3 runners die at Detroit Marathon

If you Lance you take a Chance.

Congratulations to Nick Stanko and Sarah Plaxton. You ran great races and today should be all about you. It is with the REAL running community.

Isnt there any sort of test one can take to screen for the possibility of sudden death from exercise? Maybe a CPK test which measures heart muscle damage. Maybe that test or some other test could be done as a screening device to identify those runners most at risk? I dont know, I'm not an MD; I'm just wondering if there isnt some way to screen out the most at risk.

http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/cpk-isoenzymes-test-dictionary.htm

not quite right wrote:

Slowpokeman wrote:

If we assume a life expectancy of 72, then the average person dies after living 26,280 days.

So, if we randomly selected 26,280 people, we'd expect on average, one of them to die today.

So ... why is everyone surprised when someone dies in a marathon? It seems that you'd expect the big ones to have one person die on average every year.

That doesn't happen(because runners are healthier on average than the population) - but it shouldn't be as big a shock as it is when it does.

Most football stadiums hold 60,000 people and the games last about as long as the typical marathon. Could you imagine if a handful of people died at every pro and college football game every weekend? There would be a couple thousand fan deaths every season in the NFL alone.

God, that would be great!

Quote me if you like wrote:

Congratulations to Nick Stanko and Sarah Plaxton. You ran great races and today should be all about you. It is with the REAL running community.

Thank you for attempting to keep a running website back on target. The thing that I enjoy most about this board is its ability to appreciate the sport. Gallowwalkers, TNT, and 4 and a half hour marathoners have no place in this sport. The fact that someone died doing something they shouldn't have should not be a story.

I am 5-4 and weigh 110 pounds. If I entered an ultimate fighting competition and was killed, it would be on me. If people with pre existing heart conditions are too stupid to take care of themselves it is on them.

as usual, there's a lot of jumping to conclusions on this site. the oldest man who died was running his 50th marathon! doesn't sound too unhealthy to me.

autopsies today.

http://freep.com/article/20091019/SPORTS23/910190362/1318/Autopsies-today-for-3-runners

Slowpokeman wrote:

If we assume a life expectancy of 72, then the average person dies after living 26,280 days.

So, if we randomly selected 26,280 people, we'd expect on average, one of them to die today.

NO.

1) The chance of a normal adult dying on any given day has nothing to do with average life expectancy. If your statement were true, thousands of children and healthy adults would just drop dead every day. There are over 26,280 students at some universities. Does one of them die every day? No.

2) Most people live longer than the "average" because young people dying in accidents pull the average down more than 85-year-olds pull it up. The effect of a data point on the average increases with distance from the average. An extreme example is the middle ages, when the average life expectancy was in the 40s because so many young children died of disease. Once people made it to adulthood, they usually lived well past their 40s.

3) The average life expectancy in the USA is at least 75 now, I think.

I jumped to no conclusions. If they died, then they were not healthy enough to run the marathon. This includes people like Ryan Shay. His autopsy showed that he had an enlarged heart. A condition that he was aware of for years. I never said they weren't trained. I never said they were too fat.

I don't think they belonged in the marathon. I think they were neglectful in running. If they were unaware of their condition then they were neglectful in not taking the proper precautions. If they were aware, then they were neglectful in ignoring their situation.

Either way they were neglectful

i wasn't responding to you; you were merely the last person to have posted on the thread so that's why i clicked reply. there HAVE been multiple other people on this thread implying that those who died were overweight and/or undertrained. while that may still be the case for the other two, i wanted to post this latest free press article since so many people seem interested.

Brett Michaels GF wrote:

I jumped to no conclusions. If they died, then they were not healthy enough to run the marathon. This includes people like Ryan Shay. His autopsy showed that he had an enlarged heart. A condition that he was aware of for years. I never said they weren't trained. I never said they were too fat.

I don't think they belonged in the marathon. I think they were neglectful in running. If they were unaware of their condition then they were neglectful in not taking the proper precautions. If they were aware, then they were neglectful in ignoring their situation.

Either way they were neglectful

I wonder if people like you are sitting at home laughing while you write this stuff, or if you are truly serious. Are you really arguing such a hateful point on an internet message board? Is it that important to be "right," that you feel it is necessary to speak poorly about people who have died?

I just don't understand it.

I am truly serious. I apologize if it comes across as insincere. I stick with the accuracy.

Kid Icarus wrote:

I wonder if people like you are sitting at home laughing while you write this stuff, or if you are truly serious. Are you really arguing such a hateful point on an internet message board? Is it that important to be "right," that you feel it is necessary to speak poorly about people who have died?

I just don't understand it.

