As an ex-serviceman I like to think I am in charge of my life.  Being in control of your money, fortune or health was drilled into me. That I was responsible for me.    Likewise I was fortunate to have done many things one might consider challenges, be it rock climbing, endurance runs, abseiling or parachuting.  Then, whilst training for the London Marathon in 2011 two things happened.

Firstly, I bought a heart rate monitor which I was able to link to my sports watch by Wifi and which shows number of beats per minute. Secondly, once I’d linked the two together, I realised my heart needed checking! The watch showed that my heart rate went into the stratosphere even at rest - when it would shoot from 160 to 258 beats per minute. My heartbeat put ‘80s pop band Bronski Beat in the shade!!  Tests would reveal that I had tachycardia – which is a fast heart rate. After four months of extensive tests it was revealed that I needed a simple ablation operation and, living in London, I was fortunate to have St Bartholomew’s Hospital quite nearby. 

On the way back from Barts one day, I passed a few signs advertising the British Heart Foundation’s Tower of London Run.   A 10k run in the moat of the Tower of London -  what a brilliant backdrop and what a great way for me to give something back to the BHF for all the work they do.  Whilst I would have run that year, my surgeon advised against it as it was only a week after my op which  I had already, to the surgeons’ despair, delayed to run the London Marathon two weeks before.   But last year I was there and wow, what a great way to spend a weekday afternoon.  I got to run around the Tower of London, met loads of like-minded people doing their bit for heart research and heart care and even got a free t-shirt! 

Sadly I only raised £80 because I had drained my customers (I run a pub with my partner Rita) raising £2000 for a local disabled charity but…every penny helps.  My £80 could contribute to a range of work which the BHF is involved in, such as life-saving research or caring for heart patients. Whether you raise £80, £800 or £8000 you have helped the folk at the BHF jump another hurdle and helped wipe away another tear. That’s what the British Heart Foundation is doing today and every day.

My next 10k will be for BHF.  Then who knows.  The BHF organise so many great sporting challenges and even the big ones like the London to Brighton 100k trek (on my bucket list) or London to Paris cycling . 

The British Heart Foundation is there for everyone.  So the question is simple.  If they are there for you….are you going to be there for them ?

Now…get off the couch!

 

So lace up those trainers, do some stretches and get running!

Visit bhf.org.uk/londonruns to register.