Alisa Harvey, who nearly made the Olympic Trials this summer in the 800, has long been a champion road runner, but has run few marathons. She did the Richmond Marathon in 1999 and the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005 but wasn’t satisfied. Unfinished business. Now 43, her latest plans were trumpeted in a Washington Post feature. “In my old age, I’m much more logical, smarter,” Alisa told Jim Hage. “This time, I want to get it right.” (Alisa’s ambitions also were detailed by masters runner Steve Nearman in his Washington Times column.) So she entered yesterday’s Marine Corps 26-miler with high hopes. But reality bit. “Masters runner Alisa Harvey went through halfway in 1:29:42, but felt sluggish and dropped out a few miles later because of excessive hydration,” reported the Post. “Coughed up a lung, sat down and made my way home,” she said.

Worried about her condition, I wrote Alisa today, and she replied: “I am much better now. It was a bit scary yesterday.”
She continued:

In my quest to conquer the 26-mile distance, I drank steadily for a few days leading up to the event — all the while cutting back on my training. At the same time, the temperatures in the D.C. area were cooling off to the 40s and high of 60s. I began to get a cramp in my right foot on Friday before Sunday’s race.
That was a first symptom of hyponatremia that I ignored. I just thought I got a mild strain from doing strides the day before. I kept drinking my usual pre-race concoctions all-day Saturday; Pedialyte, water, milk, chicken soup, prune juice. I figured I would be fine since I was occasionally taking a salt tablet throughout the day.
On race day morning, I continued the fluid onslaught up to the starting line. My foot cramp was still bothering me. I recall tossing my 12-ounce bottle of water to the side just before the gun went off. The temperature was approximately 47 degrees at the start, and sunny. At the first water stop, I slowed to drink most of two cups of fluid. I did the same at the second water stop at about mile 4.
By mile 6, I became dizzy for a few steps. That alarmed me, but I figured that maybe it was the fog or the hill that I was climbing. At mile 8, I began to hear the “gurgling” sound in my lungs (pulmonary edema). I could also feel fluid deep in my lungs when I took deep breaths.
All the while I was getting more and more tired. I started to slow my pace. Up to this point I was running from 6:30 to 7:15 pace (the first 8 miles of Marine Corps are hilly). After slowing, I was still getting rapidly more tired.
At around mile 10 I took in some more sports drink thinking that I needed the electrolytes. I struggled through miles 11 and 12. At mile 13, I stopped and took out a salt tablet that I had in my pouch and drank it down with sports drink. I kept shuffling on, by now I was running at 7:15 pace.
The salt tablet did not seem to have any affect. By mile 15, I had made my decision to stop, but I was waiting until I reached my husband who was on the side of the course just before mile 16. When I spotted him I pulled off the course, leaned over and coughed hard, almost vomited, sat down, and called it quits.

In my note to her, I asked what advice she might give to other masters tracksters who contemplate a try at 26.2 miles.
She wrote:

My advice to Masters attempting marathons is to be sure to get in the long run (19-22 miles). Train yourself to take in energy gels, fluid while you are running. Get to know your hydration and fuel needs. Be sure to adjust properly when the weather changes. Making a fluid or fuel mistake is costly in long-distance racing.

This is eye-opening, since the popular press often makes marathon running seem almost pedestrian. By incredible coincidence, I saw “Spirit of the Marathon“ over the weekend, a documentary that follows six runners preparing for the 2005 Chicago Marathon. The elite man (a Kenyan) and woman (Deena Kastor) make the race seem like a stroll in the park. And the rookie marathoners are rarely shown suffering.
In fact, some charities that sponsor marathon training groups hide the number of dropouts from their programs, or downplay the percentage who can’t finish the race. It wouldn’t help their recruiting efforts.
If someone as conditioned and smart as Alisa Harvey can experience a medical emergency, it should give any wannabe marathon men and women pause.
Thank goodness for sprints.