Hi there everyone, I am really new at blogging.
A friend told me a way to get my story out there to people and to help try and raise funds for the Heart & Stroke Foundation would be to start a Blog. Well here I am attempting to do this. I will try to keep this updated regularly as well as updating as to how training is going along with race reports.
I don't know where to begin, but I will attempt and if anyone has suggestions as to how I should keep a flow going please let me know.
Why Damaged Hearts in Motion? Well, I am pushing my late 40's very soon next week and a half and this all started back in 2008. Probably earlier, but the significant date was June 16, 2008, the day after Fathers' Day I had a heart attack which was a Widow Maker. Well the day it happened, I didn't even know I was having a heart attack. Those big tell-tale signs were not there, I thought that my lungs were collapsing.
Back then I was a big guy at 289lbs due to the fact that 2 years prior, I had just finished having my 3rd back operation and with a drop foot, walking with a cane and not really doing anything, the heart attack was just waiting for a day to tell me, You're either going to die or start changing your life!!!!!!! 5 ½ years later, I am still here and have changed my life. It took a long slow time, by setting one goal at a time.
Every year since being in Rehab at Toronto Rehab (Cardiac) I have been setting goals and mostly a bigger goal every year. During my Rehab I was asked to set goals and a realistic goal, well I thought, Hell, why not put on my list ½ marathon just to COMPLETE it, nothing more (I had not been physically active in 15 years). That was January '09 and I set the goal for Sept '09. As I learned to walk and then walk without the cane, I was getting faster (still dragging my foot) but faster. I decided in June to enter into a 10 mile race and see where I stood. I signed up, showed up and was completely amazed that i finished the race walking (I think I was very very close to being the last person crossing the line. What was amazing to me at the time was that my wife was about ½ km from the finish line waiting for me there and she and I finished the race together. I was bawling like a child, it was such an emotional day for me. I finished in 2 hour 22 minutes and 22 seconds 10 Miles THAT was ENDURANCE for me, well I still had the ½ marathon in a couple of months to get to.
Now, as I am still in rehab for my heart, I had to adjust my goal of just finishing the ½ marathon and between July and September the goal went from finishing to 3h50m then 3h35m to 3h20m then I settled on 3h15m, well I finished in 3h10m flat NEW PB lol yeah oh well I tried to think that. Then A friend of mine said that he could enter into a ½ marathon that was coming up in 3 weeks and wanted to know if I would like to do it, I jumped at the chance as I though I was on top of the world. Well I was still in so much pain from the first one, that I thought that I might be able to do it in 3 hours or just less, (too much ego going on) Well I do complete the next ½ in almost the time that I wanted, if I didn't stop to go to the port-a-potty twice ( i have now learned a secret about that during races ). I finished the ½ in 3h00m12sec DAMN I was really upset with myself until I realized, hey I just finished my second ½ marathon all within 16 months of having a Widow Maker and set my new PB.
Every year I have set goals since, trying to do more and get healthier, I have done 10k's ½'s and a full since then. I have set a hugh goal for 2014 and that is to race 500 miles throughout the year. I have 5k's 10k's ½ & full marathons bike rides and 2 HIM's Half Ironman 70.3. All of this is a personal goal to set out and a little hardship on my part to be able to raise money for Heart & Stroke Foundation, so that others may be able to receive the care and attention that I received during my rehab and better yet to be able to live due to the fact that the money raised goes towards better equipment for diagnosing and for saving lives of people like me.
Yes I am asking for everyone's help in ANYWAY that you can. I am not just asking for donations, which is my goal, but knowing what our times are like and with money not being always available, if you could volunteer at functions that the Heart & Stroke Foundation puts on in your area or even come out and cheer me on at Races that I will be entered into and Yell and say Hi! Maybe at some point this year, don't buy a coffee at your favourite place for a week and take that little amount and donate it to the Heart & Stroke it would go a long way to helping the Heart & Stroke as well as helping me attempt to achieve my two goals. I will soon be having a link to the Heart & Stroke Foundation for a page to make your donations directly.
I will be back on here again very shortly and giving updates as to training and anything else that comes up. I will have a posting up for all the upcoming races and then race reports. Please keep coming back and reading and letting me know that you are here by saying hi.
If you have comments please let me know. Thanks
Damaged Heart
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