The risks of marathon running

May 18, 2012

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJQ-QpYvJzM]
Some interesting numbers in this article about the risks of marathon running:

• based on data from 300 marathons per year, the number of finishers increased dramatically between 2000 and 2009, from 299,018 to 473,354
• the risk of dying during or soon after running a marathon is low: .75 per 100,000
• yearly incidence of injury in people marathon training is as high as 90 percent
• average finishing time of those 300 marathons per year from 2000 to 2009 hasn’t changed too much: 4 hours and 35 minutes

(Average time is 4 hours and 35 minutes? That makes my finish time in my very first marathon two weeks ago waaaay above average — yep, totes tooting my own horn! Toot, toot!)

(And the Build-a-Head video above — should I get some glam shots of myself taken for oversize cutouts  from Build-a-Head of my face for my cheer squad to have so I can be sure to find them along the route? …or maybe I should just get the Chace Crawford ones the dude in the video is holding — I know those signs would get my attention!

Filed under: Fitness Swellness,Healthy Swellness

Tags: Build-A-Head, half-marathon, marathon, marathon risks, marathon running, running