![]() ![]() ![]() Months before the upcoming marathon, he sourced two personal trainers, a photographer, and witnesses to ensure he would be able to officially qualify for the title. Strong to me meant emotionally, but I wanted to show her my will power, and what humans can do when they really want to accomplish something." She hated needles, hospitals, and had anxiety over it all so she asked me to be strong for her. "After finding out about my mom's cancer, I decided to focus the attempt as motivation for her to fight on. ![]() Her lungs had filled with blood and they had to do emergency procedures to bring her back. "I was the only one there at the hospital that day with her, and she almost died once she was out of surgery. She wasn’t diagnosed until after they removed the mass. “My mother Carol Victoria (Coleman) Bungert was first diagnosed after the doctors found something in her x-rays - a growth in her lungs. Sadly, because Charles did not have fitness experts to document his weight, and no witnesses during the attempt, Guinness World Records could not recognize the attempt as successful, as all guidelines needed to be adhered to.īut a few months later, Charles would have reason to try again, after hearing the news that his mother was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. I had to prove them wrong."Įight hours and thirty minutes later, Charles did just that, crossing the finish line drenched in sweat, enveloped in pride. I hate when someone tells me I can't do something, or won't. I probably never would have done it if my friends weren't giving me a hard time. "This all started out as a dare, and turned into a bucket list type thing. ![]() It took Charles three hours and thirty minutes to complete the first ten miles that day, but he walked off the track dripping with sweat, confident he could take on the Los Angeles Marathon for the record attempt. Despite weighing 419 pounds, he was a human powerhouse faster and stronger than most people believed. Internally, Charles recognized that he was naturally strong. This time, he approached the school’s track on a full stomach and no training, took a glance at the turf that lay ahead of him, and ran. He returned to his high school athletic fields, where he had been previously been handed off by a number of coaches who never knew what to do with his frame. I did the maths on previous holder's time per mile and knew if I can stand on my feet for 12 hours straight as a bodyguard, I could do it."Īt first, Charles set out to do the record in 2012, as a dare from his friends. They started laughing at me and joking ‘yeah right, OOOOOKAY buddy, yeah you're going to run a marathon? You can't even run a mile!’. At the time, my friends and I had just gotten back from eating these massive carne asada burritos from Super Taco in Oxnard, California. I saw him and knew I could beat his time. He was a six-feet tall, 400 lbs sumo wrestler. "It began when I saw the previous record holder on Yahoo's front page. He turned to (American) football in college, and though he succeeded as one of the most sought after players, was forced to stop competing due to debilitating spinal injuries.įor most of his life Charles was told he was too big for several things, but few knew this considerable characteristic carried into heart.Ī generous person, who put others above himself, Charles would one day grow up to use his size in honour of his mother Carol, who was battling stage four cancer.Īiming to beat the record for the world’s Heaviest person to complete a marathon (male) in 2013, Charles would defy doctors, others who doubted him, and everyone who ever saw being “big” as a hindrance to inspire his mother to fight the impossible. In high school Charles tried wrestling, but met the maximum weight requirement for freshman in his class. In the sixth grade, he was told he was too big for pop warner football, even playing with kids three years older. From the soccer fields, the basketball courts, the jujitsu arenas and the baseball diamonds, he was always the most sizable kid on the team. ![]()
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