Actor Jin Tae-hyun. [Newsis]
Actor Jin Tae-hyun. [Newsis]

As marathon events have proliferated across the country and accident reports have mounted, actor Jin Tae-hyun, 45, has spoken out with a pointed message for fellow runners.

Jin said Sunday on his Instagram that he had withdrawn from the Gyeongju International Marathon, held Wednesday.

"My throat was swollen, my nose was congested, and I was dehydrated from antibiotic side effects — my body was not in normal condition," he wrote, adding that he finished the course at a jogging pace on the half-marathon route alongside coach Yeom of Runstay, who competed with him.

He said he was disappointed that four months of thorough preparation and hard training had come to nothing, but that he would get ready for the next race.

He urged runners not to push through illness. "If you're sick, don't run — that's not courage," he said. "I used to think finishing a race was admirable, that giving everything to the end was the right thing to do. But marathon running is already grueling enough. Don't abuse your body on top of that."

He went on to say that more important than motivation or finding meaning in a race is "a healthy body and mind that can run again next time," and closed with words of encouragement: "To all the true runners training somewhere out there today — keep it up."

Jin's post has drawn wide attention because it comes amid a string of recent marathon-related accidents.

At the "Seoul Run" half-marathon on Oct. 11, a woman in her 20s who was a running influencer collapsed about 500 meters from the finish line and died. Then on Wednesday, a woman in her 20s collapsed with a high fever and other symptoms at the Gyeongju International Marathon and was taken to hospital. Last August, a man in his 40s died after collapsing at the GO Daegwallyeong Trail Run, and in September 2024 another man in his 40s died after collapsing at the Chuncheon Sky Race.

Also Sunday, in Chuncheon, a woman in her 40s who had just completed a full marathon drove her car onto a sidewalk and struck three pedestrians.


paq@heraldcorp.com