Rik Mayall has died

The latest I've heard is that he died shortly after returning home from a run. That happened to the husband of one of my best friends - he used to run 5 miles morning and night and one morning, he collapsed and died of a heart attack during his run; he was only about 32. Such a sad loss of a young life.

Yes, that's apparently how Rik died. Just watched a Bottom repeat on BBC2 - strangely enough I never found the series funny when it was first aired, but I did tonight! It really cheered me up, it was so ridiculously farcical

Never watched Bottom or The Young Ones, but saw him in other things, and found him a good actor.Way too young to die.I wonder if running [or jogging] isn't actually all that good for you on a regular basis?

Running certainly did for OH's knees. The heart problems came later, not sure if they were related.

Bottom last night was great, wasn't it.. Apparently Rik's health was never the same after his quad bike accident. But, one of my brother's died suddenly in his 50's and his hobby was running marathons. He dropped dead of a severe stroke after going out running one day.

I wonder if running [or jogging] isn't actually all that good for you on a regular basis?

It makes me wonder too. Some chap that worked for the education department here and always visited schools to see how everything was going was an absolute bore on how healthy he considered he was - refused to drink anything but bottled mineral water, had never eaten meat, poultry or fish, would never eat anything sugary or artificially sweetened, never ate bread or potatoes and ran a couple of marathons ever year (and ran every day locally as well); it was the air of superiority I think I disliked about him. One day, he arrived at the school and he seemed quite morose. I asked him if he was okay and he had recently been told by specialists that he had advanced heart disease. I really did feel sorry for him - a life denial and, imo, excessive exercie regime and for what?

I also used to work for a university lecturer who may, for all I know, still hold the world record for discus throwing or hammer throwing, whatever it was, in the Olympics. He used to lecture at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences and would exercise, on the rowing machine in the basement, every day before teaching along with other various forms of exercise. He was found dead one morning on the rowing machine at the university following a heart attack and he was only in his late 50s. Such a shame - he was a really nice, kind, gentle man.

Excessive exercise cannot be good for you. Moderation is the thing. I watch people jogging along our country roads, sweating and suffering and risking getting run over - seems nuts to me.

I know nossing at all about exercise - I'm a self-confessed exercise phobe - but I am pretty sure that walking, briskly or otherwise, is better for overall health than running. I base my conclusion on mere anecdotal evidence, it's true, so feel free to shoot me down in flames

I wish I could walk. At the moment my Achilles tendon is STILL painful, so all I can do is hobble or walk very slowly - better than not walking at all, but not exactly healthy! I'm not sure how long it will take to get better but I fear it will be months rather than weeks at this rate
Sorry - now I've hijacked the thread!