More than a week after the Chicago Marathon, autopsy results are still inconclusive on the death of 35-year-old William Caviness, who collapsed 500 yards from the end of the 26.2-mile race, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Dr. Sherrie Ballantine of Northwestern Health Service said, although deaths do happen in marathons, they are rare and not as preventable as more common injuries.
Ballantine, a sports medicine specialist who was one of the lead doctors for the marathon, said the most common injuries to runners occur in the knee and foot. She encourages potential runners to meet with a specialist like herself, as well as to join a runner’s group like the Chicago Area Runners Association in order to train correctly and healthily.
“You would be shocked how many people don’t have the right education,” Ballantine said.
Joining a running group can benefit runners by organizing group runs and providing educational materials, Ballentine said. CARA accepts runners of all levels and provides them with health and training support, said Meg Sullivan, training program manager for CARA. They organize running groups of different abilities with pace leaders, she said.
“You will always have someone to guide you to the pace you want,” Sullivan said.
CARA has training programs for anything from a 5K race to a marathon. Although Ballantine recommends joining a running group, she said it is possible to run alone and be just as healthy.
“You have to give yourself enough time to train beforehand,” said Weinberg sophomore Craig Fligor.
Fligor trained on and off for the marathon, his first, since January. He did not meet with a doctor, and was not injured, but he said he was affected by the weather.
“It wasn’t very fun to run the second half,” Fligor said.
Sullivan also ran the marathon and said the conditions didn’t affect her very much, but it did get hotter as the race progressed. Both Sullivan and Fligor said they would have preferred temperatures in the 50s. The high on race day, Oct. 9, was 79 degrees.
Race day conditions are a major concern for marathon organizers, Ballantine said. The marathon used a warning system to convey weather conditions to runners. Ballantine said the level stayed at yellow, or a moderate alert level, for the entire race. On the day of the race, over 1,300 medical volunteers, from nursing students to sports medicine specialists, were at the marathon, said Ballantine, who added that many of them were at the end of the course.
“Most people are going to get in trouble at the end of the race,” Ballantine said.
Because of the marathon’s preparation, she said, five emergency doctors were with Caviness almost immediately.
Some big marathons, even in the U.S., aren’t staffed with doctors, said Ballantine. She said Chicago is one of the world leaders in marathon medicine and the marathon’s staff is already preparing for next year’s race to be ready for unexpected incidents like a sudden collapse.
According to a Feinberg School of Medicine press release, the NU medical school used simulation technology to train the event’s medical volunteers.
Ballantine said she believes almost anyone can run a marathon safely as long as they prepare themselves. She said new runners should start training for next year’s marathon now while experienced runners can start about six months before the event.
“A marathon specifically is all about preparation,” she said. “It’s a transformation, and that is why people love it so much.”
