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e-newsletterNovember 2013
In This Issue
M&B News
Between the Lines
Word on the Street
Subscriber of the Month
Marathon & Beyond
 

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Marathon and Beyond Midcap
Columbus Marathon honors Patient Champions

Marathon & Beyond was proud to be a part of the 2013 Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Marathon. Nationwide Children's Hospital was title beneficiary for the Marathon & 1/2 Marathon for the second year.  

 

The 2013 event raised $1.25 million for Nationwide Children's Hospital in the second year of the partnership. The race was 26.2 miles, each with a different story, a new inspiration, and another reason to keep running: 24 Miracle Mile Patient Champions with inspiring stories to keep the runners motivated; one Angel Mile to honor, remember, and celebrate those who have already finished their race; and one Encore Mile, for the patients who lined the inaugural Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Marathon & � Marathon in 2012.

Two Deaths  

by Hal Higdon 

 

Over the long history of distance running, two tragic deaths have affected us greatly. First was that of Pheidippides, the legendary Greek warrior/messenger, who after the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. ran the approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the battlefield into Athens, shouted "Rejoice, we conquer," and then died.

 

Historians tell us that the Pheidippides run (and death) was, indeed, "legendary." It never happened, even though the oft' told tale served as inspiration for the marathons we run today.

 

A more poignant, and perhaps even more tragic, death was that of another man who also inspired us: Jim Fixx, author of the million-seller book, The Complete Book of Running. Fixx did not create the running boom; Frank Shorter, who won the Olympic Marathon in 1972, gets credit for that. Almost unwittingly several years later, Fixx found himself standing in the right place with the right product: a simply written book that provided a roadmap for previously sedentary individuals who wanted to become joggers, then runners, then marathoners. Follow Fixx, and not only would we lengthen our lives, but we would improve the quality of those lives.

 

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work that way for Fixx, who followed Pheidippides into an early grave. One day in the summer of 1984, Fixx went for a 10-mile run, a distance he covered frequently in workouts. Fixx never returned from that run. He was found by the side of the road, dead of a heart attack.

 

But why should that have happened? Running, particularly the running of marathons, was supposed to make us immortal. Running was supposed to prevent heart attacks, not cause them. I learned of Jim Fixx's death a few days before I was scheduled to leave for Los Angeles to cover the Olympic Games for The Runner magazine. Fixx's tragic ending was an event that impacted that magazine's readers more than the events scheduled for the Los Angeles Coliseum. Marc Bloom, editor of The Runner, asked me to detour through Greenwich, Connecticut, en route to L.A. to attend Jim Fixx's funeral to find out why he died and how those of us who loved running could prevent the same from happening to us.

"The Death of Jim Fixx" became the cover story for the November 1984 issue of The Runner, and I suspect it was read with greater interest than our coverage in the previous issue of the Olympic Games. Now, a quarter century later, that same article is being reprinted in the current issue of Marathon & Beyond: an expanded version with my comments putting Fixx's death into the perspective of 2013, also with many unique family photos provided by Jim's son, John Fixx. It is a must-read for all runners.

Note: John Fixx shared a memory with Hal that was not included in the original article in Marathon & Beyond. Here is his "memory":

Peg Palmer, my father's girlfriend with whom he was living on Cape Cod that last summer of his life, reports that he woke up in the middle of the night, clutching at the air and sweating profusely. Then the moment passed, and he lay down at the foot of the bed until he gathered himself, still sweating profusely. Clearly he had had a heart incident.

And then consistent with the other stories on which you report, in retrospect I saw the same thing. I had shown up down on Cape Cod about a week before Dad was to depart for our vacation rental in Vermont. He and I were to go for a run, and he suggested a shorter distance than usual, 7 miles. After about three quarters of a mile, we ran into the very small Barnstable Airport. He said he needed to go to the bathroom. We stood there for a few minutes chatting with the manager of the airport and then, at some point, my father said he was ready to continue our run. He never went to the bathroom.

As we headed away from the airport, I said to my father that I thought he had to go to the bathroom. I don't remember, as a 22-year-old, exactly how he responded but the moment passed, and we completed our run uneventfully.

In retrospect, he was having the same temporary pain or tightness in his chest that others have reported and that the doctors report as a sign of impending heart attack.

 

I have not spent much time during my life lamenting that I did not push my father more strongly that day because I don't know that most children would have. He clearly dismissed the issue at the airport, and we ran along chatting away amiably as always. But in retrospect, if we all put these smaller incidents together, we could have intervened with my father.

 

I think at some level, he must have been putting these incidents together, and they terrified him to the point of figurative paralysis. I have no doubt that he would have eventually seen a doctor, and the sad part is that, having his heart attack right when he arrived in Vermont, he never got a chance to see a doctor.

My siblings and I have taken that as a powerful example, and we have all been very careful about staying under doctors' care, even though the reports have always been positive throughout our lives.

Word on the Street
Miracle Match Marathon
January 26, 2014
Waco, Texas

 

Rise to the occasion and be a part of a Miracle on January 25-26, 2014. If you're looking for big crowds, flat concrete courses, a bagel and a banana at the finish line, you'd better keep looking. If you have, however, evolved into a different, more mature runner, read on. 

