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Heart Attack to 10K (part 1) - That fateful day.

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THAT FATEFUL DAY. (Phase I – heart attack) Being at a bit of a loose end and with nothing better to do during that dull period between Christmas and New Year (or the Plymouth Argyle & Cheltenham Town matches as my fellow Chairboys & girls would remember it), I decided to go for a walk in the local countryside around the rolling Chiltern hills. Overnight it had frozen, but the bright winter sunshine turned the early frost into a mist persuading me that it might make for some good atmospheric photographs. So, on Wednesday 28 th December 2016 (a date now etched into my brain) I drove out to Bledlow Ridge, parked the car in a side road just after mid-day and set out with my camera on a 6.8 mile walk that by the time I returned to the car would become an adventure I wouldn't forget in a hurry and ultimately have a dramatic change on my priorities and the way I live my life. I had been meaning to walk the Radnage area for some time and with the afternoon bright sunl

JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE – THE NEXT BIG CHALLENGE.

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  JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE – THE NEXT BIG CHALLENGE. As you may be aware, after 50 long years of constantly getting up at some unearthly hour, I am due to retire in March 2024 (hooray!!) . As I'll no longer have to drag myself out of bed on a Monday morning and will be able to rest and recover, I'd like to mark the occasion by setting myself (another) challenge, raising more dosh for a charity close to my heart (pun intended). Since the onset of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation and now Chrontropic Incompetence (exercise intolerance), 10K or half marathon runs might prove a little too difficult, so I thought about a longish walk – but one that would mean something special to me. Following my heart attack in Dec 2016, I was treated at Harefield hospital before attending my 2 nd round of cardiac rehab classes, again held at Wycombe hospital. Everything I have achieved since can be traced back to these two events. So, my idea is to walk the 22.8km (14.2 miles) between

Heart Attack to 10K (part 4.24) - What I can, when I can

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Part 4.24 - WHAT I CAN, WHEN I CAN (Phase VI - sustaining a healthy life-style) "Nothings going to happ en unless you ma ke it happen." As covered over my last few blogs, since returning from the Covid I have never really got back to where was hoping to be, becoming less active, slower and as of result together with my diet slipping, a bit more podgy. Before Boris separated and isolated all of us I was enjoying some excellent support on group runs of varying distances with many of the 'Your Pace or Mine (YPOM)' ( photos ) members which kept me progressing and pushing further with my fitness plan, achieving beyond anything I could have dreamt or hope to achieve when I first started out in 2017, improving my weight loss and generally feeling better than I had in years. Your Pace or Mine and me at Parkrun The YPOM group sessions was of a great benefit to me pre-Covid at a time when post heart attack I was still re-building my fitness, stamina & increasing my runnin

Heart Attack to 10K (part 4.23) - God bless the NHS

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Part 4.23 - GOD BLESS THE NHS (Phase VI - sustaining a healthy life-style) "Nothings going to happ en unless you ma ke it happen." Just occasionally I like to write something other than about my heart condition, highlighting my appreciation, experiences or support received over the past 6 and a bit years, to this end I have already written special blogs covering Cardiac Rehab , FITT , AFib awareness and Parkrun . Today I would like to show my admiration and gratitude for the tremendous work & service given to me by the NHS , not just for my heart problems but for other aliments I suffered over the same period. Recently I have been reading a 'question & answer' social media platform where the question of health care in the USA gets heavily debated when compared to the UK and elsewhere with 'socialised healthcare' and I admit knowing very little what happens over the pond other than it being 'private' and driven by insurance with terminology su