Reporting, or hyping, the deadly danger of marathons

A headline asking if a marathon is the quickest way to a heart attack caught my attention when it popped up on a friend's Facebook page.

I followed the link to the piece by Dr. Joseph Mercola, an popular author who maintains a web site promoting natural health information.

Mercola shares a number of studies that detail the harmful effects of over-training, particularly among marathon runners. He misses few opportunities to hype the risk.

I was particularly struck by this phrase: "Even if you don't end up dying from sudden cardiac death during a race..."

Makes me feel fortunate to be one of the survivors.

In the end, what Dr. Mercola presents is a pitch for a different kind of training regimen, the Peak program of short bursts of intense exercise, followed by rest.

Interval training, perhaps?