The Walker With Heart

Overall a good day... My blood glucose is running a bit high, so time to increase the dose of metformin for 6 months, while I still hammer my body in marathon training (and hence need to funnel in more sugars!)... a bit of a catch 22. However, with luck and a few months without the need for sugary drinks I should be able to reduce the dose again. My cardiology appointment was great, usual banter about life the universe and everything, and ECG and an ECHO - and a promise of a 24h tape as its been a while (20+ years) and I mentioned I'd had a bout of ectopics that annoyed me... My heart is excellent and his considered opinion on my exercise levels were that they were insane:-) I took that as a compliment! The ECG was clear, but it keeps him happy and I'll probably throw some exercise at it... Then I got to the climbing wall and they'd reset some of the bouldering problems - NEW ROUTE MADNESS!!!:-D TTFN Paul So I'm 80% happy with what my body is doing

Ugh... It's started... The inability to focus... The irrititableness ... The lack of sense of humour... The gnawing worry... The fear of the unknown... It's the night before my annual check up, if you checked my blood pressure it would be higher than normal... As much as I know, and have been told, that I'm fitter than I've ever been... Running PB's and climbing harder (both in terms of grade and endurance) should mean that I'm going in confident and proud of what I'm able to do... But I'm not! Why? I think I've worked it out, or at least part of it... I have little control over the dicky ticker, I can do the same things as everyone else to keep it healthy, but one day it might decide to get more dicky ... Lack of control is one of the main stressors in study after study.., and boy do I know it! So the plan for tomorrow, go and see my diabetic nurse for the results of my latest blood test (I have more control there, so even if the news isn't b...

That was fun:-) The day didn't start well, the cab driver was anti-runs, anti-runners, anti-non scousers and pretty much anti-everything... Ho Hum, hop he has a better day! The run plan was to do 1500m run and 500m of walking, giving my system enough time to cool off and recover but over all give me a pace of around 12 min miles. And for 10 fantastic miles I hit it or close enough that it didn't matter - 5 miles in a shade under an hour (as in beating in my 2 nd fastest standalone 5miles), 10 miles in 2 (as in doing it again:-))... Then the last 3 miles... Anything under 41 min was going to give me a PB... The last 3 miles are straight along the Mersey towards the Irish Sea, which is flat and should be fast... Apart from today's headwind... That slowed me up, took my breath away and made the last 5 km a real battle... Running between gusts of winds is never an option I'd thought I end up doing... But it worked:-) All the training of pumping out 40min 5 km worked, a...

Well , I'm being whisked back up north by Virgin ... We ' re only 20 minutes late ! A good day , its always good when I get to meet up with other activists , other people driven with a passion to improve how heart children and their families are supported from diagnosis all the way through guch - dom and independent living . So plans are being hatched , ideas tossed around in the strategy wok and the continuation of a lot of hard work looked at and celebrated . As well as recharging my activist batteries the day managed to distract me from tomorrow , allowing me to relax about I'm doing ... The trainers are tagged with the chip , the CHF vest has my number attached (1567), my body glide is standing ready , and my post race bag is ready to be left on the baggage coach . Only things left to do are book a cab to the start and remember to put my cloc...

Well, memo to self - don't forget the anti-chaff stuff! An ugly run for me is one where I can't keep to a pace or walk run sequence, where I feel grumbly ... And boy did I feel grumbly today, every hill was very hard work, not helped by the temp going up. The nice days of winter when I can avoid carrying a bottle of water have gone... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28007579 Ah well, the rest is now on... 2 days without any exercise, no walking to town, no "I just feel like 5km"... I'll be at the Children's Heart Federation AGM and Federation day tomorrow and Saturday, good to see the gang from CHF and the other charities again and to chat over the various areas of work we're taking forward. The pasta is stockpiled, the go-go juice is in the fridge and the number pinned to my vest... So if you're in Liverpool Sunday Morning - give me a cheer, I'll be near the back but trying to enjoy it and trying to beat 2:41. TTFN Paul

The long range weather report is near perfect... Then 5km run was good (34:30), felt easy... The mild cold is retreating... The protein has been eaten... Moving on to the carbs .... Now do I go hell for leather and try and set a PB on Sunday? Next Tuesday is my annual cardiac check up; chat, ECG, echo and I should be out in an hour or so... Apart from its never that easy, every year I start getting worried, start wondering what if somethings gone wrong, do I need a valve doing, have I overdone the exercise, have I underdone the exercise, has the stretching and pulling in climbing done something... Rational fears or irrational worries - I don't know. But its a distraction, that slight buzz of an irritating mosquito somewhere in the room that you can't find. All I can do is concentrate on the rest of my life and work out my strategy for Sunday... Ho Hum, bust be the Cardiology Blues... TTFN Paul

So that's a 1000km. The gang I was walking with, and mate who came past on her bike, knew what was due... and we celebrated with an ice cream... The Champagne is on ice for the end of the challenge. So looking back, what have I learnt... What I've done has be written about in the previous 85 blogs (how did I get up to 85???) learnt is something different? Be warned there's a few places my temper peeps through... I've dug deeper than I ever thought I could, the last miles on those long runs, the dragging my backside up Snowdon in a month where I'd run a half marathon and a 10k, the countless times I've gone out to walk or run when anyone with half an ounce of sanity would have rolled over and stayed in bed. The digging carries on, the next 10 weeks are massive for me... My local half marathon, the Shine Walking Marathon in April and then the real big one the Edinburgh Marathon. Oh, and then there's the little matter of my investiture as a Member the Order ...

