Risks of marathon running

Last week a 55-year old man collapsed at mile 10 of the Flying Pig Marathon. Luckily, a group of emergency medical technicians were running just behind him and immediately administered CPR. Bobby Edwards, who had completed the previous 9 Flying PIg marathons, also had to be shocked three times with a defibrillator before being taken to a hospital where he's expected to make a full recovery. So, just how risky is running a marathon? A recent study by Redelmeier in the British Journal of Medicine found 26 deaths out of 3,292,268 runners from major marathons held in the United States. Earlier data collected by Maron and Roberts found a similar risk of 1.1 deaths per 100,000 runners from 15,239 runners of the Twin Cities marathon and the Marine Corp Marathon between 1976 to 2004. Interestingly, Maron and Roberts found the relative number of deaths decreased over those year despite an increase in the number of marathon runners. The decrease was in large part due to "availability of life support and timely defibrillation". Plus, the benefits of regular exercise required to run a marathon likely out weigh any risk. 



1. Me at about mile 20 of the 2003 Flying Pig Marathon. 2. Just crossing the finish line. 3. My favorite looking marathon medal.