Thanks for sharing and best of luck as a full-time social runner!
Thanks for sharing and best of luck as a full-time social runner!
Nic Barber. Downhill Dandy
Sorry to hear that Wheeze, I had a stent fitted after having a heart attack in April. It takes a lot of mental readjusting after such an event. As previously mentioned by others the fells will always be there and it's nice to enjoy them and a slower pace, stop and soak up the views without worrying about splits and times. Luckily I have been signed off by the doctors so can amble round tbe hills at a much slower pace. As long as you can be around for your family and loved ones that is ultimately what matters. Good luck..
Thanks for posting this and I hope you continue to be involved in the sport albeit in more leisurely fashion. You can now take time to enjoy all that fantastic scenery rather than the studs/backside of the runner in front of you!
As Derby Tup said in another thread, social running is the best Wheeze. Enjoy the hills and being with family & friends.
May you have lots of happy days wandering the fells without worrying about beating x and getting beaten by y....sounds lovely. Stay well. I don't take remotely for granted the ability to race, run, walk, see etc and it sounds you also have this healthy approach to it. Time to take a closer look at the hills than racing allows
Thanks for all the positive posts forum-pals.
I have had the most fab couple of days in the hills. Did a 'Ruddles Rule' run up and down Sugarloaf on Friday with a DDG inversion to look at and then today took my walking chums on a superb 11 mile loop around the eastern Black Mountains followed by a slap up nosh in a local pub.
And yes, I did ruminate silently to myself as we sat drinking coffee at a point where I have raced past many times, imagining the straining and concentration of my younger self as it passed by in my minds eye. And yes, I did feel the acceptance. And the anticipation of new ways of enjoying the hills.
But nothing will ever replace that anticipation of a race.
Its going in a box now, with many other things, marked 'Great Memories of a Younger Self'.
Simon Blease
Monmouth
Ruddles rule rules Wheeze
So how is life post racing after a few months Wheeze?
A curates egg if I'm honest. Part of me accepts the situation and gets on with other things, but the other part of me really misses the whole experience of racing. And that part is getting angrier as time goes by. I do need to have a further conversation with the cardiologist as some of the logic of his advise is troubling me.
So, not yet resolved I would say. Thanks for asking!👍
I would do that Simon and maybe seek a 2nd opinion.
I can't remember the year, but it was around end of 2007 3-4 days before Xmas and our club had a hill session in the woods at the back of Witton.
Without going in to the full detail, one of our senior men, a 3:51 1500m runner and I think he was sub 31 for 10k, in his mid 20s he had a massive cardiac arrest and collapsed.
It was -2C which probably helped, and a GP was present luckily and helped with first aid, but it was around 30 minutes before they managed to get his heart going again in the ambulance and we weren't overly optimistic.
He eventually came around on Xmas Day.
He was actually brought round by a Consultant who was also a Blackburn Harrier. Best Xmas present I've ever had when I got the call mid afternoon.
It turns out he had hereditary heart issues and had to change diet and had a or some stents inserted.
Unbelievably in March he ran at the Northern 12 stage less than 3 months later. I insisted he ran last leg for the part C team so he could run relaxed, not under pressure.
He ran fast enough to have been in our A team.
He's still running and racing, although he hasn't that fire to get up to the levels he used to be at. He's 40 now as well.
Unrelated, but in 2005 a well regarded physio told my wife to pack in running as her knees were shot at. He advised knitting.
She still raced up to a couple of years ago and whilst she prefers walking now, she still goes out for the occasional run.
So get another opinion.
Richard Taylor
"William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
Sid Waddell