Ultrarunner fighting Atrial Fibrilation (AF)

This blog has pretty much always been about running ultras, mostly Hardrock. It still is but now it is also about running after AFib. I was forced to miss Hardrock in 2011 due to the onset of AF but my long term goal was to get back to running milers. And hopefully help any other runners with AF who stumble upon this site. I never made it into Hardrock in 2012, or 2013, or 2014. I didn't have a qualifier for 2015. I ran Fatdog in Canada instead. That was tough. I finished my 4th Hardrock in 2016 and now I'm back to try for the magical number 5.

If you want the history of my AF the heart problems all started back on May 25 2011: http://howmanysleeps.blogspot.com/2011/05/out-of-hardrock.html

Friday, August 04, 2006

WS Entries are open! and Ironbark 45

I typed this on July 22nd but didn't get around to posting it to the
blog..........

I've been having trouble accessing coolrunning this week which is
frustrating. As if to compensate, there has been a million emails from
the Mellum crew to keep me entertained and of course the Tour which is
coming to a close. I've been checking the WS web site nightly waiting
for the application for entry to go up. And then Kelvin posted on cr
today that they are up. I have results of the GC100 photocopied. I just
need the money order for the entry fee and I'm entering. Here's hoping.

Ran the 45km Ironbark Fat Ass last Sunday. After some interest when I
first announced the idea a couple of months ago, there was only 4
starters, with only 2 of us planning to go the full distance. It had
rained steadily all day Saturday so I was half expecting no-one to
show. I arrived early but dismissed plans of marking a couple of
corners seeing as how there was likely to be no-one coming. About 8:45
CathyP and Gary arrived from Melbourne. They were planning to just go
out for an hour and turn around. No sign of Damien who lives locally
and had emailed me just Friday. So we took a self-portrait photo and
were about to head down to the beach at a couple of minutes to 9 when
Damien rolled into the carpark. So we were 4. We had a great run. Cathy
and Gary turned back at the top of the Jarosite mine track for a
roughly 20km round trip. Damien and I picked up the pace a little and
ran well to the scout camp. The rain set in and the trail got slippery
but we made it to the turnaround in Anglesea in about 2:40ish. Damien
was met by his wife, daughter and friend. We refueled and headed back
into the misty rain.We ran hard to keep warm on the way back. We pretty
much had the trail to ourselves. A n old guy hooked up with us on the
ridge track and ran with us back to the Jarosite Mine track. I left
them behind on the down-hill. It was like a skating rink so I figured
the best defence was offence so I attacked the down-hill. We lost the
old guy but he took the road and caught us at the Bells carpark and ran
back to Jan Juc with us. The visibility was now terrible and I was glad
to reach the warmth of the car in a tick over 5 hours. WE jumped in and
I drove Damien home. You know you're running well when you start to
warm up after 4 hours of running. Felt good at the finish. I'll
organise this again but promote it a little more to get some more of
the Melbourne crew down.

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