marathons in all 50 U.S. states, Rick Cleveland reported. Knobler won first prize in the 60-70 age group, finishing in 3 hours, 56 minutes on a course run at about 6,000 feet elevation, Cleveland wrote.
Cleveland said Knobler did not start running until he was 40 and had completed 36 states by February 2022. The former sports writer turned international tax attorney has run 57 marathons in all, including three Boston Marathons, Cleveland reported.
Knobler plans to fly his single-engine Mooney M20J across Canada, Greenland and the Atlantic to Finland, where he will begin a planned run of 26 marathons in 26 weeks in 26 countries, Cleveland reported. The itinerary Cleveland published includes races in Norway, Belgium, Austria, Montenegro, England, Germany, Iceland, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands, Morocco, Turkey, Greece and France, among others. Cleveland wrote that Knobler intends to run the original marathon course in Athens.
Cleveland quoted Knobler saying the biggest running challenges will be three trail marathons with difficult terrain and steep elevation gains, including a Montenegro race that climbs about 6,000 feet and has a nine-hour time limit. Knobler told Cleveland his road-marathon goal is to finish in under four hours and that he usually flies his own plane from race to race.
Cleveland reported Knobler has retired from law practice and left his Malibu apartment to begin the trip. His older brother, Danny Knobler, will accompany him to Finland, Cleveland wrote, while Knobler will travel solo for most of the journey. “You don’t have to be a great athlete to run marathons,” Knobler told Cleveland. “You just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
