The Times reports that running a marathon may actually be bad for your heart. As always, having a pre-existing heart condition plays a major role, as does undertraining (under 35 miles per week in the study they cite). (The Gray Lady also reports that carrying an overly heavy bag can cause back pain, a concept that is to so self-evident we re surprised that even the Styles section would bother with it.)

Of course, all our members train properly (right?), but we know that some non-members read this page (and complain just as much as the orange folks when we go too long without new posts), so we want to make sure that all of them (and their friends) remember to do the proper training. And Lance, too, though he still doesn t read this page. (If he does, he would have responded to the Terence story by now.) Speaking of Lance, Amby Burfoot has some good advice for the ex-cyclist as he trains for his second marathon. (Thanks to Neil Brenner for the link.) Not included in there is our best tip: come train with CPTC.