The Marathoner and the Newsman - A Cautionary Tale

By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY

For all their differences, NBC newsman Tim Russert and famed marathoner Jim Fixx, author of the 1977 best-seller The Complete Book of Running, have two things in common: Each died of a massive heart attack while still in his 50s.
Neither one saw it coming.

Russert, 58, died Friday while recording voice-overs for Meet the Press, anchored, as usual, to a desk. Fixx, 52, died on July 20, 1984 after a daily run in rural Hardwick, Vt.

Such cases provide tragic proof that though you can lower your risk of sudden death, you can't always prevent it, says Robert Califf, vice chancellor of clinical research at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

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