Runner that died of heart attack

I assume you are looking for a 'famous guy'....one would be Jim Fixx who wrote "The Complete Book of Running" in the late 70s; sold in the millions; became a celebrity and did commercials for Quaker Oats Cereal. Thin and in good shape; dropped dead on a run one morning. Turned out he had clogged arteries and a family history of heart problems. No warning signs. The type of heart attack they call "the widow maker"; because it comes out of nowhere, with no warning. I've known a handfull of men who died this way, well before their time, unfortunately; but they weren't famous.

jim fixx was 52 when he died of a heart attack.

his father had a heart attack at age 35, and died of one at age 42.

Fixx had plenty of warning signs in the days prior to his attack. He frequently felt chest pains but believed his own rhetoric that "anyone who can finish a marathon cannot have a heart attack". I believe it was Cooper who pleaded with him to come to Dallas for a stress test but Fixx blew him off.

wow, I'm surprised that he was 52 when he died. I met and talked to him in 1979 at a Quakers Oats 10k race in L.A. He could have easily passed for being in his late 30s.

thanks

He died on the side of the road in Greensboro, VT while doing the 7 mile loop around Caspian Lake.

Not sure if this is what you were thinking of, but it was in the news recently. A 29 year old dropped dead at Broad Street last weekend.

didn't Bekeley's fiance die of a heart attack while out running? She was a young women, 19 or so. Now that's crazy!

Myocarditis kills a lot of young fit sports participants. The main cause of this illness is viral infection, which attacks the Myocardium, the heart wall muscle.

Dont excercise if you think you have a virus, or some unusual feeling of weakness. Some very young and very fit people have died because they worked out when they should have been resting.

wellnow wrote:

Myocarditis kills a lot of young fit sports participants. The main cause of this illness is viral infection, which attacks the Myocardium, the heart wall muscle.

Dont excercise if you think you have a virus, or some unusual feeling of weakness. Some very young and very fit people have died because they worked out when they should have been resting.

What about David Kimani? He was eating lunch or dinner I thought? Definitely wasn't running.

I know it's been talked about before, I just never knew what happened there, just that it was very out-of-the-blue.

Yes, I recall an ultrarunner in my neighborhood raced in a 24hour run despite his illness, a virus, and dropped dead of a heartattack that evening.

wellnow wrote:

Myocarditis kills a lot of young fit sports participants. The main cause of this illness is viral infection, which attacks the Myocardium, the heart wall muscle.

Dont excercise if you think you have a virus, or some unusual feeling of weakness. Some very young and very fit people have died because they worked out when they should have been resting.

Yes. I had a friend, years ago who was a fit, fireman. He got a bad sore throat, flu and 4 days later DIED in his bed. No one saw that coming. Didn't the guy who created the Muppets die of this same thing?

I was fascinated by this section of the report:

‘Crisis response teams were at Shafer on Monday to help pupils deal with their grief. Principal William Incollingo said a letter was sent home to parents urging them to talk with their children about the teacher they knew as "Mr. Mass" and their feelings about his death.’

Crisis response teams?

Urge parents to talk of the kids ‘feelings’?

For Heaven’s sake why?

Hardly the way to produce a nation of Spartans.

I assume from this side of the water, the school wasn’t in the local area of American cities known as the ‘Hood’?

Or are your films and television programmes misleading.