One Confirmed Death in Chicago Marathon

wxxx wrote:

You know, Runningart2004 is slowly but surely working his way on the the letsrun major pain in the ass list.

Not that slowly.

Heart condition killed marathon runner

Associated Press, Updated 1 hour ago STORY TOOLS:

CHICAGO (AP) - An autopsy showed a heart condition, not record-setting heat, killed a Michigan police officer who died during an unusually hot and humid Chicago Marathon.

Chad Schieber, who collapsed while running on the city's South Side, had a mitral valve prolapse and did not die from the heat, the medical examiner's office said Monday.

The 35-year-old Schieber, from Midland, Mich., was pronounced dead shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday at a hospital.

Several other people collapsed, and at least two remained in critical condition Monday, as record heat and smothering humidity forced race organizers to shut down the course midway through the event.

"Obviously very sad news, and our thoughts and prayers are with the individual's family," said Shawn Platt, senior vice president of LaSalle Bank, the marathon's sponsor.

Schieber was a 12-year police veteran in Midland, a city of about 42,000 in central Lower Michigan. He worked as a field training officer and community relations officer and implemented the department's child DNA identification program, the Midland Daily News reported.

At least 49 people were taken to hospitals, while another 250 were treated onsite, many for heat-related ailments. Chicago Fire Department officials said they used 30 ambulances from area suburbs.

Rest of the article here:

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7307538?MSNHPHMA

cheech wrote:I guess the person who died had mitral valve prolapse and the coroner said it was undiagnosed and not heat related.

I find it hard to believe this was attributed as the cause of death. MVP is a pretty innocuous condition - I have it, and I'm sure a lot of other runners do, too. It slightly increases your risk of a heart infection (so I take antibiotics before various medical/dental procedures), but not of collapsing during exercise.

Yes wrote:

It's called global warming. What will it take for people to realize it's not some liberal theory?

Well it was 42 degrees in Arizona yesterday morning...I had to break out my gloves for the 20 mile run I did...

Global warming is such bunk...

Seems others would agree with you:

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/10/stop-in-the-nam.html

RUNNNER'S DEATH NOT HEAT RELATED?? That's absolute NONSENSE! I have the same mitral valve prolapse, and I was warned by my cardiologist that if I run the marathon, it is extremely important that I not get dehydrated. He said that dehydration with this condition "is a greatly increased risk of sudden death". I wore a heart monitor, walked much of the 2nd half, and had plenty of water and Gatorade (unlike many other runners behind me). To claim that this death was not heat-related is totally incorrect and irresponsible!

Posted by: Kevin Fitzgerald | Oct 8, 2007 1:17:46 PM

Humbled wrote:

cheech wrote:I guess the person who died had mitral valve prolapse and the coroner said it was undiagnosed and not heat related.

I find it hard to believe this was attributed as the cause of death. MVP is a pretty innocuous condition - I have it, and I'm sure a lot of other runners do, too. It slightly increases your risk of a heart infection (so I take antibiotics before various medical/dental procedures), but not of collapsing during exercise.

like many conditions, the severity of the condition is the important factor.

MarathonMind wrote:

Seems others would agree with you:

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/10/stop-in-the-nam.html

RUNNNER'S DEATH NOT HEAT RELATED?? That's absolute NONSENSE! I have the same mitral valve prolapse, and I was warned by my cardiologist that if I run the marathon, it is extremely important that I not get dehydrated. He said that dehydration with this condition "is a greatly increased risk of sudden death". I wore a heart monitor, walked much of the 2nd half, and had plenty of water and Gatorade (unlike many other runners behind me). To claim that this death was not heat-related is totally incorrect and irresponsible!

Posted by: Kevin Fitzgerald | Oct 8, 2007 1:17:46 PM

i'm glad there are so many amateur doctors out there.

for those who track marathon deaths, mitral valve prolapse is a usual cause. dehyrdation certainly can play a role with this condition but this happens even in cool weather marathons so to call it heat related is maybe obscuring the point some. i'd call it more marathon or "really long duration of exercise" related but to each his own.

Well I'm not a doctor (amateur or otherwise), but I do find it hard to believe that the heat had no effect on the death. It seems like the probability of a heart problem occuring would be possitively correlated with the amount of work that the heart has to do.

my point is that there are many, many factors that one could cite as part of a cause of death. in this case, i would bet the heat could be cited. but i can list quite a few people who died in quite lovely marathon conditions (including one a few years ago in chicago) because of the same condition. the exercise - especially the length of the exercise - is a more determinative factor than the weather conditions in which it's done.

You're right: I'm not a doctor. But I still find it odd to hear "mitral valve prolapse" described (with no further detail or explanation) as a sinister ailment that can lead to sudden death during extended/vigorous exercise. It's generally viewed as a benign condition (unless, of course, it's accompanied by other complications).

Here's some background from the Merck Manual for those who're interested:

http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec07/ch076/ch076d.html

Factors:

1. Heart condition

2. Extreme exertion

3. Extreme heat

4. Dehydration due to lack of fluids

I agree with you. There are other factors that are much more important to consider. All I was saying is that to say that it was unrelated to the heat, as the article about the autopsy did, probably isn't completely correct. It might not have been the sole determining factor (obviously, as everyone would have died if it was), but I can't imagine that the heat had no effect at all.

It would have been ideal for the organizers to move up the start time, but with the permit, the street closures, etc. it probably wasn't a realistic solution.

Some good responses from aid station captains:

http://www.chicagoaa.com/news/chicago07closed.html

I am not a doctor either, however, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

Anyone that went to the hospital has nobody to blame but themselvs. With that high temperature, you would have to know that it would be rough to finish and that it could negatively impact your health.

Maybe it's just me, but this guy doesn't sound like an experienced marathoner.

Chad Schieber

Bib # 12689

Midland, MI - USA

Age 35 Male

START means he was back of the pack and it took him more than 15 minutes just to cross the start line

0:15:25

5K

0:33:37 (18:12 5km split)

10K

1:09:12 (35:35 5km split)

15K

1:40:55 (31:23 5km split)

20K

2:15:43 (34:48 5km split)

HALF

2:22:44 minus the 15:25 is 2:07:19 or a 9:42 per mile pace

25K

2:53:15 (37:32 5km split)

30K

3:35:12 (41:57 5km split)

He reached half in 2:22 and 30km in 3:35

So, he ran from 21 kilometers (half) to 30 km (18.6)

in one hour, twelve minutes.

His last 5.5 miles was done at roughly a 13:05 per mile pace.

Did he have a Coach?

Was he in a running club?

Had he completed a marathon before?

Was he climatized to handle a warm weather marathon?

How many of you experienced marathoners

run the first 5km at a sub six minute per mile pace?

And then bounce around between 10, 11 and 12 minute miles.

His last few miles were over a 13 minute per mile pace.

Does that kind of marathon strategy work for anyone?

It didn't seem to work for him.

Yeah, the guy was a real jerk for letting his split times go down as he was dying. Pretty selfish.

SVC wrote:

Yeah, the guy was a real jerk for letting his split times go down as he was dying. Pretty selfish.

Uh, go back a read those splits. The guy ran 6:00 miles the first 5k, in that crowd and that heat?

Yeah. Any experienced marathoner knows that you're supposed to negative split in the moments leading up to your death.