[Bjorkbat]

To a certain extent.

Truth be told, anytime I read that someone is a marathon runner I associate that with a red flag just as much as I do obesity.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ischemic-colit...

Ischemic Colitis. Also called Runner's Colitis. Basically endurance running can cause the colon to become inflamed to the point of bloody stools, among other symptoms. If there's blood in your stool your colon is clearly in a great deal of distress and you should probably put a halt to whatever's causing it. Indeed, given the known factors that increase colon cancer, you can boil all of them down to one root cause: inflammation.

Oh, I'm not giving our modern diet or lack of exercise a pass mind you. I mostly eat plants nowadays because the research is pretty clear that eating meat all the time elevates your risk and I avoid sugars save for a twice-a-week pastry because sugar is probably even worse. That being said, I'm troubled by the fact that in modern society millions of people feel compelled to take up a sporting event inspired by the heroic feats of an ancient Greek messenger who promptly collapsed and died after running what would become known as the very first marathon. Perhaps it helps them feel better than average, perhaps it's a way to overcompensate for how unhealthy our lives are. In the latter case we're probably only making things worse.