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Meet the World’s Heaviest Marathon Runner — 430lbs
- Posted on March 22, 2011 at 7:45am by
Meredith Jessup
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At 430 pounds, Kelly Gneiting is the heaviest person ever to finish a marathon.
The 6-foot-tall champion sumo wrestler officially set the Guinness world record after finishing a marathon in Los Angeles Sunday, the LA Times reports.
His time may not be competitive with most marathon runners — 9 hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds — but he destroyed the old record of 275 pounds and improved his own personal best time by more than two hours.
“I honestly think I’m one of the best athletes in the world,” he said prior to the race.
How’d he do it?
Kelly jogged the first 8 miles of the race and walked the final 18. “I was really struggling in the last five miles, but I said to myself, ‘If I have to crawl, I will.’”
Here’s a video of his journey:
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BarbWire
Posted on March 23, 2011 at 2:56amKeep walking – 1 mile a day. Go to Weight Watchers, It really works.
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on March 23, 2011 at 2:46amDear CREESTOF,
Report Post »OMG…. you sound like a total liberal…..aka… a VICTIM. And infected with political correctness to the point where it makes me almost want to puke. If someone is FAT…. like I have been… the solution is simple… eat LESS… move MORE. Saying someone (You?) is going to get rude stares or whatever at a gym is pathetic. It’s another excuse for someone to give up, sit on their bum all day and each too much cheesecake. Everyone…. and I mean EVERYONE has some kind of insecurity they have to overcome in life. It’s life, it sometimes sucks…. but it’s life. Being so overly sensitive to other people only damages one person… and that’s YOU. So in fact the only person you become a victim of is YOURSELF. Get over the personal pitty party and take some responsibility for yourself. Or at the very least…. stop making such a lame excuse viable in your head. Anyone can do more with themselves… if they just get off their rumps and DO IT…. nobody’s gonna hold your hand…. YOU have to take it upon yourself. Otherwise, you’re just screwed…. only because you choose to be screwed. Stop being a bonehead.
mikee1
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 11:30pmHe should try being an offensive linemen and lift weights. Distance running is not the fat man’s sport.
Report Post »Deus Vult
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 10:55pmI have heard many “real” runners belittle this guy;….ok; so he didnt run the whole marathon! There are way too many people that are quite smaller than him (in decent shape and NOT) that couldnt/wouldnt do what he did beacause they are Lazy!, Unmotivated!, and GOD forbid they would do anything that gets thier ever widening butts up off the sofa and outside of thier comfort zone! I salute what he did and he may inspire others to get off thier asses and get in the game!
Report Post »CharlesMartel
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:27pm“9 hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds” means you completed it, but it certainly doesn’t make you a “marathon runner”. If he ran the whole thing, he would have been done in half the time. His average speed was only 2.6 miles an hour. If he actually walked at 4 mph (normal walking speed), he could have taken 2 one-hour naps and still finished in “9 hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds”.
I think it is a great accomplishment for someone of his size to finish, but we shouldn’t call it running!
Report Post »BeerSnob
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 4:28pmI’m exhausted just from reading the article.
Report Post »piper60
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 3:44pmIf I tried to run that marathon, I’d still be walking.
Report Post »TIRED OF LIES
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 1:41pmAWESOME!!! With all the bad crap going on it’s good to see some positive news
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 1:55pm@tired of lies, exactly ,he ran a marathon, more than i can say,
Report Post »9thCommandment
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 12:15pmThat explains all those pot holes.
Report Post »roadhog
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 11:44amGood for him.Can we get the Govenment on a Diet.
Report Post »run42k
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 10:53amForget the weight, forget the diet, forget everything else…when you cross that finish line in your first marathon your life changes forever.
Report Post »RedPillPatriot
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 10:18am@creestof
I’m guessing you are rather large yourself. (not an insult)
You know the amazing thing about weight gain and loss, is that it is 100% diet and excercise. And no I don’t mean diet as in diet coke or sugar free junk. I mean eat a sensible diet and excercise vigorously 30min-1hour 4 days+ a week and tell me if you don’t lose weight and fat after two weeks! Try it, it works 100% of the time.
@johnkostik – - – roflmao
BTW, he is the best athlete in the world and there is such a thing as a moderate muslim !!! ahahhahah
Report Post »JohnD9207
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 10:14amKudo’s to the man running large, MAJOR KUDOS if he continues to run and lose weight. Deep down he knows it isn’t healthy to be that large, but at least he isn’t sitting around screaming the victim howl.
Report Post »johnkostik
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:50amHe was 600lbs when he started the race in 2008.
Report Post »BeerSnob
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 4:27pmI see what you did there… funny!
