ON A BLISTERING FLORIDA MORNING, WAYNE WRIGHT WARMS UP FOR A 3-POINT-ONE MILE FOOT RACE, ONE OF MANY RACES HE'S COMPETED IN. BUT THIS RACE IS REMARKABLE, NOT NECESSARILY BECAUSE OF THE EVENT ITSELF, BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT IT REPRESENTS: VICTORY OVER CARDIAC DISEASE.

WAYNE: When it comes to heart disease, you always think about what genes did you inherit. So I looked at my parents. They grew up on a high fat diet, they smoked, they never got any cardiovascular exercise, and they both lived into their eighties. I figured if they were doing everything wrong, and I was doing everything right, I had it made. Instead I almost died before I was 60.

WAYNE AND HIS WIFE FIONA, A NURSE, HAVE LONG BEEN HEALTH CONSCIOUS.

FIONA: We're extremely active. We do a lot of running and other sports. And we watch our diet very carefully. We try to stay low-fat, low sodium, low calorie.

WAYNE AND FIONA SET A GOAL TO COMPETE IN A MARATHON IN EVERY STATE AND ON EVERY CONTINENT. THEY WERE WELL ON THEIR WAY TO MEETING THAT GOAL... WHEN THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENED.

WAYNE: I was in a six-mile race. I had only just started, just in the first miles still, and it felt like someone reached into my rib cage, grabbed my heart and started squeezing, like they were wringing out a sponge.

HE STAYED IN THE RACE AND THE PAIN SUBSIDED. HE SAYS HIS DOCTOR DIAGNOSED IT AS MUSCLE STRAIN. DURING THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, HE RAN TWO MARATHONS AND SKIED IN LAKE TAHOE.

BUT THE PAIN CAME BACK AND GOT WORSE, SO HE WENT TO THE ER. THE CARDIOLOGIST ON DUTY ORDERED A TEST TO LOOK FOR BLOCKAGES.

FIONA: The cardiologist came out and came to talk to me and he told me right off the bat, "Your husband has significant coronary artery disease." I thought I'd misheard him. I was stunned.

WAYNE: I go, "Wait a minute, I'm a marathoner. Can't be anything that bad." You know, no way. He said, "Well, you need bypass surgery."

WHILE HE ACCEPTED HIS CONDITION, HE REFUSED TO SUCCUMB TO IT. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER SURGERY--AND WITH HIS DOCTOR'S PERMISSION--HE STARTED A WALKING ROUTINE.

WAYNE: After four weeks I went in for a follow up, and my surgeon said, "You can run up to a mile. Then I want you to walk a few minutes."

GRADUALLY, WAYNE WAS ABLE TO RUN MORE WHILE WALKING LESS AND SOON HE WAS READY FOR A MARATHON.

WAYNE: The next one coming up was the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. It was forty-five days after surgery.

FIONA: He was anticipating that he'd run it in six hours because he was running, walking combination. I was thinking because he'd been doing so very, very well in his recovery that he'd be more like five hours.

WAYNE: Turns out I had a four-thirty-seven. I guess I had a good day--just being alive and able to participate made it a great day.

WHILE WAYNE LEARNED THAT ANYONE--EVEN AN ACCOMPLISHED RUNNER--CAN DEVELOP CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE--HIS DOCTORS TOLD HIM THAT HIS HEART HEALTHY LIFESTYLE LIKELY CONTRIBUTED TO HIS SWIFT RECOVERY. AND HE'S ALSO LEARNED ANOTHER IMPORTANT LESSON.

WAYNE: Pain is your body's way of telling you something's wrong. In my case, I very likely challenged death by not stopping when I had my angina attack in that race. I'm lucky.

AND HE OFFERS THESE WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO OTHER CARDIAC PATIENTS.

WAYNE: There's no reason to stop doing the things you like. Sure, you may have to do it a little slower for a while. But you keep doing it.