there is some concern amongst the running community about long distance running and enlarged heart, I haven't read on it extensively, but it's a little fuzzy

I was wondering about that Mike.

Eugene/Jon/Mike +1
I'm not a runner, but I read the book at the suggestion of a friend that had backpacked the Copper Canyon area years ago. Very sad to hear.

On Friday evening I had one of those runs that make everything feel beautiful and right. Weaving in and out of streams and bushes, hopping rocks, I sat on a boulder in the middle of the river at the halfway point, pulled off my shoes, soaked my feet, and threw back my head and laughed aloud. Golden evening light, wind in the oak branches, my skin flushed from effort.

I can certainly think of worse ways to die; most of us can only look forward to hospital beds. I'm not trying to trivialize the loss of a person by any means, but I think we should all hope to be so fortunate, at the very least, to go out doing something we love in a place that's meaningful to us. I'd wager that Caballo and those that knew him can find some solace in that.

Edited by xnomanx on 05/13/2012 17:10:32 MDT.

"OPINION
This 58-year-old male, Micah True, died as a result of cardiomyopathy.
According to reports, he was a frequent and long-distance runner and failed to return from a long run. He was found dead in a canyon. He was on the bank of a small stream with just his legs covered by water.

At autopsy, there were numerous abrasions of the extremities, but no evidence of internal injury. Internally, there was enlargement of the heart with left ventricular prominence. The left ventricle was concentrically thickened and dilated. Microscopically there was no evidence of chronic ischemia, inflammation or disarray of the myocardial architecture. The cause of the cardiomyopathy is not readily apparent. The decedent did not have a regular physician and no medical records particularly electrocardiograms or blood pressure readings were available for review. The appearance of the heart did not fit the criteria for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which is usually asymmetric and involves the septum nor that of a dilated cardiomyoptathy. The best determination is that of unclassified cardiomyopathy which resulted in a cardiac dysrhythmia during exertion."

Can someone break that quote down into plain English and explain the jist of it. Enlarged heart I get, not sure what all the rest meant but its sounds like "we don't know."

At autopsy they found the left ventricle heart muscle to be thickened (thicker wall than normal) and dilated (internal volume larger than normal). No evidence of clogged arteries was found.

They labeled it a more general term of cardiomyopathy (pathological condition of heart muscle) because he had no known diagnosis of high blood pressure or electrical problem of the heart. He probably died from a sudden abnormal heart rhythm due to the heart condition.

Edited by jshann on 05/13/2012 17:57:34 MDT.

I found this analysis interesting, though I don't have the chops to evaluate it:

http://sock-doc.com/2012/05/micah-true-death/

very interesting article

a couple of years ago a doctor (ER surgeon) I knew from racing (car racing that is :)), was also a very avid cyclist, died suddenly on a bike ride. He was very fit and very health conscience. He was out for one is his typical long rides and died of a heart attack 2/3 of the way through. He was in his early to mid 50's. Besides the grief over the loss of such a nice guy, I remember being bothered by the fact that he was so fit, a medical doctor and relatively young. Heart attacks are for guys (gals) that are overweight, smoke and don't exercise is what I thought. Obviously not always so.

I think that article makes a couple of good points, aerobic activity will make you healthier and typically longer lived. That we need to train smart and eat healthy. That despite all of the above, when God calls our number, we're going :)

I'm reasonably fit - 250 miles a week on a bike, 200 miles hikes in 10 days or so a couple of times a year, lots of lesser stuff all year long ....

Recently a couple of weird "episodes" got me into a cardiologist for a work-up. (Blood, Stress, and Echo) He said "You are fit, we see nothing wrong, we see nothing suggestive, we could do more, but usually all we turn up is a bunch of False positives."

And although not very comforting, he then said "This is why you read about someone running a marathon and then having a heart attack the next week. It's an imprecise science. Go ride, go hike, and enjoy yourself."

So I am.

Edited by greg23 on 05/16/2012 08:09:14 MDT.

I've been considering one of those body scans that seem to be popular these days. Ostensibly they'll turn up stuff that would never show up at your yearly physical - building blockages and such.

Doug,
All a scan will show is "areas of concern". Then, if you are already fit, at a good weight, eat well, and keep the "excess to minimum", the only course left is to prophylactically start taking a statin, "just in case", and basically for the rest of your life. And statins have their own problems.

You could be one of very few having an occluded artery somewhere that is life threatening. But those numbers are low, and the consequences of the false positives are severe.

Edited by greg23 on 05/16/2012 09:10:29 MDT.

Being thankful for each day and being a steward of the body that I've been blessed with is all I can do, the rest is out of my hands.

In the words of Andy Dufresne, we can either "Get busy living, or get busy dying".

Great pictures; beautifully written memorial of Caballo Blanco:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/sports/caballo-blancos-last-run-the-micah-true-story.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1337608862-7xYjXwmZUDXjPmx0FvN25A