Triathlon leaves 74-year-old in good shape for marathon
An athlete since childhood, Bob Oury was in his 40s when he heard about this new competition.
“Somebody said there was a triathlon, and I said, ‘What's that?' They said, ‘It's swimming, biking and running,' so I said, ‘I can do that,'” Oury says. “I did one, so I did another. And then I did another.”
Now 74, Oury, who lives in Gilberts, finished his 29th straight Life Time Chicago Triathlon five weeks ago, and he's entered in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday.
“It's not remarkable,” Oury grumbles as he brushes aside any suggestions that 74-year-olds generally don't run marathons or compete in triathlons. Point out that people sometimes compete in one to mark a 40th birthday or some other milestone but don't go on to compete in dozens and dozens for decades, and Oury bristles.
“What are you, crazy?” Oury counters. “Did you celebrate Christmas last year? Thanksgiving? Your birthday? Have sex? Just because you did it last year, you're not going to do it this year? That's crazy. You should have fun — in your marriage, at work, in your triathlons.”
In his job as the CEO of Rotec Industries heavy equipment company in Hampshire, Oury walks the grounds, making a suggestion for a giant industrial conveyor that is about to be shipped to Morocco, and changes a 14-inch gravel opening to 10 inches on another massive piece of equipment bound for another far-off country. But even in his busiest weeks, he always makes time to visit the special room he set up with a treadmill, weights and exercise machines or to head outside for a bike or run.
“Exercise is such an integral part of my psyche,” Oury says, noting that he comes up with some of his best inventions during the “solitude” and “cleansing” that comes as he's running a few miles or taking a 20-mile bike ride during his lunch hour. He takes a 2½-hour bike ride every Sunday from his home on his Indian Hills farm, stable and horse training center in Gilberts to “the napping tree,” a large oak tree where he eats a healthy lunch and catches a “two- or three-minute nap” before pedalling home.
During his noon break this beautiful, sunny, fall day at work, Oury coaxes his son Robin, 45, into a bike ride that ends with a race during the last two miles.
“I beat him by only a couple of feet, but I always beat him,” says Oury, whose racing bike costs more than some used cars. His younger son, James, 25, isn't a biker, Oury says. His wife, Karann, was an Olympic hopeful swimmer and diver in college. But Bob Oury is the only one still competing whenever he can.
A wrestler at Wheaton Academy who went on to state collegiate championships during his undefeated seasons at Wheaton College, Oury says, “I still have dreams about wrestling.” Could he still wrestle?
“I thought I could, and I went down to Wheaton College last year and challenged the coach,” Oury says, fully expecting to hold his own for a period against a champion wrestler 40 years younger. While “your memories only get better,” Oury concedes that wrestling skills fade when you hit 74.
“He treated me like a rag,” Oury admits. “He just annihilated me.”
Thankfully, results aren't as important to Oury as the effort.
“My times (in biking) are better this year than they have been in the last 30 years,” he says with a shrug. “I don't know why. Why would I want to know?”
A religious man, Oury responded to Willow Creek Community Church's inspirational rubber bracelets by designing his own.
“I'm an inventor, and anything I made yesterday isn't good enough today,” Oury says. He boils his attitude about life down to loving — from loving self, God and family to friends, work and exercise.
“I hate all of it,” Oury says of the marathon runs, torturous swims or grueling bicycling. “But nothing feels as good as the one hour after the marathon or after the triathlon, and you've given everything you've got and your body is empty, just bone marrow and soul. Pity the poor folks who have never experienced that.”