After slowly but steadily working his way through a 26.2-mile course drenched by driving rain, mammoth distance runner Kelly Gneiting finished Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon in nine hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds, probably establishing a Guinness world record for someone his size.
“I did it, but it was hell,” Gneiting, 40, said, shortly after crossing the finish line in Santa Monica. “Pure hell.” Featured in a Times profile last week, Gneiting is a former national champion sumo wrestler with a 60-inch waist who weighed in just before the race at 400 pounds.