Anytime you get 22k people together statistically someone is going to have a heart attack. Happens at most baseball games.
Not true. Please don't just repeat something you heard somewhere sometime. The risk of a heart attack per person per year is 0.0032, based on US health data. Therefore if you get 22k people together for four hours, there is only a 3% chance that there will be even one heart attack. Also, only about 10% of heart attacks are fatal, so the chance of a fatal heart attack among 22k people in four hours is more like 0.3%.
Just wanted to confirm the math checks out, in case anyone was wondering.
Running in the Boston area was unusually brutal today, the hottest day of the year with 90+ temperatures and some heat wave emergency preparations by the city. My normal zone1/2 long run pace kept hitting my threshold HR forcing me to slow down or take walk breaks.
Maybe the increased number of hospital emergencies in yesterday’s Brooklyn half was in part because it’s easy to underestimate the first hot and humid day after training through most of the cooler spring. You get used to what you think is your manageable pace but it just isn’t so on a much warmer and soupy day, and observing everyone else running doesn’t help because it makes it mentally easier to push yourself to run with a pack but the heat still takes its physical toll on your body.
The risk of a heart attack per person per year is 0.0032, based on US health data. Therefore if you get 22k people together for four hours, there is only a 3% chance that there will be even one heart attack. Also, only about 10% of heart attacks are fatal, so the chance of a fatal heart attack among 22k people in four hours is more like 0.3%.
Just wanted to confirm the math checks out, in case anyone was wondering.
0.0032 per year / 365 / 6 = risk in 4 hours = 0.00000146 = 0.000146 percent
I ran this race several years ago in 2014 & a runner died at the finish that year too. don’t fully remember details, but I think it was a warmish day then too & runner was from wave 1. Really sad to hear that it happened again. Condolences to both families, must bring a lot back for the earlier runner’s loved ones.
Hey everyone. General rule of thumb is to look at dew point to judge how humidity will affect the race. Humidity percentages can be misleading. It is still high humidity in the winter in the south but it doesnt feel humid. Dew points above 60 degrees F are a good sign that it will feel uncomfortably humid. I have found that 55F is tolerable provided some accimatization and anything below 55F feels pretty good. Of course someone coming from a super dry region might notice the effects more than someone used to high humidity.
I ran this race and the combined heat and humidity was brutal if you're not used to those conditions. People were dropping like flies towards the end. Very sad for that runners family.My wife was waiting for me at the finish and saw him go down,she said there was a lack of urgency and professional help. Also it has to be said many many people as usual enter these events for fun and do minimal preparation. It's plain to see everytime.
ok found it. In the New England Journal of Medicine. Which is as legit as it gets. I don't say that I agree with the study, but it's not urban legend.
A new study suggests marathons interfere with ambulance service. Transportation delays may help explain why elderly patients with cardiac problems are more likely to die if they live near race routes. The issue: Government and community leaders often boast about the economic benefits of major marathons, which can bring thousands of athletes and visitors to an area, generating millions of dollars in tourism revenue. More than 30,000 runners from 95 countries entered the 2017 Boston Marathon. In 2016, 28,664 people entered the Honolulu Marathon, once the world’s largest long-distance running race. While such big events may bolster local business, they also require road closures and cause other disruptions that affect communities near the marathon route on race day. A new study offers insights into how marathons — and events such as parades and protest marches — may impact local residents.
Big events mean the ambulance is already on site. I was in a bicycle event that had 200 riders that day. The course had a cavity in a expansion joint and my wheel got stuck in and flipped me over on my head. I was knocked out for four hours. I didn't know I was in the hospital when the nurse was reading me the details. I learned that the ambulance got me to the emergency room in seven minutes after the accident. Had I been out on a normal ride that day and needed an ambulance I believe I would have been dead.
Winning races in New Jersey the first thing that the media would ask about was the heat and humidity. After doing so many races along the Gulf Coast I felt like 75 degrees was a cold day.
One item I found in the media today was about Al Roker walking in the race. I like Al but found it odd that he claims to have seen the deceased at the finish line. They also show Al Roker getting passed by hundreds and hundreds of runners. In the way of most of them. Did he get to start in the front?
IMy wife was waiting for me at the finish and saw him go down,she said there was a lack of urgency and professional help.
That's exactly what I saw on video. There was help there, but it was like everyone was looking at each other like they had no clue what to do. Where was anybody trained or qualified to help?
Marathon runners tend to be in good shape. But that doesn't mean they haven't narrowed/damaged their arteries with cholesterol plaque due to genetic factors or "dad bod" years. All it takes is for some of that plaque to rupture for subsequent playlet-driven clot to block a major artery, and that is more likely to happen with heart rate approaching maximum and some dehydration, gel caffeine, and inflammation. It is marathoner's version of sedentary person shoveling snow. The risk is that its the last thing you expect at fittest moment of you life. Never ignore chest pain. Get checked out.
Saturday morning I ran the back hills in Van Cortlandt Park and it was brutal and about the last quarter mile toward the stadium I experienced nausea and I knew right away to really slow down; five miles total. This was my first day running in this heat and beforehand there was never a hot/humid day to get acclimated to running in the heat.