This past week as I was scrolling through my running sites on Facebook, and I came across a story that was from 4 years ago. I guess whatever site put it up screwed up and thought it was a recent story. Anyway forget all about that and just focus on what the story was about. It was about Kelly Gneiting a 400 lb. American Sumo Wrestling champ who ran the LA Marathon and completed it. I had never heard about this so I was glad the site screwed up and posted it. So basically Kelly Gneiting ran the LA Marathon in 2008 and finished in a time of 11 hrs. 48 mins. 16 sec. Two years later in 2011 he returned to the LA Marathon weighing 400 lbs. and ran a time of 9 hrs. 48 mins. 52 sec. He finished weighing 396.2 lbs. Amazing that he only lost 4 pounds, I swear I lost more than that the first time I ran a marathon and I weighed a lot less than 400 pounds. He also set a Guinness World Record as being the fattest person to complete a marathon. Gneiting used a run, walk method to complete the race and described it as “pure hell”.
This story should be blasted on running sites and exercising sites as much as possible. Even though it is an old story the message it sends is strong. If you believe you can do something, you can. Any person that has ever doubted their self should read about this man and learn something. Whether it’s in running, exercising, or just life in general it shows the human body is capable of some amazing things. So many people use their body as an excuse as to why they can’t do something. After reading this story I am calling bullshit on that. It’s not your body it’s your will power. How many stories have we came across of a person in their 90’s completing a marathon? That is no different than this. Learn that if you are going to run a marathon the time doesn’t matter. What matter is you had the courage to start the race. If you can run, run the race. If you have to walk, walk some of the race, but you get yourself across the finish line. Don’t be that person who is sitting there watching the runners go by and say “one day I will do that”. Be the person that someone is looking at saying “if they can do it, maybe I can too.” It’s not a knock on this man to look at him and say if he did it so can I. It’s a sign of respect in my mind. When we see people that we think we are better than or on the same fitness level, and they are doing something we haven’t done, those are the motivators of the world. Those are the people we look up to and say “maybe I can do it”. If you have ever questioned yourself on your ability, let this be a lesson to you. You can accomplish some amazing things when you believe in yourself.
Great post. It's advice I really need to take. I've been reading so many posts about people struggling with marathon training, when I'm sailing along with half-marathon training with no problem, that I started to think, "Geez, maybe I should stick to halfs and not try a full. I don't want all that misery!" But I need to remember that the things that are really worthwhile and accomplishing something big take getting out of my comfort zone. That guy said it was pure hell for him, but if he can do it, so can I!
ReplyDeleteExactly, remember the training is always harder than the race. You do months and months of training for a few hours on race day.
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