OK, you knew you were going to die someday, right?  I mean, it's kind of an inevitable side-effect of living.  But apparently, we're all going to die of running.

“Running too fast, too far and for too many years may speed one’s progress toward the finish line of life,” concludes an editorial to be published next month in the British journal Heart.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323330604578145462264024472.html

So funny.  Each week there seems to be either a study saying that running will kill you, or that running will add years to your life.  The interesting thing is that the folks who author these studies don't ever seem to consider that mortality rates aren't exactly what motivates us to run.

Thoughts?

You jump cars on a motorcycle?  Wow.  I've never even been on a motorcycle.  Cool avatar--it made me laugh.

I noticed this in the article:

“If you are running more than 15 miles a week, you are doing it for some reason other than health,” said Dr. Cooper,

When I could finally run for 15 miles per week was about the time it started getting more enjoyable.  I run more than 15 miles a week because I can.  Oh, and also because if I want to run 13.1 miles at once next April I need to prepare.

I will consider myself lucky if I reach the age where I need to worry about such things. 

I will say that the comparison physically between my oncologist - who is a hardcore runner in his early 60s - and my father who is completely sedentary and is three years younger - is pretty damn stark. 

What they seem to forget with these studies is length is only one measure of the quality of one's life. Given the choice between dropping dead of a heart attack at 70 and dying slowly over a period of years from cardiovascular disease at the same age 70 ... which would you choose?

Of course, moderation could always be the better alternative.    But moderation is sooooo boring ....

I will consider myself lucky if I reach the age where I need to worry about such things. 

 

I will say that the comparison physically between my oncologist - who is a hardcore runner in his early 60s - and my father who is completely sedentary and is three years younger - is pretty damn stark. 

 

What they seem to forget with these studies is length is only one measure of the quality of one's life. Given the choice between dropping dead of a heart attack at 70 and dying slowly over a period of years from cardiovascular disease at the same age 70 ... which would you choose?

 

Of course, moderation could always be the better alternative.    But moderation is sooooo boring ....

 I am now only 6 years younger than my Dad was when he passed away. He spent much of his 50's in ill health, overweight, with diabetes, back issues and cancer eventually took him at age 57 after his second go round. It wasn't until I reached my mid 40's that I began to realize how young he was and how much more life he could have lived.

Part of the reason I started running at 38 was to not go down the same road.  I feell very fortunate to be healthy and fit enough just a few weeks shy of 51 to be able to run marathons. I know how i feel and I know it's way better than I would have felt if I had kept on and added to the 40 extra pounds I was carrying at 38. So to hell with naysayers!!

Jenny, I recently ran into someone I haven't seen in about 10 years. She asked me why everyone else was getting older and I was looking younger. I think she was hinting that I had work done!LOL If I could afford it I would but running is cheaper and more fun.

It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years.............

I really wish these summaries would include details like how many quality workouts and races, in addition to 25 mpw. 25 mpw of tempos and intervals is different from 25 easy mpw. And 50 mpw of mostly easy with 2 quality workouts and a long run each week are different from 50 mpw. And I'm too lazy to look at the original study and figure that stuff out, since a lot of times the studies themselves don't seem to include enough information on that level of detail anyway.

MTA: Moderation in all things is self-contradictory. If you practice moderation in all things, that includes moderation in moderation, requiring you to do some things to the extreme. That's not consistent with moderation in everything. Therefore the only rational way to live is to do everything to the extreme.

Damn...I just increased my mpw to 16!  I'M DOOMED!