http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Sumo-wrestler-becomes-heaviest-man-to-ever-finis?urn=oly-wp14
A friend of mine emailed the above article to me about a 400lb. guy who ran the LA Marathon. I read it and I didn't know quite what to think initially. But after I digested the article I sent him this response;
That marathon article was interesting, but I’m not sure how people would react to my thoughts on it. Simply put, just because you can cover 26.2 miles, doesn’t mean you should. It doesn’t make you anymore special than anyone else who’s done a marathon and I doubt that there’s a doctor in the world who would describe him as “fit”. The man doubled in size since getting married! Talk about letting yourself go. I would have greater respect for someone who realizes that they need to shed some pounds and lives a healthier lifestyle to do it (and never having ran a mile). Besides, 9 hr 48 min is a walking pace (22:28 min/mile). If his goal was to lose weight while doing this (and swimming the English Channel) I would be more impressed, but I don’t think that’s the case. He’s only showing that you can be fat and walk a long ways. I’m happy for him.
I really hope that people don't look to him as inspiration (unless they aspire to sumo wrestle) as I think he does a huge disservice to people who are overweight and who are truly trying to be "fit".
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