A new study discovered some very unexpected and consequently extremely interesting findings. Examining the hearts of runners who had completed 25 or more marathons in the past 25 years, investigators found that the marathon runners’ coronary arteries were much more calcified than other people. This was the opposite of what was expected. Also, the people in the comparison group were not all healthy, some having the test to evaluate symptoms suggestive of heart disease. That fact would imply that the runners’ hearts should be WAY better then the comparison group. What’s the deal? Maybe too much stress on the heart? Other studies have shown that competitive endurance athletes are more prone to long term electrical disturbances of the heart. Some have shown chemical changes as we see with heart attacks following triathlons. While those chemical changes appear to not indicate meaningful heart damage, maybe this is an indication that pushing ourselves too much can be harmful. Seems common sense but then common sense is far from common.