Six Things Big & Tall Runners Need to Know
From shoes to weight loss, here’s what I learned on my journey.
Runners with different levels of fitness and body shapes face different challenges. At six feet five inches, I don’t look too overweight, but I’m clearly not svelte either. I weigh around 280 lbs, which gives me a Body Mass Index (BMI) of around 33. Current standards put me at the cusp between overweight and obese.
Running keeps me from slipping over the edge. I have some job requirements to maintain a certain level of fitness, and if I run a couple of half marathons a year the training will keep me where I need to be.
While most of the common running wisdom works for larger runners, there are also some tips and tricks that make things easier, especially if you’ve never been a runner before or are starting over again in middle age.
1. Buy good shoes
Every story about running preaches the shoes, but bigger runners need to choose especially wisely. I started paying attention to shoes in 2008 when I really started to be serious about fitness. I was deployed to Iraq, and our tiny BX only had size 13 and up, which was fine for my big feet. I bought some New Balance 1064s (since discontinued) and noticed that I liked them.
