Zdeno Chara conquers his first Boston Marathon in 3:38:23
BOSTON -- Zdeno Chara is a champion at anything he does. So it should come as no shock that the former Bruins captain and Stanley Cup champ made easy work of his first Boston Marathon.
Chara ran the 26.2-mile race in just 3:38:23 on Monday, an incredible time for a first-timer. The 46-year-old hit the halfway mark at just 1:49:40, and averaged an 8:20 mile throughout the race. He ran a pair of sub-8-minute miles on the back end of the race, including his final mile in just 7:21.
Big Z fittingly wore the "3333" bib for the race, after he donned the No. 33 jersey for the Bruins for 14 seasons.
Chara supported two local charities on Monday: Andover's Thomas E. Smith Foundation, which supports people living with paralysis, and The Hoyt Foundation.
While he didn't throw any of those massive body checks that Bruins became used to see out of Chara, he did pass a few other former Boston athletes on the course. Former Red Sox players Brock Holt and Ryan Dempster -- both of whom won a World Series during their time in Boston -- ran the race on Monday, and both were sporting bib numbers similar to the ones on the back of their Red Sox jerseys. Holt was in the "1212" bib, while Dempster wore "4646."
Holt finished in 5:46:57, averaging a 13:20 mile throughout. Dempster finished in 4:42:11, averaging a 10:46 mile during his run.
Former Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie ran in the "222" bib (he wore No. 22 while at Boston College) and finished in 5:28:34. Tennis star Monica Puig wore bib "2016," which is the year she won Olympic gold, and finished in 3:49:47 on Monday.
