BRATISLAVA. Zdeno Chára discovered a new passion. He became a marathon runner. On Sunday, he completed his fourth marathon, the third in three weeks.
He ran the Baystate Marathon in Lowell in 3:16:12, his best marathon time.
Three weeks ago, he ran the Jackson Hole Marathon in Wyoming in 3:27, and on October 1, the 46-year-old native of Trenčín completed the Portland Marathon in 3:24:10.
Chára made his marathon debut in April of this year in the city where he spent the best moments of his hockey career. He managed the Boston Marathon with number 3333 in 3:38:23.
In August, he also ran in Slovakia – in Rajec, he ran the half-marathon course as part of the jubilee 40th edition of the Rajec marathon.
In every marathon so far, Chara has improved his personal best. Czech sports journalist Luboš Brabec noted on the X social network that the world record for the number of consecutive personal records on the marathon course is 13.
Last September, 46-year-old Chára signed a symbolic one-day contract with the Boston Bruins and officially ended his career.
He had 25 seasons of professional hockey, 1,680 games in the regular season of the NHL, 200 in the Stanley Cup playoffs and other games in the jersey of the Slovak national team.
“It was a bit of a change for me, but it was a nice change. I spend a lot more time with my family – especially with my children, driving them to and from school, going to their sports events with them.
I travel, I took a lot of trips in the summer and I’m much more flexible,” he recently described to Men’s Journal what he does after his active career.
Chara also commented on his passion for marathons. “The shift from hockey to long-distance running was not so difficult, because I used running and cycling during my hockey career to prepare for the season.
When I finished hockey, I didn’t skate as much anymore, but I continued cycling and running with the same intensity.
I started running longer distances and met people who helped me prepare for the marathon.
Training for long distances is always challenging, but at the same time it’s a lot of fun. The running community is very friendly. It’s always a new experience for me, and at the same time I take it with great humility.”
Zdeno Chára should next run another marathon on November 5, which belongs to the so-called Big six – New York City Marathon.
2023-10-15 20:15:57
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