By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

A couple of weeks ago, a runner at the 19th mile of the Miami Marathon experienced cardiac arrest, and even though all safety protocols were followed and applied, he sadly passed. His name was Julien Autissier. He was just 33.

Unfortunately, these episodes continue to occur from time to time, and they cast a bad light on long-distance running. It really rubs me the wrong way because the media doesn’t report that people don’t just die from running. They usually die from a known or unknown condition that gets exacerbated while running. Or by disregarding basic safety protocols for hydration and/or heat safety during a run.

I wrote a blog post on cardiac health and running back in August 2021, triggered by a fatality in the Montreal Marathon. Today, after the unfortunate incident in Miami, I am rerunning an updated version.

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As athletes, especially runners, we are usually physically fit. It doesn’t matter if you weigh 120 pounds and look like a Kenyan or if you are on the 250+ side of the scale with an overhanging gut. You can have an unhealthy body yet still be fit. And this doesn’t mean you have a heart disease vaccine.

In the 1982 New York City Marathon, when my dad ran his first 26.2, a French runner collapsed and died. He saw it unfold as he passed by through the ruckus, which made it to the world’s newspapers the next day. It must have been quite an impression on a 16-year-old kid; 44 years later, I am telling you the story.

Unfortunately, this latest case in Miami is one of the handful of cases each year in which someone goes out for a run and doesn’t come back.

If the father of the first running boom in the United States is Frank Shorter, the Godfather is Jim Fixx, author of the mega 1977 bestseller “The Complete Book of Running”. In a pre-Internet, pre-Google era, this book democratized access to knowledge about our sport, including its cardiovascular benefits. This guru went for a run on July 20, 1984, at age 52, and died of a fulminant heart attack. He was in great shape, but his autopsy revealed he had atherosclerosis, with one artery blocked 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%. His father had died at age 43 of a second heart attack.

If you read the blockbuster “Born to Run”, you should remember Micah True, also known as Caballo Blanco. Well, he collapsed and died in 2012 at age 58 while running alone on a trail in New Mexico. The cause was reported as an underlying cardiomyopathy and atherosclerosis, discovered post-mortem. His death exposed how even elite endurance athletes, regardless of how long they’ve been running, may carry unknown heart conditions.

One of the most active and fit guys you will ever meet is Dave McGillivray. You may know him as the Boston Marathon Race Director since 2001. His athletic accolades include running across the United States (3,452 miles) in 80 days, running the Boston Marathon every year since 1973, being a 9-time Hawaii Ironman finisher, and participating in 1000+ organized races. Yet, in October 2018, at age 63, he underwent triple bypass surgery. His family’s cardiac history was against him, regardless of how fit he was. He is one of the lucky ones who can tell his story.

These are just three relevant cases that show that being a fit runner doesn’t necessarily mean you are cardiovascularly healthy. These two concepts are not necessarily inclusive.

And then, there’s me. I wouldn’t be honest with my readers if I did not include my personal cardiac experience in this writing. In 2019, during my yearly medical check-up, my doctor told me that even though a stress test wouldn’t do much for me because I was a marathoner, I should do it anyway, “because you never know”. And guess what? You don’t know. A congenital issue in my arteries was discovered. Unoxygenated blood was recirculating, bypassing the lungs, which created such stress for my heart that it could have provoked a heart attack. Then, on June 23, 2021, I underwent open-heart surgery to fix the issue. This “unneeded” stress test potentially saved my life. I have run 4000+ miles since, including 2 marathons and 13 halves.

I reran this updated blogpost today because I’d rather have you in the Dave McGillvray and Coach Adolfo column than in the Jim Fixx or Micah True camp. I beg you to understand that, despite an active and healthy lifestyle, you are not immune to the genetics of your ancestors or the sequels from your unhealthy habits before your active life. Get checked up. Now! You never know. I am proof of it.