These studies reporting on the danger of high mileage or high intensity workouts for older runners do seem, like the Litchfield Hills Road Race, to keep recurring on a regular basis. I'll leave the challenge or verification to doctors and other medical experts. However, I agree with my father--Jim Fixx--who committed to running as part of a healthy outlook on life and a way to manage stress.
A couple of errors in the thread: My father did not have a brother who also died of a heart attack. His father (an editor of Time Magazine), never an exerciser and a three-pack-a-day smoker, did have a heart attack in his late-30s and died at 41. My father stopping smoking the day the Surgeon General's report came out in 1963 but could definitely have eaten more sensible foods throughout his life. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy said that my father's arteries were so occluded that she theorized that if his heart had not been so strong from running, that he would have died 10 or twelves years earlier.
Dr. Ken Cooper's book, Running Without Fear, is the best treatment of that topic I have read.
Finally, my father neglected or ignored warning signs in the months leading to his death. Sadly, his heart attack was fatal and he did not get to alter his lifestyle. He would have been a powerful example of how to get bad health news and respond with the sort of life changes that would, indeed, add life to your years and years to your life.
See you on the roads--
John Fixx
Connecticut
Haji wrote:
They lost all credibility with this line:
"The most notorious example of a jogger coming to grief was Jim Fixx, the author of the 1977 bestseller The Complete Book Of Running.
His book is credited with starting the revolution that made running and jogging a daily routine for many. But in July 1987 Mr Fixx died at 52 from a heart attack after his daily run."