Zdeno Chara Put Down An Unreal Performance At The Boston Marathon

Zdeno Chara decided to hang up his skates over the offseason, but there's no denying that the tallest man to ever play in the NHL is still in incredible shape.

Big Z was in Boston, the city where he found his greatest National Hockey League success, however instead of hitting the ice, he hit the streets of Boston for the Boston Marathon.

At the tail end of his hockey career, Big Z wasn't known for his wheels. However, check out the times he threw down in the marathon.

Holy cow.

I think tall guys have a bit of an edge when it comes to marathons. His stride is probably at the very least 1-and-a-quarter (maybe 1-and-a-half) of what most of us could muster. If someone around my height — the perfect not-too-short, not-too-tall height of 5-foot-10 — ran that marathon, they'd have to take quite a few extra strides, thereby using up a significant amount of extra energy.

That isn't to undermine what Chara did, because that's amazing no matter what, especially at 46.

He ran the marathon with bib number 3333 as a nod to his sweater number from his days with the Big Bad Bruins.

Chara wasn't the only ex-athlete who took part in the Boston Marathon this year. Former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie ran, and so did Former Red Sox Brock Holt, Ryan Dempster, and Michael Myers (the pitcher not the actor or fictional serial killer).

This year's race commemorated the 10th anniversary of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.