I am sorry but I agree with "Brett Michaels GF." I don't believe it was hateful by ANY means; he/she was just stating a simple fact. I have to admit that it is rather blunt, but I can't tell you how annoying I find it when you read a write-up describing someone's death and depicting it as completely tragic/coincidental when in all honesty it MOST LIKELY could have been prevented. I haven't found much information on exactly what caused each of the 3 deaths, so I know that no one should be making a full assumption; however, being a serious runner and having just raced a marathon myself, I have been a witness to watching a lot of people enter into the race that honestly should be thinking twice about it. It's not that I believe a marathon is only for an "elite" athlete (however you want to define one). It's just that 26.2 miles, or even 13.1, is a LOT of stress on ANYONE'S body. I stood at the starting line last week and was lined up next to a lot of different types of runners. Some looked elite, some average, and some looked like they literally hadn't put on a pair of running shoes in their life. It's not that I don't think an "out of shape" person should be running (and I put that in quotes because I believe many different factors help to decide what type of shape someone is in), but to put your body through 26.2 miles of constant pounding and an elevated heart rate in all types of heat/cold/wind etc, is just not always a smart decision. I know that some people like to reall push themselves and I would congratulate ANYONE who completed/attempted a marathon because it's insanely challenging no matter what level of runner you are. But to get to the main point, that I believe Brett Michael's GF is trying to say, just because you can run for 26.2 miles doesn't mean you are MEANT to or that IT IS GOOD FOR YOU. Maybe I can go swimming in my backyard pool for 15-20 mins of laps but that doesn't mean I'm going to go and attempt to swim across the English Channel without proper training and advice from doctor's. Maybe these individuals did seek medical advice and were cleared. What upsets me is by not explaining the causes of their deaths, it's readers/runners like you that assume it these people took the proper steps/precautions and it wasn't more their own fault than anyone else's. I would NEVER wish death upon them and I am certainly not feeling any hate towards them. I feel nothing but sympathy for them and their family. However, I will not sugar-coat the fact that more steps probably could have been taken to prevent these deaths and these 3 individuals probably should not have been in the race to begin with.

BM-GF You have no idea what you are talking about. You are being neglectful for writing such garbage. Athletes die every year from undetected (undetectable) heart disease. It is only afterwords through an autopsy that the probem is found. Now go away and educate yourself.

wait so the two younger runners collapsed near the same spot? Maybe it was carbon monoxide...

I'm scared. I've been running and competing at a high level for 35+ years now. If I die whilst running . . . is it running related?

i'm not saying that I agree with BM-GF. I mean I do in some ways (I think our sport should be more exclusive) but I don't in other ways.

Just wanted to point out that I believe I've read that ryan shay was indeed aware of his condition. Although most are not, I'm pretty sure he was. I forget the reasoning because it's been some time (and i'm at work now so i'd rather not look it up), but for some reason the articles I read at the time either implied or directly stated that his enlarged heart actually helped him in many ways. He knew he'd have problems as an adult but it actually was to his advantage in running. Right? Or no?

With that being said, i completely disagree that people are "neglectful" if they don't realize they have a heart condition. Most people who have that don't realize it until something goes wrong. You don't just go get your heart checked out when you're in high school and college running.

not in agreement wrote:

(I think our sport should be more exclusive)

Why?

RIP Rick Brown. A long-time runner and an encouraging force in the valley.

You people arguing that we should be blaming the deceased for not being prepared, or not knowing that running the marathon was going to kill them are a black spot on this sport, not to mention hypocritical to the nth degree. It makes me sick to call myself a runner and be grouped with you.

Look- those of you are arguing that you go to races and see people around you who are fat, out of shape, should not be running a marathon, etc, and these people got what they deserved. The deceased from this race, not to mention Ryan Shay's death, were runners in decent shape. It could have been any one of us. I think one of the runners had already run something like 50 marathons. They were healthy. Have some respect for the dead. These were healthy people, who tragically died, unaware of a hidden time bomb ticking inside them. The autoposies were inconclusive. Lets face it, there is a horrifying chance that any one of us could go out for a run and drop dead without any prior warning. So quit blaming the victims here, and show a little humanity.

The levels to which this message board reaches hypocrisy is an alarming representation of humanity. Ryan Shay dies in Central Park, and an outpouring of grief comes through. Three local runners die, none of which apparently had the same cardiac issues that Ryan Shay knew he had, and you people jump at the chance to blame anyone you think might be slower than you for being so foolish to think that they can train and do something that you are so obviously better at doing. Better take a good look in the mirror next time you head out the door and pray you are as healthy as you think you are. My utmost respect for the deceased, and condolences for the families.