The Walker With Heart

This is our holiday week; other people’s children are back at school, its mid-season enough to be cheaper, mid-season enough that most places are still open, it’s mostly warm enough for Jiminy (Mrs Jiminy?), and mostly cool enough for me… For various reasons we’re both significantly under fit, so knew that our game plan for the week was common sense and plod… and plod we did, the Whitley Bay park run was beautiful with views to St Mary’s Lighthouse and the coast, then the perennial Great North Run… I’m not sure if it was my 18 th or 19 th but it’s an event, not a race (at least not where I am)… to give you an idea of the scale I was 1 ½ miles into my 13.1 as Sir Mo finished… it was hot, it was crowded, but the locals were as fab as ever; jelly babies & haribo, ice pops & water pistols, high fives & fist bumps – first or last it doesn’t matter- it’s a half marathon of fun and friendliness.  We also had a mad dash around to find the elusive Elmers… recommended f...

I set myself a challenge, 2012 km in a year - a nice round 1250 miles. That's 250 more miles than I've done in a year before... And we're 4 months in so time for a review and a tally up... It's been the finest 4 months running I think I've ever had. The MadDog 10k took 2 min out of my PB for that distance The Knowsley Harriers Saturday 5 km took 2 min out of my PB for that... The day after that I took 5 min off my 25km PB I've done 3 PB's for 5 miles taking a total of 5 min off... My last long training run was a 15min pb over 20 miles and last week I went out for what was going to be a gentle half marathon distance trot... The first half I barely looked at my watch and when I did I was running at PB pace... So may have decided that nothing ventured means nothing gained and took 6 min off that PB.  2:30:31 for a half marathon, is close (32s close) to a challenge I set myself years ago... Throw in the insane delights of the Excalibur Marath...

It's been a week... It would've been a longish week anyway I cut it, 4 days in the office and 1 doing the charity thing in London on Tuesday... An early start, an important meeting, an afternoon at the CHF offices followed by popping to the British Museum to see the Benin Bronzes and then a bit of shopping before coming back... And on Oxford Street the phone goes... My cardiologist, he's had the numbers from my MRI they don't match the numbers from my echo a couple of months before hand, can I pop in and see him on Friday afternoon, we need to chat through them... SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT There is no other way of putting it. All the running, the PB's and the climbing, and races to come disappeared from my head... Worst case scenario - pulmonary valve has gone out of commission (a possibility for all fallots) and needs an urgent op.  Best case scenario... at that point there wa...

I need your help... Honest, I do... For most of the last 18months I've been pounding the streets and hills of the UK, writing to magazines and papers to try and raise as much awareness as I can about congenital heart defects and the real impact they can have. I say real, because I don't tend to focus on one aspect, awareness should be about the diversity our community has. To focus on any one element gives an unbalanced portrayal , either too positive for some or too negative for others. But I have one story, mine... And I can only talk in abstract about the range of ways that congenital heart disease affects those born with it, their parents and families and loved ones. Taking our stories out and getting them into the public domain is never easy, and need a hook... something to sell them to newspapers and more magazines. So I'm prepared to do the hook, the coast-2-coast walk is 190miles from St Bee's Head to Robin Hood's Bay, walking through the Lake District, the...