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Experience: The Marathon Almost Killed Me (Read 297 times)

BeeRunB


    This dude had a bad experience that has changed his course as a runner.  Would you let the trauma of such an experience become your identity ("I am the runner who had the bad experience") and thus all your future running change?

     

    http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/marathon-almost-killed-me-experience


    #artbydmcbride

      To where he has changed priorities to stop chasing finish times and just run for the joy of running?  Sure!

       

      Runners run

      BeeRunB


        After my last marathon, I decided if I ever hit the wall as early in the race again, I will call it a day. There's no purpose in a prolonged death march. There's always another race.

          This dude had a bad experience that has changed his course as a runner.  Would you let the trauma of such an experience become your identity ("I am the runner who had the bad experience") and thus all your future running change?

           

          http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/marathon-almost-killed-me-experience

           

          Hm. I can totally get behind the decision to run just for the joy of it, but is that really what he's doing? It doesn't sound like he gets much joy from running these days, despite the last sentence. I hope he and his wife are both in therapy to help them work through this trauma...

           

          Anyway, to answer your question: yeah, if I almost died running a marathon and had to be in a medical coma for three days and it took me four months to recover and my husband suffered PTSD as a result, I would change my running. I would hope that I could get to a place where running in any form was enjoyable, but I suspect it would take some time and work to get there. I would hope NOT to define myself forever as "The runner who had the bad experience" (any more than I define myself by any of the other shitty things that have happened to me) but then again, I've never almost died.

          Runslowalksalot


            I had what I would call a near death experience while wave-skiing once ( think high performance sit on top kayaking where a lap belt secures you in place)    I was surfing just pre dawn in epic conditions on a new ski, first wet suit required session of the season, no one else out.    After some really great waves I got worked, flipped over, and worked again where I decided to abandon my paddle and any attempt to roll back up as my O2 was running  low.  I reached for my lap belt release and couldn't find it.   At the end of my breath holding ability I cleaned my neck up for air, still strapped to my craft, upside down in the ocean with no one else around, stuck.   Reaching, grabbing, struggling to find my quick release to no avail.   My mind was racing with thoughts of being found lifeless upside down strapped in,  I was close to blacking out when I found my release tab and got out.      After 10 or so minutes of swimming in I finally got picked up by a head high wave and splatted on the beach.     My wetsuit had folded over my lap belt release so it was covered to the point I had to move it out of the way.  

               Did it change the way I approached surfing? Did I now have fear that I didn't previously?  Damn right  it did!

            duckman


            The Irreverent Reverend

              I haven't walked - or staggered, or passed out - in his shoes, so ultimately it is hard for me to say how I would respond. Still, facing life and death issues, and putting my spouse through hell, would likely cause me to re-think a few things. The guy is still running, after all, but has simply changed his goals.

               

              I have been working harder at running these past few months than I have in a long time. But there's only so far I'm willing to go, and I imagine that I won't work this hard forever. Yet I'm sure I could lose even more weight, win some local race age divisions, qualify for Boston every time I go out for a jog .... if I just worked hard enough. But it just ain't worth it to me.

               

              We all make decisions about our running goals based on a variety of factors - quality of life being a huge one. I value a certain quality of life, and while running is certainly part of that quality of life, it is certainly not the only thing or primary thing that defines my quality of life. Staying alive, having time for friends and family and work, is ultimately more important than my running.

               

              So yes ... the trauma of a near-death experience, not to mention the more mundane details of a certain kind of quality of life, could certainly change my approach to running.

              Husband. Father of three. Lutheran pastor. National Guardsman. Runner. Political junkie. Baseball fan.

              SillyC


                This dude had a bad experience that has changed his course as a runner.  Would you let the trauma of such an experience become your identity ("I am the runner who had the bad experience") and thus all your future running change?

                 

                http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/marathon-almost-killed-me-experience

                 

                Knowing myself?  I'd change my approach to running only if my doctors told me, for good reasons, that it would threaten to kill me again.  It sounds like this guy's major malfunction was pneumonia, but who knows how much he's telling us?

                stadjak


                Interval Junkie --Nobby

                  I had what I would call a near death experience while wave-skiing once . . .

