"Did you guys hear about the 60-year-old runner who dropped dead during a run recently?" I asked around. We were 7km into our virtual marathon, with 35km to go.

According to the news article, the deceased runner had his dream come true, as he once told his wife that runners would most prefer to die on the track. This claim sounds a bit extreme to me. Maybe it holds true to the "running maniacs".

I don't consider myself a "running maniac". My friends would disagree. Who else would run a virtual marathon at -6 degrees Celsius on a windy and snowy Saturday morning? Well, there were five other "running maniacs" with me that day. If I were a "running maniac", they would be more so.

Adrian was in his 60's and had been running since his youth. Jane did a 50km virtual race earlier this year. Eddie did two. He was also carrying a heart monitor, which was given by his doctor to monitor his heart after he suffered from a recent heart problem.

"I thought I was going to die that night", he commented casually.

He also said it was good timing to do a full marathon while he still had the monitor, for he could record how his heart performed during the entire marathon.

At around 30k, four of us dropped out. The good thing about a virtual marathon is that there is no obligation to finish. This left only me and Eddie. I "hit the wall" soon with about 10k to go, and had to resolve to run/walking. I told Eddie to go ahead and not to wait for me.

Eddie's figure slowly disappeared in front of me. This guy nearly died due to a heart problem in which the doctor was still trying to figure out the cause. Still, he wanted to run. He wants to keep on running.

We will all die someday. We will all be doing something when we die. If we can choose, wouldn't it be nice to die while doing something we really love? Maybe to a "running maniac", it is not about running to die, but dying while running.