Marathons & Half Marathons are Serious Business!

Sadly, Sunday's running of the Detroit Marathon and Half Marathon saw the deaths of three runners. Autopsies listed the the cause of each of the deaths as being due to cardiac failure and also stated that each of the runners were in good physical condition. The ages of the runners were 65, 35 and 26.

Deaths from running in distance races are rare indeed - 1 out of every 50, 000 runners - yet that still doesn't quell the alarm that each of us feels personally when we hear such stories.
Marathon running and half marathon running is serious business. To properly train for these events requires months of intense training, oftentimes in heat and humidity of the summer, if, the targeted race is held in the fall. It requires discipline in how you choose your running apparel, hydrate, and eating the right foods ,in additon to running the hundreds of miles needed to adequately train for the race.

Marathon and half marathon races are gaining in popularity as Americans attempt to embrace a more healthy lifestyle. They provide goals to shoot for and finishing these events can produce an emotional high that will participants will remember for the rest of their lives. Yet, the risk they can pose must be taken seriously.

As mentioned earlier, each of the participants in Detroit was in good shape but, all too often, there are runners at the starting line that are not trained to the degree that's needed to enter races of these distances. They wind up putting their lives "on the line" as well as their bodies.

Conversely, there are runner's such as Ryan Shay, a young Olympic hopeful who died during the Olympic Marathon trials in New York City a few years ago. In his case, post mortems showed he had an undiagnosed enlarged heart that caused his death.

While only God has ultimate control over life and death, we certainly can take steps to lessen the risk of death when running in distance events.

Program directors in charge of the many training programs, be it for a charity or private program, need to closely monitor runners during training and advise them if they notice a risk. The participants, need to listen to them. Sometimes, the advice a program director gives is not what the runner wants to hear but, they are people experienced in running and training for distance events and know when a runner is putting themselves in potential danger.

Runner's, regardless of their motivation, need to be realistic when setting goals for themselves. I once had a person who never ran one step in her life, show up at our first marathon training session (a scheduled 8 mile run) ready to hit the trails with us. I suggested she enroll in our No Boundaries beginners 5K program. She listened and is now ready to try to run a 10K after successfully completing that program. A half marathon is in her future for sure!

Finally, before embarking on any type of physical endeavor, it's prudent to get a green light from your physician.

Death from running is rare but, that doesn't mean we should avoid taking precautions to lessen that risk.