400 Lb Man to Run Boston Marathon

[pegkerr]

Gacked from diet_blog_:

Jacob started his journey at 438 pounds. His goal is to run the Boston Marathon. He is currently just under 400 lbs and is chronicling his efforts on his site "What Would Jacob Do?".

His reasons for running?

I have my reasons for running. To give you a glimpse into my life, let me ask you if you've had any of the following happen to you:

• Have you ever had little kids point at you and laugh while you're walking down the street?

• Watched a TV News Report on obesity and wonder if it is your Fat Ass that they're showing from the neck down?

• Have to weigh yourself on a commercial-grade scale at the local meat-packing plant?

• Worry about if the chair you're sitting in is going to collapse at a restaurant?

• Watch in disgust when skinny girls like Tyra Banks strap on the ol' fat suit for an afternoon and then break down in tears because they "know what it's like"?

• Drinking your misery away at the bar because love obviously isn't finding you tonight or any night for that matter?

Jacob is getting his share of hate mail:

I ran track in college and ran the Boston Marathon 4 years ago and let me just say that you are disgusting and have no shot of ever running the Boston Marathon.

Go give him some encouragement.

Comments

[nickel234.livejournal.com]

Why would anyone feel the need to write a mail of discouragement for any reason like the one posted? Why????!!!

Especially in such a great story of determination?

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Problem is, according to his site, he has 3 incompatible goals: to lose 100 lbs, to run the marathon, and to do it in 3 months. Losing that much weight in 3 months doesn't sound like a great idea. Running a marathon at over 300 lbs doesn't sound like a good idea (in terms of stress to joints). Losing weight (maybe 200 lbs? would still put him at 238, so not unrealistic) and running the marathon, given a sensible schedule, sound like a great idea, and an achievable one given his determination. I wrote a note saying so, and pointing out that they hold the Boston Marathon every year.

Maybe I should have suggested a century ride as an intermediate goal, since he's training on a stationary bike. I bet he could do that at 300 lbs. There's no joint impact and it's still a big enough challenge to be a huge victory. Less glamorous than The! Boston! Marathon!, but so what?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I know. It really is cruel.

I think people who are overweight really suffer in this society, but it is perfectly acceptable to heap abuse upon them.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Also, you don't just get to run the Boston Marathon. First you have to finish another marathon in a qualifying time. So that's (best-case scenario) two marathons in three months for someone very much out of shape, when even pretty good athletes are wiped out for a while after running one.

Good for him for trying to get fitter and healthier, but yah, he might want to consider more reasonable goals, first. No need to set himself up to fail, etc.

[vass]

I ran track in college and ran the Boston Marathon 4 years ago and let me just say that you are disgusting and have no shot of ever running the Boston Marathon.

What. A. Bastard. And it doesn't even surprise me - I've had worse while helping to moderate a feminist comics forum.

But three months to lose 100 pounds and run a marathon does sound like a very unsafe goal. The safe maximum weight per week I've heard is 1% of your body weight. Current, not starting. And the marathon book I read suggested you exercise at least twice a week for a year before starting marathon training, and then first train to walk a half marathon, then to walk a full one, before training to run a marathon. (This is one of my lifetime goals.)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, I've done two within three months. But that was rowing, not running - similar muscular effrt, but no impact on the joints. (Just as many blisters, but mostly on hands, not feet.) And yeah, the first was at the beginning of September and the second was mid-November, so it used almost the full three-month period.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it myself (maybe I should put it in my next Amazon order) but one book that sounds really interesting, if you're more concerned with completing it than going fast, is Slow Fat Triathlete: How to Realize your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now. From the Amazon reviews, you don't have to be slow or fat to find it useful, but it's more useful and inspiring for beginners than books written by/for more experienced athletes. (And if anyone has read it, was it as good as it sounded?)

[nickel234.livejournal.com]

I just don't get people sometimes.

I'm not overweight enough to deal with the abuse, my Grandfather is exactly like Jacob and I know he struggles with a lot of the same things. But he doesn't go out too often, mostly because of public reaction I think.

[phoenixsong]

I've heard that men can lose 3-5lbs a week safely (unlike the 1-2/week usually cited for women). My fianceé has been working on losing about 100 lbs since last April, and he's lost a little over 60 lbs. so far. The first few weeks especially, he was easily losing 3-4 lbs a week; there were also plateaus, and a few months that he took off from actively working out.

So. Let's be generous and say 5 lbs a week, times 15 weeks, and assume that he's actually eating good food and staying hydrated properly, and working out a reasonable amount without overdoing it and/or injury. So 75 lbs from now until April is not unreasonable in that amount of time, given how much he has to lose -- but that still doesn't mean that he'd be ready to run a marathon by this April.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Because fat people Aren't Human. Because one can mock, deride, and be disgusted with fat people, and virtually no one will call the mockers, deriders, and disgusted people out for being bad, since fat people are Really Bad and deserve it all. Because fat people are Lazy and Good For Nothing, and therefore shouldn't aspire to things that Good And Virtuous Thin People work hard for. If, somehow, a fat person manages to do something that a Good And Virtuous Thin Person does, it might degrade the status applied to completing such a goal.

Fat people don't deserve health. Many doctors and other medical practitioners seem to believe this, along with people like this obnoxious git. They Let Themselves Get Fat In The First Place By Being Morally Bad, so they deserve whatever they get, including death.

Because people suck.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

It's probably just the grownup equivalent of the mean children Jacob talked about. But it might be a serious marathon runner that is tired of the courses being clogged up with literally tens of thousands of people who are not in shape to run a marathon and are just getting in the way. I'm not a runner, but I can understand the frustration.

I've got all kinds of sympathy with Jacob, and certainly hope that he finds an exercise program that works for him - but the LAST thing a morbidly obese person should be doing is RUNNING, for heaven's sake!

[carbonel]

I've been running for several years now. (Slowly, alas.) I think anyone who tries to run a marathon with only three months of training, regardless of weight, is foolish. Especially someone who, in his own words, "hates running." I think there's a good chance that he could do permanent physical damage to himself. Remember, Phidippides is remembered primarily because he dropped dead at the end of his marathon.

I think there are other more reasonable goals that this person could have chosen.

I wouldn't send hate mail, but I do think this is a bad idea.