Running News Daily

Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray is going in for triple bypass surgery on Friday Oct 12

This is a follow up on a story we published September 6.  On Friday October 12 Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray is going back into Mass General Hospital for open heart triple bypass surgery. 

Dave posted this an hour ago on Facebook.  "Five years ago yesterday (October 9, 2013) I was diagnosed with “severe coronary artery disease”. The two words that hit me were “disease” and “severe”. How did I get this “disease” and how severe is “severe”? On a dime, I changed everything – what I ate, how I ate, when I ate, sleep habits, stress in my life, started taking dietary supplements and the list goes on and on. In less than a year, I had “reversed” this disease by over 40%.

"I thought I beat it. Some of it was due to heredity, some was self-inflicted. I fixed what I could fix. I did the Ironman Triathlon again, many marathons, my birthday runs and even the World Marathon Challenge (7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents).

"Once again, I thought I was over the hump. But, recently I learned that genetics trumps everything.  I am having triple bypass surgery this Friday Oct 12.  As you can imagine, a lot of thoughts (good and not so good) are swirling around my head. However, I’ve come to terms with all this now and realize how fortunate I am that this was caught, that I get a second chance and that I have the best medical care in the country.

I know there was some confusion that I already had this surgery but I only had the angiogram which showed that I needed the surgery. I expect to be in the hospital for 5-7 days and hope to be “shuffling” around the block within 3-4 weeks. I haven’t missed 3-4 days in a row of running in over 50 years.

"I can’t drive for 4-5 weeks – guess I’ll have to ride my bike everywhere...ha. This will be a new experience. I asked my heart surgeon this one question – do you think I will be able to recover enough to jog through my 47th Boston Marathon next April, that is, without pushing it between now and then (I will be a good patient – I hope)? He responded, “I would be extremely disappointed if you couldn’t do it.”

"That is all I needed...let’s get ‘er done. I have a lot more work to get done, miles to run and goals to accomplished. See you all on the other side."  (Photo taken when Dave finished his 46th straight Boston Marathon)