Heart attack to 10K (or maybe that should be half marathon) - 'my story'

GETTING FFITer. (Phase VI – sustaining a healthy life-style ) "Nothings going to happen unless you make it happen." I already knew I had an enlarged prostate, but during early April 2017 that I noticed that I was having to visit the little chairboys room a bit more frequently and it was becoming more difficult to pass water. I thought this might be due to a change in medication so mentioned it to my GP on one of my many visits. This prompted the doctor to get a little more intimate with me than I was comfortable with as he gave my prostate a little tickle (you'll probably have to pay extra for that in a house of ill repute!) and he then referred me to the Urologist. A blood test showed my PSA ( Prostate-specific antigen, a protein released from the prostate gland into the blood stream) to be 6.2, this was cause for concern as anything over 4.0 could indicate the presence of cancer cells. Normally, I believe the next stage would be to go for a biopsy, thi...

THEY TRIED TO MAKE ME GO TO REHAB. I SAID YES, YES, YES PLEASE! (Phase III – cardiac rehabilitation) the cardiac rehab team 21 st Feb 2017 and I start phase III of my cardiac event when attending the first of 6 weeks of cardiac rehabilitation classes, but this part of the story really began back at my heart assessment 3 weeks earlier. Besides receiving my pedometer and starting an obsession in counting steps [see part 2], a series of measurements were taken which have since become the base point for tracking my subsequent progress.  My heart rate was 59, blood pressure 153/96, weight 98.2 kg, height 177cm, BMI 31.34 and waist 107cm. The Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation Team set long term targets against these measurements – blood pressure <140/90, weight 58-78.3kg, BMI 18.5-25 and waist <94cm. [Care4Today Cardiac Rehab video, this features the actual team I was with ..... click here ] Part of the assessment is to do a ‘shuttle walk test’ during which you w...

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 memory) 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 sun...