Marathoner Dies of Cardiac Arrest, But in His Sleep, Not During a Marathon, So Actually Not Much of a Story Here
/
DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM
A local marathon runner died of cardiac arrest Sunday, Dumb Runner has learned, but it happened in his home as he slept and not during an actual marathon, so the story isn’t quite as dramatic as you might have been led to believe based on the first nine words of this sentence.
The runner, John Burstein, 55, a veteran of 23 marathons, died sometime between midnight and 4 a.m., according to a medical examiner’s report. The report characterized Burstein death as “most likely very peaceful.”
According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside of hospitals each year in the U.S., though the incidence during marathons is exceedingly rare. For that reason, you can be forgiven for reading the first bit of the headline on this article and thinking, Oh, wow.
The same goes for the photograph appearing under the headline, which strongly implies that the fatal incident in question occurred during an actual marathon. Which it did not.
In retrospect, both of those editorial choices were regrettable.
Dumb Runner will do better next time.
