PADUCAH — 79 year-old Tom Knoll doesn't run away from a challenge. Instead, he runs to it, even in the heat.
"Nothing to it. 90 degrees. I love it," he said.
You won't catch this 33 year military veteran in his combat boots anymore, but instead in tennis shoes. He's running more than a thousand miles from Louisiana to Minnesota for wounded military members and children with terminal illnesses.
"It's 1,560 straight lines distance," Knoll said.
Knoll runs about 30 miles a day and he expects to reach his destination in early July. Along with raising funds, he hopes his generation gets inspired.
"To get the word out to senior citizens, get off the couch and do something," he said with a smile.
This isn't Knoll's first run across the country. He's done it twice before and even competed in the Ironman Triatholon in 1978.
Knoll is running for four charities: The Jimmy V Foundation named for legendary basketball coach Jimmy Valvano who died of cancer in 1993, the Rotary Club of Honolulu, Hawaii, the Sunshine Foundation which helps grant wishes to sick children, and the Wounded Warrior Project which helps military men and women who suffered injuries.
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