Roche concealed drug patient side effects

Blame it on Pheidippides. Legend says that sometime around 490 B.C., the Greek herald ran over two dozen miles from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce his citys victory over Persia in battle. He then dropped dead. Somehow, this story has inspired people ever since.

Some 2,500 years after the jog that launched a million shin splints, marathoning has gone from heroic journey to commonplace event. There are almost 500 marathons each year in the U.S. alone. In 2011, well over half a million people finished marathons and those numbers keep multiplying, just like all those 26.2 stickers on the bumpers of Priuses. Suddenly, it seems everybodys getting the urge to go the distance. Including, to my great surprise, me.

Id certainly never envisioned myself in these Asics. Though Ive been running almost daily for years, until recently Ive rarely gone beyond five miles at a time and never felt the urge to. In fact, for the last several months, as Ive endured the physical and emotional butt-kicking of a phase 1 clinical trial for cancer treatment, most days its been a struggle just to get out of bed, let alone plod laps around the park. Yet as difficult as my runs throughout my treatment have been, theyve also been incredibly sustaining. The days when my health situation seemed most terrifying, when my side effects were most intense, I channeled it all into my feet, convinced that as long as I could move forward, I could outrun my disease. That I could outrun death itself.

So when the primary part of treatment ended this spring and a modicum of my energy returned, I began thinking of how I needed to mark the rite of passage. And then, at a luncheon for Gildas Club, the organization that has helped and supported my family and me through so much of my cancer, I heard that they were beginning to organize their 2012 New York City marathon team. When I floated the idea to my doctor, his response was Go for it. And so, before I could wuss out, I had signed up and was training. Ive got a ridiculous amount of company.

Last year, almost 47,000 people ran in the ING NYC marathon and that number represents only 15 percent of the applicants. It has become such a hot ticket that this year the NYC marathon both tightened its eligibility requirements and mulled adding a whole second race just to accommodate the demand. Boston has also tightened its requirements for racers yet last year when it opened for applicants, every spot was gone in eight hours.

Why the surge in popularity? Much of it may well have to do with the fact that marathoning as well as half marathoning, which is similarly booming is an ideal pursuit for uncertain times. As my teams coach Claire Shorenstein says, I think the economy is part of it. People have been struggling, and running is pretty accessible.

But beyond its relative cheapness, marathoning is also a physical feat one thats relatively doable. It offers the possibility of a tangible sense of victory when life often offers setbacks and worries. Most of us wont scale Everest or qualify for the Olympics, but no matter how chaotic or frustrating our lives get, with patience and care, we can cross a finish line. We can feel the exhilaration of success. When youre starting out you progress so quickly, says Shorenstein. It gives you confidence. In the race, there will be moments you feel you cant go on. Then theres something inside of you that stirs, and you go above and beyond anything you ever thought you could do. It becomes part of something bigger. Its about proving something to yourself. There are very few circumstances in life that are like that. It gives you strength, and its very contagious.

As the quest for that intoxicating feeling has gone viral, what was once an elite sport has now become very populist. When my marathon team met for the first time last week, Shorenstein cheerfully told a group that had exactly one member who had ever done a marathon before, a group that encompasses a wide span of ages and abilities: You can all do this.

Amazingly, shes probably right. In 2010, a stunning 99.5 percent of NYC marathoners crossed the finish line. Even more amazingly, when my own feet pound the Verrazano-Narrows this fall, most of the runners will be completely average people just like me. Roughly 60 percent of the 2010 NYC marathon runners were first-timers, and over 27,000 of them had never run more than 20 miles.

Some of the growth in marathoning may be attributable to technology: vast improvements in clothing and footwear, the rise of performance-assisting drinks and gels, and the sheer volume of information and advice available.

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Roche concealed drug patient side effects