Report Post »Love Bandit Bestid
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:43amhe is lighter at that marathon, maybe 350 lbs.
UlyssesP
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:28amHow about using that will power next time you’re facing 12 hamburgers, four shakes, 14 orders of fries, and six apple pies….for lunch.
Report Post »DHD
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:17amI lost over 100 pounds and ran in a half marathon this year. I highly suggest that you lose weight BEFORE you run a half or full. Kudos to him that he finished AND that he lived to tell about it.
Report Post »kurwa
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:10amWow he’s nearly as fat as Glenn!
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:04amGood for him. He did it.
Watch the movie…..Runner with Michael Douglas great movie
Report Post »dizzyinthedark
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 9:00amI wouldn‘t agree he’s one of the ‘best’, but his body certainly works harder than most marathoners. Congratulations to him for his accomplishment!
Report Post »Carolyn
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 8:57amWhy do we always see things from the window of our own perspective? I am thrilled to see this story! He may not have long to live or he may outlive us all, but he has set his mind to something and not given credence to those who would say he could not do it. The bees know… they can fly!
Report Post »Ironeagle
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 8:57amAnybody who can run a marathon at that weight and not keel over from a heart attack earns the right to be as big as they want. Huah.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 8:41amHe set the record, now it’s time to go on the “Biggest Loser”. He may be one of the best athletes in the world but is he healthy and how long can his body continue at this weight. Please look at the “big” picture, pun intended…..
Report Post »Creestof
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 8:59amSo he was “fashionably late”…hehe.
More power to him. The vast majority of those who are “large”, are unable to lose the weight (in my opnion) because so much of the traditional ways to excercise are closed to them…unless they are thick skinned enough (no pun intended) to deal with the mean spirited insults, ridicule and rude stares.
Now, he didn’t do this to lose weight…but more power to him for not giving a damn what others may say or think. He did what he set out to do.
Report Post »Gas137
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 10:44amI’ve run nine marathons at 1/3 the weight of this athlete. The potential damage this distance poses for us recreational runners on feet, knees, hips, back, neck…must be raised to a factor of three for Kelly. Maybe one is enough for him to say he ran/walked the distance.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 11:07amThere’s a guy who goes to my gym who is grossly overweight. However he lifts prodigious amounts of weight. He’s about a foot shorter than me and at least 150+ pounds heavier than I am (I‘m 6’3, 240), and it‘s not muscle he’s covered in, he has moobs for goodness sake. He can lift about as much as I can, and I can lift a lot, though he can only do it in 1 or 2 rep sets whereas I (and most) do 6-10 rep sets.
Thing is, the guy’s face goes cherry red every time he lifts, his veins in his head bulge in a very unhealthy way, and he doesn’t breathe when he lifts, in other words he is in all ways on the brink of a stroke whenever he touches a weight. Ask him though and he thinks he’s an A-1 athlete because he can lift more or less in the same league as us trim weight lifters. The difference between us being of course that in 5 years, barring an accident, I’ll be alive whereas he, who thinks himself a wonderful athlete, will have had a stroke or heart attack and either be dead or permanently incapacitated.
Report Post »AzDebi
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 1:55pmSure would hate to be his joints! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!…Did you know that with “each” weight-bearing” step that you take, your joints are subjected to “4” times your actual weight! Let’s see…given his current weight of 430 pounds…X 4 = 1720 POUNDS! OBVIOUSLY he‘s just LIVIN’ FOR TODAY!
Report Post »Joey8
Posted on March 22, 2011 at 4:13pm@grandmaof5
Report Post »I actually just went over this in my nutrition class. There’s such a thing as overweight healthy people and thin unhealthy people. There are actually quite a few big people that run marathons and could outrun me, a 5′10″ 170 athlete. The condition of someones body has more to do than their size. There’s no ideal size that every person needs to fit. Just as everyone is a different height because of genes/hormones, we’re beginning to think weight could be the same
OLDANDBITTERCLINGER
Posted on March 23, 2011 at 9:02amThere is something wrong with this picture. I have 7 grandchildren and 6 greats. I weigh 10 lbs more than my first DL weight at 16. I’m so old I can remember when only 2-3 people in our small town high school of 400 students were overweight. What happened? Even small children are fat these days.
We ate all we wanted, so maybe the food has changed. Maybe moms stayed at home and cooked real food? I remember growing up knowing that if you ate too much sugar you would get “sugar diabetes”. Maybe our “it’s not your fault” society where you just take a pill to cure anything and keep on with your unhealty eating is at fault.
I can’t say it was exercise. If you saw someone running down the street they were being chased by a dog. lol
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