                   

                  friend of mine was practicing rolls on his kayak in a circular aboveground pool.  Lost his paddle while turned over . . . then realized he had zippered himself in backward (as in the pull-strap was on the inside of the neoprene.  Almost died before he got his gloves off.  Darwin awards were flashing through his mind.

                  2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do

                    Is it bad if I thought, "he went through all that trouble so he won't miss a sub 4?  and why being a club runner matters?"

                    BeeRunB


                      Is it bad if I thought, "he went through all that trouble so he won't miss a sub 4?  and why being a club runner matters?"

                       

                      Bad. Thought police is on their way to your place. Prepare your mind to be handcuffed.

                      scappodaqui


                      rather be sprinting

                        I think it's even worse to point out that being overweight greatly increases your risk of overheating.  It's a surface area: volume thing.

                         

                        I don't know if this is newsworthy.  The guy wanted to run a fast-relative-to-ability marathon knowing it was risky (who doesn't?) had a health issue, and sensibly stopped pursing that goal.  Good for him, that seems like a wise choice and like he has his priorities in order.

                         

                        So would you guys respect someone more if their goal was sub-2:40 and they went through the same thing?  Olympic qualifier time?

                        PRs: 5k 19:25, mile 5:38, HM 1:30:56

                        Lifting PRs: bench press 125lb, back squat 205 lb, deadlift 245lb

                        MrH



                          So would you guys respect someone more if their goal was sub-2:40 and they went through the same thing?  Olympic qualifier time?

                           

                          No. Because 2:40 is no more special in the grand scheme of things than 3:00 or 4:00 or 5:00. It's just a personal goal.

                          The process is the goal.

                          Men heap together the mistakes of their lives, and create a monster they call Destiny.

                            Not sure if there was any disrespect, just wondering why we place so much importance on arbitrary round numbers like a sub 4 or sub 4:30 whatever.

                             

                            If an OTQ or any other meaningful qualifying time was on the line and someone nearly kills himself trying to achieve that I'd respect him for that provided he put in the work and had workouts and prior races that would backup such a goal.  I'd sure like to get a BQ as well, but know fully well that I don't put in the work and if I put myself in that life/death situation then I deserve some mocking.

                              He didn't chase the time goal thinking the risk was death. He just ran his race. We can only say he "went through all that trouble for a sub-4" in retrospect. He mentions he's a club runner only to say he was not a couch potato who jumped into a marathon unprepared--he was a fairly well-trained and experienced runner.

                               

                              It's a weird story. It's noteworthy mostly because of how rare events like this are in marathons more so than as any kind of cautionary tale. Clearly he had some health issue (the doctors mentioned some infection?) that became complicated by the fact he ran a marathon. A healthy person can't run themselves to death, and running a marathon is a fairly low risk thing to do in the grand scheme of things. Nobody runs a marathon thinking they could die (whether it be an Olympic trials qualifier, a 2:40, 3:40 or 4:40) anymore than you walk to work thinking you could get run over by a bus.

                               

                              Also, I runharrietrun's take was the closest to my own.

                              Runners run

                              BeeRunB


                                I understand the man's pre-race mind, and post. I've been there in terms of being slightly obsessed with my running and avoiding particular things in life that hit me hard. One thing to note is that he's taking his wife into consideration, perhaps more so now than he did before the race. Maybe she was a running widow before the race. Maybe not. Life's a creative medium, and this is the new road he's choosing. In my personal life, I try not to let fear stop me from doing things that I either have to do or really want to do. I've never eliminated fear, but I've learned that I can still operate in spite of it.  I've also learned that being in a creative mind and being creatively active seem to be the antithesis of fear and forms of anxiety. I love running and racing, it's a creative thing for me, an inner directive/ creative impulse in the medium of life, that when expressed, my life is fuller and more alive.  I hope that if this sort of thing happens to me, and if I still have the same impulse run and race, that I would get back out there and start creating that life again. Hoping I'd be that way is one thing.... I hope my hope that I don't have to find out trumps everything and is the reality. Is there too much hope going on in this way-too-long paragraph? I hope not. Smile

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