From
this People magazine article, this happened in 1979, just short of Carter's 55th birthday. It mentions that:
* Carter had only been running - after a lapse of years or decades - for about a year, on relatively flat ground;
* Carter had been far more aggressive than he should have been, more aggressive than "far better runners";
* The article is dated 10/1, which places the race in September (or August?), usually a hot time of year;
* In the picture, neither Carter nor the Secret Service agents are carrying a water bottle; while the collapse took place before mile 3, around the point in a
flat, moderate weather temperature 10K where hydration would be advisable/necessary, it was hot and hilly; all concerned should have been carrying two water bottles apiece, IMO (see below);
* Carter experienced heat stroke, before mile 3; this supports the opinion that Carter had been
WAY too aggressive and is consistent with hot weather and failure to hydrate;
* I tried to learn if there is still, 35 years later, a race in the Catoctin Mountains that includes a 10K distance, to see if I could find an elevation profile, but didn't find anything except a 50K ultra-marathon (whose map did not include an elevation profile); so what "grueling" means in that context, I'm not sure;
here is an elevation profile for a tough 10K in the SF Bay Area; the first ~2.5 miles is a steady, fairly steep, ~1700 foot climb, and the last ~1.6 miles is a sometimes fairly steep, sometimes switch-backed (large exposed rocks and tree roots) 900 foot downhill; for lack of an actual elevation profile, that profile for Trailquake is my mental image of "grueling".
While I know that what the picture of Carter actually depicts is not weakness, to the vast majority of people in the US (early in the primary "season") and the rest of the world the picture epitomized weakness. Though Carter's training (per the People article) had been limited to 5 mile distances, I have no doubt Carter could have done a 10K (~6.22 miles) on a flat course in cool-warm weather. What the picture
actuallyshowed was the outcome of Carter's poor judgment and ridiculous over-estimation of his abilities. In a President, that kind of foolishness and hubris will get people killed, among other problems.
Where I'm coming from ... unlike
Eupher
, I've not done a marathon (26.2 miles), yet. But in the last 39 months I have done (mostly walking) 24 half marathons (13.1 miles), 12 of them in 2015, as well a number of 5K, 8Ks (~5 miles), and 10Ks. The race whose elevation profile I linked above, was the toughest I did, in the half marathon distance; the 10K is basically the toughest parts of the half marathon course. Even in my first race, a 5K in late 2011, I knew to carry a water bottle.
