Last May, a 39-year-old southern Ontario man collapsed and died at the finish line of the half marathon in Ottawa. He was the third to die on the Ottawa course since 1980.

Figures out of the U.S. suggest that four or five people die every year running marathons. That’s out of the 450,000 who ran marathons in 2002. Pretty small odds.

Still, I’ve lost count of the times inactive folk have insisted that all this running I’m doing will kill me. Invariably, they’ll point to Jim Fixx, the man credited with turning a continent on to physical fitness in the 1970s. He keeled over and died while on a four mile run at the age of 52.

Fixx took up running in the 1960s when he weighed 220 pounds. When he died in 1984, he was down to 159 pounds. An autopsy showed he had clogged arteries and an enlarged heart.

Bad diet? Genetics? Fixx’s father died of a heart attack, too. In his late 30s.

My diet’s fairly average. Not an excessive amount of junk food, but I’m no slave to low-fat fare either. Still, when I’m pushing my body in a race or a tough training session, I have a much greater chance of succumbing to a heart attack than does Joe Sedentary, sitting at the bar watching the game while scarfing chicken wings.

I have to admit, though, the possibility of collapsing and dying of a heart attack during a race has crossed my mind. It did in Boston, when I wasn’t sure whether the soreness in my chest was a stitch working its way through my system, or the ol’ ticker telling me what a fool I was.

But, it’s not just your heart that can get you in a marathon. Ask Cynthia Lucero’s family. Last year, she became the second person to die running the Boston Marathon. Collapsed with three miles to go. The 28-year-old runner died from a rare condition known as hyponatremic encephalopathy. It’s brought on – in part – by drinking too much fluid.

So while you’re out there pounding the pavement, wondering whether your heart’s going to explode, ya gotta strike a fine balance on your fluid intake: not enough and you risk a trip to the emergency ward and intravenous rehydration; too much and your body’s sodium levels go haywire and cause a fatal swelling of the brain.

Ironically, Lucero died a week after completing her doctoral dissertation on how running marathons helps family members of cancer patients cope with their loved ones' illness.

She was right.

Last week, my mother-in-law passed away, nine months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer; the victim of an industry that has a history of lying about its products and burying negative research.

My mother-in-law lived much longer than Jim Fixx and Cynthia Lucero. Aside from her love of long walks, she was – like so many members of her generation – mostly inactive. An addiction shortened her life. Don’t know whether fitness would have lengthened her life. I do know it would have given her greater energy to enjoy what time she had.

My wife thought she was prepared for her mother’s death. You never are, not unless you’ve been through it before. That’s where my running part comes in. Clears my head, gives me strength, so I can do a better job of helping her cope.

There’s one of those good news/bad news jokes people who put themselves through rigorous training sometimes like to tell. Goes something like this: The good news is all this training is going to make you live longer. The bad news is, your extra time is those training sessions.

Maybe so. Still, I’d rather gasp my last crossing the finish line at Boston than pop off sitting in an armchair, munching potato chips and watching re-runs of The Golden Girls. And if I should go during a race, my first question to whichever gatekeeper greets me on the other side will be, “What was my time?”

LETTERS   [Email Peter here]

Hi Peter, just read your article titled, "Hey--it happens"

Cynthia Lucero was a friend of a friend, though I never met her. I first heard about Cynthia on that fateful Boston Marathon day from my friend who was her TnT team-mate. Then I read about her and what happened to her on the Boston newspaper the next day. I was very sadden to find out that Cynthia passed away, because from the newspaper article I found that she and I were almost identical in age and personality and our love for running. I have done lot of charity work involving running, much like Cynthia. In 2001, I ran with 10 other runners from Florida to Maine to raise money for a children camp. The run was known as the Miracle Marathon.

But her image and story stuck in my head for many days. One day while sitting at my desk in the office, I thought about Cynthia and a poem came to me. I wrote it down and shared with my friend in Boston. The next thing I knew the poem went to Cynthia's TnT coach (Rick Muhr) and then to her family in Ecuador. After that I had received personal emails from her coach, her sister and her dad thanking me for the beautiful poem. Rick also told me that there is plan to build a stature of Cynthia along the marathon course where she fell with my poem engraved on it. I was extremely honoured and surprised. At a fundraising event last Oct in Cynthia's honour, Rick also printed the poem on the back of the event's t-shirts.

Alan Lann
Calgary, Alta.
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Really enjoy your articles! Very inspiring.

Last Sept. I was 250 lbs started running then and I am now under 210 lbs. Ran the Calgary Stampede Half Marathon in early July and it was a wonderful experience.

Victoria full in late fall this year!

Thank you,

Jay-Lorens Gerritsen
Calgary, Alberta
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I was reading about the Canada/Brazil soccer game me and my family went to last night, when I happened upon your articles. I have been slogging away for about three years now, have lost about 50 lbs (and kept it off!) and am training for my second half (with my wife, in Quebec City). Have you ever run the Quebec City half?