Frank
My first year of doing Ironman WI 2005, I learned about an inspirational athlete his name is Frank Farrar. We were at the athlete meeting and they had brought up the youngest athlete and the oldest athlete to the podium Frank was one of them of course… They told his story something like this:
Frank Farrar was 76. He is also the former Governor of South Dakota and a successful attorney. In 1992 he was informed he had terminal cancer and had maybe 6 months to live. Franks reaction was- He started training even harder and he was going to beat this “as all of us cancer survivors do” I really felt a connection when I heard this, I knew how he felt and to kick cancer's butt and prove the doctors wrong "in a nice way".
Frank is doing Ironmans all over the world. Despite advancing age and bad knees he continues to participate. He has failed to complete the last 4 Ironmans in the allotted time of 17 hours but he never leaves the course until he is finished…. This past Ironman WI 2006 I saw him threw out the run he looked great! I walked with him told him he was looking good, and keep it up! Unfortunately he missed the cut off by 2 min. yeap 17:02:00 THAT SUCKED I cried when I heard that! However when we went to the athlete meeting the next day Ironman WI gave him a spot to Ironman Hawaii 2006 whoohooo we cheered. Frank did go to Hawaii and didn’t make it out of the water in time that was his 4th Ironman he didn’t finish it in time…
So Frank was back at it again at Ironman Florida last night I was watching as much as I could that means I was in front of the computer all night I knew it was going to be close. Ron, Chad and I were texing most of the night (it’s going to be close, he’s going to make it, he’s got time, and oh yea he’s going to do it)
All the sudden you heard the announcer say Frank is 1 mile out, he had 15 min to do his last mile. Mike the Ironman announcer was cheering him in along with the crowd; I was cheering him in from the edge of my couch. I was getting sick to my stomach saying come on Frank come on man, you can do it keep it together, you can do it, I wanted him to finish bad! I was praying for god to give him strength to make it to the end. He had less then a mile to go and then ------“oh yea” you see him come around the corner in his all white clothing tilting to one side, he came down and crossed the finish line with roughly 3-4 min left.. I cried as I watched him give his wife a HUGE hug and kiss that was the greatest Ironman ever!!!!
So Frank was back at it again at Ironman Florida last night I was watching as much as I could that means I was in front of the computer all night I knew it was going to be close. Ron, Chad and I were texing most of the night (it’s going to be close, he’s going to make it, he’s got time, and oh yea he’s going to do it)
All the sudden you heard the announcer say Frank is 1 mile out, he had 15 min to do his last mile. Mike the Ironman announcer was cheering him in along with the crowd; I was cheering him in from the edge of my couch. I was getting sick to my stomach saying come on Frank come on man, you can do it keep it together, you can do it, I wanted him to finish bad! I was praying for god to give him strength to make it to the end. He had less then a mile to go and then ------“oh yea” you see him come around the corner in his all white clothing tilting to one side, he came down and crossed the finish line with roughly 3-4 min left.. I cried as I watched him give his wife a HUGE hug and kiss that was the greatest Ironman ever!!!!
“GREAT JOB FRANK YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”!!!!!!
