Within the next couple of miles, however, I began to shiver. Despite
drinking plenty of water, I felt dehydrated. And I was craving cotton
candy. At 18 miles, I stopped to check my feet. They were numb, and
I wanted to be sure they were still there. “My hamstrings are cramp-
ing,” I said out loud. Suddenly I realized I wasn’t thinking rationally
and all I could remember was my goal to finish the race and prove my
health.
Alarmed by how bad I looked, two paramedics tried to take me
off the course. But I wouldn’t stop. Somehow, I fought my way
onward. I have very little memory of those last few miles, but I’ll
always remember the finale. A minor collision with a TV camera in
Central Park made me realize I was close to the end of the race. As the
pain became more intense, the crowds got louder, and I finally had a
clear view — the finish line.
A medal was hung around my neck, and I cried. I thought the les-
son was over, but would soon be struck by a more meaningful one.
The next moment I discovered myself in the first-aid tent. It looked
like a war zone. There were casualties all around me. Doctors and
nurses were running around. People on cots groaned in pain.
Ambulances came and went.
Looking around I had to wonder: “Are these people really
healthy?” I realized then that running the marathon had not proven
my health at all. I was fit enough to run 26.2 miles. But clearly fitness
was something quite different from health. The next morning, sore
but happy, I pondered my new goal to improve my health. Achieving
this would not be so simple as running a marathon. Optimal health
would be something that I would continually strive to attain for the
rest of my life.
The real lesson from my marathon experience was not one of
proving health, but rather that I became fit enough to run a marathon.
Clearly this had nothing to do with my health. Fitness and health,
though many think the terms are interchangeable, are actually two
different, but mutually dependent states.
Later, in treating patients who were very athletic, I would see
individuals who were very fit but at the same time unhealthy;
injuries, illness and other unhealthy conditions often accompanied
their quests to be faster or go farther. Clearly, some athletes would be
12 • IN FITNESS AND IN HEALTH