Cardiology: For the Heart & Soul

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Doctors have long advocated exercise as an antidote to onrushing middle age—but how many practice what they preach? Most claim to be too busy. Not Bronx Dermatologist Irving Abrahams, 37, and Rumson, N.J., Internist George A. Sheehan Jr., 46, who last week tied for 46th in the Amateur Athletic Union's national marathon championship, run over 26 miles of rolling asphalt road in New York's suburban Westchester County.

"Running isn't good or bad for the skin," concedes Dermatologist Abrahams, but 40 to 50 miles of running every week keeps his weight below 160. The father of twelve children, Internist Sheehan takes a more positive view. "Distance running is good for the heart," says the lean Sheehan, who in 1940 finished second in the I.C.4-A mile at Madison Square Garden, still manages to clock 30 miles a week. "There is some evidence that it produces an anticoagulant, keeps the blood vessels clean, lowers the blood pressure and slows the pulse." Is that why he runs the long marathon distances? Not really, says Sheehan. The truth is, "I enjoy it."