Kelly Gneiting, Ex-Sumo Wrestler, Will Run The LA Marathon

You have to hand it to him for trying.

A 405-pound ex-sumo wrestler has vowed to run the Los Angeles marathon on Sunday, which will earn him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records--if he finishes.

Kelly Gneiting of northeastern Arizona won three sumo wrestling National Championship titles in the US between 2005 and 2007, and even competed in Japan in 2006, where he placed 5th place in the World Sumo Championship.

But now he plans to conquer the challenge of marathon running.

"I honestly think I'm one of the best athletes in the world," he told the LA Times.

Gneiting finished the LA Marathon in 2008 in 11 hours and 52 minutes, but was not credited by Guinness since he was not weighed directly before and after the race, as Guinness requires, reports CBS Los Angeles.

Gneiting lives on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and has a waist that measures 60 inches. He worked previously as a long-haul trucker, but lost his job after an accident last November.

The LA Times reports that Gneiting's eating habits took off after he married his wife, Karen:

"I married my wife at 205 pounds," he says..."Suddenly, jeez, I didn't need to attract anyone. I kind of let myself go."

When the married couple landed in financial trouble, Gneiting found that eating made him feel better. But his weight made it tough to get a job, according to the LA Times:

"I would apply to jobs and people would see me and it was like they were wondering, 'Do we really want this monster walking around the office all day?' " he says. "Some people were just really shallow."

Gneiting was raised in eastern Idaho by his mother and his father, who was a banker, before going on a two year Mormon mission and enrolling in Ricks College, where he joined the wrestling team.

But his dreams go beyond running Sunday's marathon. One day, Gneiting promises, he will swim the English Channel, and he also has plans to hike from the Dead Sea to Mount Everest (a route that would take him through both Iran and Iraq.)

"Big people can do the unimaginable," he says.

Comments

[TYRANNASAURUS]

10:42 AM on 03/21/2011

Kelly Gneiting, Ex-Sumo Wrestler, Will Run The LA Marathon....

Looks like he could roll the marathon.

[LangstonA]

04:45 PM on 03/20/2011

Read the entire LA Times article. It states that this guy can A) Do the splits and B) Bend over until his forehead touches the ground. Plus he states that his doctor says his blood pressure is not too high. This adds to my suspicion that many of the illness related to being overweight are truly related to 1) Having a non-active life 2) Eating processed foods (as oppose to overeating on home cooked food).

[Philclock]

03:13 PM on 03/20/2011

Go for it!! I'll buy his book or CD, very inspiring!

[Bubba10]

03:06 PM on 03/20/2011

That is one fine piece of man.

[Peg Murray]

01:18 PM on 03/20/2011

Hey, I give him credit for trying. Good luck today Kelly!

[Tom uws]

11:02 AM on 03/20/2011

He isn't "running the marathon", at 11 hours and 52 minutes. That's "running" a mile at a pace of over 25 minutes per mile. Most people walk at a pace around 20 minutes per mile. I get sick of people claiming to have "run" a marathon, when in fact they jogged/walked it at a snail's pace. And yes, I've actually RUN a marathon (albeit slowly), in just under 3:20. (that's under an 8 minute pace) There's a HUGE difference between "running" a marathon, and "doing" a marathon.

[Watching rock grow]

12:15 PM on 03/20/2011

With him weighing 400+pounds I am not sure I want him running a marathon in Southern California. At least not until those nuclear plants are proved to be up to withstanding a major earthquake. :)

[Save Creatively]

01:18 PM on 03/20/2011

At 400+ Pounds it is a miracle he can walk this far and not have a breakdown! Cheer him on people! He is trying to do right.