> There's a fundamental issue of sampling here. The guy who dropped dead
> is one of the ones who would have pulled out of the London marathon. He
> didn't have a decent training schedule, he didn't have people giving him
> isotonic solutions all the way, he didn't have proper footwear. Bet he
> was malnourished and had worms too.
He was a professional runner/messenger. He's the kind of guy that would have *won* a modern marathon.
But part of the problem is that people aren't giving the full story (whether the full myth is *true* or not is a matter of debate, but there *is* the myth).
The Runner (Phiddipides, Pheidippides, Philipides, Thersippus, or Eukles - the name of the Runner is a muddle as well) first runs all the way to Sparta to ask for their aid (140 miles in ~36 hours) then back to Athens (another 140 miles ~36 hours) with their reply ("Sorry, no can do"). Then marches to Marathon (~26 miles) with the army, fights in the battle, and runs *back* to Athens with the news. So that's something on the order of 330+ miles in what, four days or so.
"Just" running 26 miles in 3-7 hours isn't usually enough to kill you.
Various takes on the myth:
http://www.lakepowell.net/marathon.html
http://www.coolrunning.co.nz/articles/2002a007.html
As far as rules go - if a player is willing to sacrifice his hero in a good cause, I say "Let him".
RR
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