Mitral Regurgitation

[khooss]

I am a 41 year old female doctor who recently discovered that I have moderate mitral regurgitation secondary to a cleft mitral valve.I am asymptomatic and run for an hour 3 to 4 times a week for the past 4 years.I have completed 4 half marathons with a personal best of 1 hour 55 minutes and was looking forward to training for a full marathon next year.I have been detected to have an ejection systolic murmur 25 years ago but no test was done other than an EKG which was normal. An ECHO done in 1997 was normal but a mild mitral regurgitation was detected in 2000, which was thought to be due to pregnancy.I had another ECHO done last month and this time a cleft mitral valve and moderate mitral regurgitation was detected.My question is whether I can safely continue long distance running or would it hasten progression of my mitral valve regurgitation .The only abnormality I can detect looking back ,would be that my heart rate climbs up faster than most runners, that is from a baseline of 62 per minute to 182 at maximum speed ( I used to like running at a fast pace) but otherwise I feel fine.I would like any opinion on my problem as I would be devastated if I cannot run but I would not like to do anything detrimental to my health.Thanks