My favourite quote from my favourite film. Ever. And one I often use in presentations on my life as an adult with a congenital heart defect. But if it applies tome, it applies to others more, much much more... and in a rarity (as in this is the first) this blog is dedicated to a cause and someone who to me is synonymous with that cause. Well is the night before the 1000km come up. Tomorrow I walk 12 miles, with friends, no pressure on the time, no incentive apart from a nice cup of tea. Tomorrow, more importantly, is World Down Syndrome Day - I know most about this through the work of the Down's Heart Group http://www.dhg.org.uk/ and someone whose become a friend over the years in Penny Green. Penny is one of those people you'd walk through hell for, just cos she'd give you a hug at the end. This is a big year for her, and its best I leave to her to explain it all - which she's kindly done on her blog http://dhgorguk.blogspot.com/ and on facebook http://www.fac...

Ugh... Could've have quit in the 1st 2 km:-( But didn't:-) Could've been sick in the 2 nd 2 km:-( But didn't:-) Felt like I'd been punched in the guts for the 3rd 2km:-( But just kept it together:-) Had a delightful final 2km:-) Ran well, felt good... 66:45 for 5 miles - not the fastes t, but given the above I'm happy! And it brings me within an hours walk of the 1000km:-) And that's Sunday:-) 2 days off to let my legs properly recover... then some speed work next week before the Liverpool Half Marathon on the 28 th TTFN Paul

Walked into a friend in town, who asked if I'd been out in the sun... I looked confused and then remembered when I'd turned left to Southport I'd been running into the sea breeze, and finished the run with 5km around the marine lake - so my cheeks are ruddier than normal due to being salt blasted for 10km!!! The other bits that filter back in are the runners who passed me with a cheery wave, the occasional toot of the horn from a couple of drivers (I was in CHF colours, so I hope it was that they were tooting) and the kid on the marine lake wall who offered me a lick of her ice cream... I must have looked hot! The legs today are tired, but walked 5km in 57 min without too much gype , right hip is a bit sore but nothing that having tomorrow off (well climbing so stretching and bending it) won't fix. TTFN Paul

Well, 20 miles, with 3km as a warm up... 20 miles... Home to Southport , via Ormskirk ... Oh and there's a bloody great big hill from Maghull to Ormskirk , the GPS trsck shows it best... It goes on and on and on... Ok , the short sharp down was good fun - not often I'll be saying that in a run! The changed bit? Not ever before have I got to 10km and thought, "Yes, only a half marathon to go"... When did it become only a half marathon? Have I lost the last on my marbles? http://connect.garmin.com/activity/26864914 is the plot... The thing that makes me smile is I managed to keep to the plan - 1500m run, 500m walk all the way ( ok , the last 2.2km was split 1km, 200m, 1km... but I had to fit it in somehow!) The race predictors are now saying I should be across the marathon line in 6:06... Which is grand and faster than I ever thought I could... But its temptingly close to 6 hours... Very temptingly... Ho hum, we'll have to see... This week coming up is a 5km wa...

Ok , to watch my progress on runs you'll need to sign up to Google Latitude and add me as a friend... Drop me an email with your address and I can do it that way! You'll need to go here - http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/latitude/intro.html and look at the stuff in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, should all work well - it has on the test run last weekend! Now just going to eat a bucket of pasta, before running a nice solid 20 miles! TTFN Paul

Well its official, the new target is 1500km.... The title words have been changed - I've leaving the ticker otherwise my maths will go to pot! So that target is 150% That's just under 5km a day, more than the original challenge was at the start (about 3km a day). The plan for this week is being dictated by 2 things - work and my first 20miler... Hurtling around the country eats into time like nothing else, and the prospect of running 20miles is always going to be a bit daunting! So if you're about on the roads between Liverpool and Southport (via Ormskirk) and see a lone runner jogging or walking fast that could be me... So beep, shout abuse or generally make mischief TTFN Paul

Its been a week... The running has been 3 good runs - the pb for 10km, within 30s of my 5km pb , and a good solid half marathon distance today in 2:55:34... A 5km around Regent's Park before a GUCH meeting and a good week all round. The good bit is being recognised standing at Euston station as the bloke out of country walking! Now that's scary... As a friends has pointed out I normally get confused with Ray Mears ... No recognised for being myself! Related to that the GUCH Walking Club is the TGO Walking Club of the Month... Two walking mags in a month, and from what I can find out a combined readership of c80,000 people - lets hope some of them find us interesting, or passes our name on to someone who had congenital hearts defects. The sad news is that surgery for children with heart conditions has been stopped at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, 4 children died unexpectedly, and the hospital has done the right thing in stopping surgery and is doing a review. The ...

The GUCH Walking Club - as far as I know the worlds only walking club inspired by, created by, run by, walked by people with congenital heart defects... And now in the pages of Country Walking 'Britain's best-selling walking magazine'. What started as 6 people up Mam Tor has mutated and grown into a mailing list of almost 40, with people regularly travelling hundreds of miles to go for a walk... We've raised the best part of £10,000 for GUCH PA, some have had more blisters than others and I apologise to all and everyone of them that I've bored with a talk about gear... http://www.guchwalkingclub.org.uk/ has the details of our walks; the wet ones, the long ones; the awareness raising ones and so on... Please feel free to get in touch! I also apologise for the cheesiness of the photo, but it felt right at the time! I hope that some of you are new readers of the blog, so a bit of a recap... I'm a walker who runs a bit and climbs a bit. As you can see in the phot...