 

Held on January 26, 2014, the Waco Firefighters Association Miracle Match Marathon offers the toughest marathon course in Texas, and potentially in the entire southwest. The half course, a bit more gentle, still includes some Central Texas rollers. They are well worth it, though, as half marathoners run through the award winning Cameron Park Zoo, allowing participants to get close up and personal with elephants, rhinos, and orangutans. There is also a 10K, relay, 5K, and one mile. 

 

Although somewhat feared and yet respected for its serious hills, Miracle Match Marathon is fortunately matched by its many amenities, including a black custom finisher jacket with flames going up the sides and a Texas size finisher party complete with fajitas, beer, wine, and margaritas. In addition, finisher medals are particularly unique. A Waco Firefighter who matched and donated stem cells through the race's beneficiary, the "Be the Match" program, hand cuts each and every medal.

 

Still need motivation to tackle the hills of Central Texas? Firefighters from all across the country will run alongside you in full turnout gear, which can weigh up to 45 pounds, as they participate in the Turnout for the Cause Firefighter Relay. Click here

for more info. 

 

Subscriber of the Month:
Dave Zachrich 

Dave is a software developer and consultant for web and database applications. He and his wife, Joyce, live in Columbus, Ohio, and have been married for 34 years. They have two children, one grandchild, and one beautiful yellow lab named Zoe. They first met when they were the best man and maid of honor at his brother's wedding to Joyce's roommate. We recently spoke with Dave at the Columbus Marathon expo.

 

Although Dave says that his story is "nothing special," he shares with us insights and experiences that everyone can relate to. All runners' stories are special.

 

My story is nothing special. I do love to run, and I have run 20 marathons and many other shorter races. In comparison to all the other great runners I have met and read about, I am very much middle of the pack.

 

Lesson learned:

 

I am currently injured, and for that I have only myself to blame. I ignored the messages of my body while training too hard with inadequate recovery from a previous race and in committing this runner's cardinal sin, I suffered a stress fracture involving the anterolateral aspect of the proximal tibia (just below the outside of my right knee cap). The result has been 4 months of no running. Only this month have I been able to resume running in a very limited manner.

 

What I love about running:

  • I love the excitement of race day. The adrenaline surge that keeps me from sleeping well the night before a marathon is the same surge that powers me throughout my run on race day, allowing me to maintain a pace I can only do for shorter periods in training. Seeing other runners chatting with friends or sitting quietly contemplating the race ahead tells me that I am in the right place for me.
  • I love running with a group. The stories we share on a run are at the same time heart-warming, inspiring, funny, and always uplifting. I have found that I can run the same pace running with a group that would require an extra 15 heartbeats per minute on a run by myself.
  • I love to lead pace groups in local half marathons. The appreciation and support you give and get from runners of various experience levels, hoping they have the training to meet their time goals, and seeing their uncertainty disappear as they make their final push to the finish is tremendously fulfilling.
  • I love to train with the MIT (Marathoner-in-Training) running group in Columbus, Ohio. I started running with them in 2007 when my motivation for training on my own was starting to wane. Since then, my love of running has only grown.

Running Boston:

  • Even though I've been running for over 18 years, I didn't start getting serious about training until I joined MIT. After one season with them, I became obsessed with running Boston. I set a goal to qualify and after seven marathons and dropping 35 pounds, I finally qualified with 21 seconds to spare in my eighth marathon at the North Central Trail Marathon. I since have lowered my qualifying time by an additional 21 minutes and hope someday to run BQ races in all 50 states.
  • I ran Boston this past spring. Fortunately, I was standing in the family meeting area M at the corner of Clarendon and Stewart, blocked from a visual of the finish area by the Boston Public Library, when the explosions occurred. My friends and I knew something had happened but not what. I believe time heals most wounds, but I don't feel this one will truly heal until I run Boston again next spring.

Volunteering:

  • One thing I have realized during my races has been the correlation of strong volunteer support to putting on a successful event. When I became injured, I knew I needed to give a little back. This fall, my wife, Joyce, and I served as the captains of one of the aid stations at the Columbus Marathon. We had about 30 students working with us from the OSU College of Public Health, most of whom had never run a race. We encouraged them to cheer on the runners as they gave them water and Gatorade. Afterwards, they all said what a great time they had enjoyed. Joyce and I went home and took a well-deserved nap. I was more tired after seven hours of working the aid station than I have ever been following even my most difficult marathons.
  • I paced a friend at the Mohican 100 ultramarathon a few years ago. He was supposed to come through mile 75 at around 11:00 pm, but one problem or another delayed his arrival until 1:40 the next morning. He wanted to finish, so I stayed with him through the end of the race for eight hours where he ended up earning his belt buckle. Someday when I grow up, I will earn a buckle of my own.

Biggest supporter:


My wife, Joyce, is my most ardent supporter. She is a marathon spectator extraordinaire. She frequently surprises me and my running friends by showing up at four or five points along our marathon route - even at the big city marathons.
Thanks, Joyce!
    
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Miracle Match Marathon: January 26, 2014
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