Smoking is a rough one, that's for sure. My wife has had multiple bouts of it. Gave it up for more than a year, then lost her job and fell back into it. Right now, she's on about 3 years without it, the longest I've ever known her not to smoke, since we met as kids.
It's incredible to be able to walk away from it. (If I understood you correctly, awesome job doing so, doesn't get much harder than that)
I actually don't disagree that marathons are harmful. I break myself every time. Hobbling for days.. One, I started crying 6 miles from the finish line. Trust me, nobody wants to see a fat man weep.. Definitely not a normal form of entertainment. I view it as a challenge. It's not even fun, really. It's a test, to see if I've built myself up enough to smash through a barrier, without shattering to pieces. To get to the end without giving up. (I did fail to complete a sixth, and that sucked soooo much.)
There is of course, a chance I could end up in a hospital or worse, doing one. But I can quit anytime. 
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