Fixx, who spurred the jogging craze with his best-selling books about running and preached the gospel that active people live longer, died of a heart attack Friday while on a solitary jog in Vermont. He was 52 years old.Mr. Fixx, a former magazine editor and the author of five books, among them 'The Complete Book of Running,' was found at 5:30 P.M. By the side of Route 15 in Hardwick by a motorcyclist. Before the police arrived, several passers-by attempted to resuscitate the fallen runner, dressed only in shorts and without identification. Fixx was subsequently identified by the owner of a nearby motel, where he was a guest while waiting to move into a rented summer house on Caspian Lake. He was taken to Copley Hospital in Morrisville and pronounced dead.

• Jim Fixx Runner
• The Complete Book Of Running Jim Fixx Pdf Online
• Runners World Complete Book Of Running

An autopsy yesterday morning revealed that Mr. Fixx had died of a massive heart attack and that two of his coronary arteries were sufficiently blocked to warrant a bypass operation.According to Mr. Fixx's sister, Kitty Fixx Bower, he was 'most aware of the signs' of coronary disease because of their father's death from a heart attack at the age of 43.

Bower said that her brother believed himself to be in good health, having run races of 12 and 5 miles in recent weeks and having 'trounced' her in a tennis match on Cape Cod the previous day. 'There's an irony in this, no doubt about it,' Mrs. 'But he had no indication that he ought to check in with his friendly cardiologist.' ' Lebow Voices ConcernThe irony was not lost on Fred Lebow, the president of the New York Road Runners Club and the guiding light of the New York City Marathon.

'We know running doesn't cause heart attacks and may, in fact, prolong life,' Mr. Lebow said from Chicago, where he is attending a triathlon competition. 'What I'm concerned about now is all those people who talk about the danger of running. What does this prove to them? Sure, we have people dying in Central Park, one or two a year while running.

Jim Fixx Runner

But I'm sure more people die on the golf course or watching the Yankees play baseball. Maybe if Jim Fixx didn't run, he'd have died five years ago.'

Fixx's concern about his hereditary predisposition to heart disease - his father, Calvin, was first stricken at the age of 35 - contributed to his decision to take up jogging. When he began in 1967, to help rehabilitate a tendon pulled while playing tennis, he weighed 220 pounds and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. He ran in his first race, five miles long, in Greenwich, Conn., in 1970, and Mr. Fixx finished last among 50 runners, impressed that the winner was a man in his 60's. As his passion for running increased, he stopped smoking, changed his eating habits, lost 61 pounds and proclaimed in the introduction to his first book on running that his purpose was 'first, to introduce you to the extraordinary world of running, and second, to change your life.' 'Despite that bold claim, and Mr. Fixx's subsequent popularity on the lecture circuit as the guru of running, his book, which earned more than $1 million, presents a balanced account of the conflicting medical evidence about the connection between jogging and good health.

He ultimately concluded that 'although the evidence is inconclusive, most of it clearly suggests that running is more likely to increase than decrease longevity' because 'research has repeatedly shown that with such endurance training as running the heart becomes a distinctly more efficient instrument, capable of doing more while working less hard.' ' Kept Elaborate RecordsMr. Fixx was known in running circles, and to his friends, as a man with a playful sense of humor about his avocation. He delighted in telling the story of the women he overheard at a cocktail party in his hometown of Riverside, Conn., who had made a mocking reference to 'that man who runs in his underwear.' ' Besides keeping the elaborate mileage and time records common to serious runners, Mr. Fixx kept a log of the money he found on the road, which ranged from 21 cents in 1975 to $4.91 in 1979. 'Plus tools, like hammers, screwdrivers and wrenches,' he said several years back, 'and even a wheelbarrow once.

The Complete Book Of Running Jim Fixx Pdf Online

On Sundays, there will be cans of unopened beer, the residue of Saturday night parties, which I stash along the route and pick up later in my car.' Fixx, born in New York on April 23, 1932, was graduated from Oberlin College in 1957 and worked as a magazine editor with publications including The Saturday Review, McCalls, Life and Horizon. He began his career as an author with two books called 'Games for the Superintelligent' and 'More Games for the Superintelligent.' ' 'The Complete Book of Running,' published to coincide with the 1977 New York City Marathon, remained on the best-seller list for more than a year and was followed by 'Jim Fixx's Second Book of Running' and an autobiography about his sudden fame entitled 'Jackpot.' ' During his Vermont holiday, Mr.

Fixx was to have put the finishing touches on his fifth book, 'The Complete Book of Sports Performance,' which is scheduled for.

Runners World Complete Book Of Running

To bring you the best content on our sites and applications, Meredith partners with third party advertisers to serve digital ads, including personalized digital ads. Those advertisers use tracking technologies to collect information about your activity on our sites and applications and across the Internet and your other apps and devices.You always have the choice to experience our sites without personalized advertising based on your web browsing activity by visiting the, the, and/or the, from each of your browsers or devices. To avoid personalized advertising based on your mobile app activity, you can install the. You can find much more information about your privacy choices in. Even if you choose not to have your activity tracked by third parties for advertising services, you will still see non-personalized ads on our site.By clicking continue below and using our sites or applications, you agree that we and our third party advertisers can:. transfer your personal data to the United States or other countries, and.

process your personal data to serve you with personalized ads, subject to your choices as described above and in.