After losing 190 pounds, inspirational Ben Reisinger runs and walks the Denver course.

Reisinger beats pain to finish the race under the mandatory cuto≠.

Hampered by severe knee pain, Ben Reisinger walked the last 11 miles of the Colfax Marathon on Sunday, but he has overcome far bigger challenges.

Two years ago, he weighed 375 pounds. When he resolved to lose weight and keep it off, he decided to set a goal he thought was impossible — run a marathon. He lost 190 pounds, first by walking, then kick-boxing, then running. Sunday, he wore a shirt with pictures of him before and after the weight loss with the message, “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT.”

“I was eating as if I couldn’t even look forward to tomorrow,” the 28-year-old engineer recalled. “I was only looking forward to my next meal. I told myself, ‘You have to start looking past tomorrow.’ I was living so much in the moment, and I was like, ‘What about five years from now? Is anything going to be different? Five years from now, if I don’t change anything, I’m going to be here in the same situation with the potential health problems that being big present.’ ”

He considers himself a runner now. When friends tell him he inspires them, he finds it humbling.

“I never imagined I’d be not only doing something so hard athletically, but inspiring other people,” Reisinger said. “The whole marathon experience, I would definitely recommend to anybody who’s looking for a life-changing experience. It’s not the marathon that’s the life-changing thing, it’s the experience of training for one. It definitely challenges you. You’ve got to develop a lot of mental toughness. It teaches you a lot about life.”

Sunday did. In recent weeks, he developed problems with the iliotibial bands in both knees, a common overuse injury for runners. When he had to stop running at Mile 15, he knew it would be tough to beat the six-hour mandatory course cutoff. He walked his next mile in 16 minutes, did the math and knew if he could walk that pace the rest of the way, he would finish before the course closed. He finished in 5:47:39.

He will continue to run because it has become part of his lifestyle.

“It’s really strange how I was able to go from where all that gave me any kind of pleasure was my next meal to now, where I’m actually looking forward to working out. It’s not the funnest experience to move when you’re pushing 400 pounds. But once you get over that hump, it’s enjoyable. It’s a very cool thing to see what you can do.”