And so they gather for Eurohearts 2012 - Generation of Hearts

Every two years we gather…

Somewhere in Europe we meet, this elite club…

Hardened veterans; passing on their expertise, knowledge and love

Newbies; eager eyed, unsure of what lies ahead and ready for the unknown

The Danes have delivered, the EuroHearts 2012 conference is going ahead.  Whatever the next 5 days brings the effort to do that, and that alone, is appreciated by those veterans who’ve been there and done that (in some cases more than one once).

The late nights, stress about the money, worries about who will speak, coordinating the arrival of over 50 people (most with a range conditions)  and the really important things- what colour should the t-shirts be, who will captain the football teams and just how posh is the gala night going to be?

That all sounds light hearted, and for plenty of the time we will be.  However, we will remember those not there, both those who for one reason or another can’t make the conference and those who have no choice.  We’re a high-risk bunch of friends to have, as we have this unfortunate habit of dying.  And we will celebrate the lives they’ve led, the joy they’ve bought us their friends.

And we’ll talk about the big things; the way care is organised in our countries, how the group working between conferences has been doing, we’ll get Danish experts give us their views on transition, exercise and fundraising for groups, and we’ll renew friendships and make new ones. The full agenda is here:

http://www.guch.dk/v4/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83&Itemid=11

And friendships are where these conferences should begin and end. For me it’s a rare opportunity to be me; the showman is seen through, the comic’s jokes fall flat, the analyst… well that I’m afraid is too hard wired to go away.  There are people coming to Copenhagen who remember when I was a newbie, fresh-faced and searching for a way I could help. I hope I’ve not let them down these last 14 years…  And knowing the personalities they’d have told me if I had (otherwise, ladies be gentle!).

And in the darkness of the small hours of the morning you’ll see 2’s and 3’s of us disappear off, arm in arm… Some will think that something nefarious or sexual is going on, and I’m sure sometimes it does… but most of the time it’s time to talk, to hold someone who understands and to cry.

We’ll agree a hashtag on Monday and get the twitterati of the conference to update the world as we go… For these conferences are something more special than 50 people with congenital heart disease together, they have helped create, inspire and support, groups from Atlantic to the Arctic, from the Middle East (we’re quite bad at geography and let most countries in) through to  Australia and occasionally Canada and others.

So pack well my friends of old renown and yet to be made, the greatest show on earth may be on in London at the moment, but this is the greatest show of our world.

I can’t say it enough, so I’ll finish on it – Thank you to Kirsten and the team, without you we couldn’t be here!

TTFN

Paul

A simple wooden mug... Warning: Contains Emotional stuff...

As some readers will be aware I'm doing an Open University degree, the OU is the UK distance learning university so I can try and fit it in around the work, charity stuff, running and other stuff... You know like a social life! ;-)

Anyway, we're looking at "material culture", which is arty farty jargon for what objects tell us about how people lived, what they valued.  So at the tutorial today we were asked to think of an item that means a lot to us and describe it; it's use and so on.

Mine was a little wooden mug, a Kuksa, most of the time it sits in my box of important things. Currently it's sitting there on top of my (science) degree certificate with my MBE in its case balanced in it.  If that sounds haphazard, it is.  This is my box that only gets opened when it needs to, and the rest of time is my chamber of memories.

The mug was given to me north of the Arctic Circle in a town called Rovenami, at the first European conference of adults with congenital heart disease I ever went to.  There I met friends who despite time passed and miles apart are in someways the closest friends I have.

That little mug is there for hope and sorrow; it comes out when I need to remember the joy I felt in that conference, and when I need to remember why I carry on doing what I do.

Not for this this mug a dusty cupboard, but the highlights and lowlights of my life. So when there is good news; a marriage made, a baby born then it is there, in my hand a single malt sloshing in its birch embrace.

And when the world's sorrows multiple; when friends are hurting, and as happens too, too often when they die then it is there again, again with a single malt, watered with a salted tear or three.

In two weeks I'll be seeing some of those friends again, at this years conference in Copenhagen.  A lot won't be there, some because they've decided their time at the conferences is over, some because life has gotten busy and too many because they're not around anymore.

I'm often thought of as the cold one, whose more interested in politics than emotions.  That's not quite true, its just to do what I do best, to help in the way I can do most I sometimes I have to put what I'm feeling most away in a box.  Only to come out when needed...

The good news is not all of my OU tutorials result in me examining my own feelings like this, and I'm not sure it was the intention, but its is a salutary lesson in not assuming that the big showy things are the important things.

TTFN

Paul

So ramping up begins, with a PB

It's Ultra Time...

Well the start of the training...

And what a start - a 10km PB, which if I allowed myself such luxuries included a 5km and a 5 mile PB... Unfortunately I don't, so I'll just have to go out and run those distances as fast, or faster, again!

The British 10k isn't a particularly nice route, the views are fantastic, but the twists and turns and two 180 degree hairpin spins slow you down to a walk as you go around them - well slow me down to walk!

It's also, normally, a humid run - the tree lined boulevards, tunnels and proximity to the river see to that - and at times I made the conscious decision to slow down (slightly) to avoid broiling.

So how come the PB? Honestly, it just felt right.  I'd got the food and drink side of things right, I felt good in the legs so decided what the hell.

So despite the shoe lace coming undone, and the two people who ran into me, and the woman who pulled up directly in front of me necessitating a two handed move that in a club would've got me slapped, I got there:-)

So, what next? Miles... and Miles:-)

And before I go, a big Well Done to all of the Children's Heart Federation runners, every step you taking, every pound you make - makes a real difference. Also to the 2 others with congenital heart defects (it's complicated in one case), its nice not to be alone out there!  

TTFN

Paul

Halfway... in time... beware contains running...

So this is halfway...

Six months since I set myself the faintly bonkers challenge of doing 2012km in a year...

Put that into context, 2 and a bit years ago my challenge was to do 1000km in a year...

Back then I was looking forward to my first marathon, training programmes were a near random collection of fear, terror and numbers.

Now, I'm looking forward to my first ultra-marathon, training programmes are a mix of numbers, heavy & light weeks and continual forward progress.

Six months and 1103km done...
Six months and 909km to do...

I've done my first trail race - it hurt, I was sick, I'll be back
I've done 2 marathons - one with a hill (Brutal Belfast) one with so many hills I lost count (Excalibur)

I've got leaner - not that hard, I've not had a pie since November

I've got faster - still back of the pack, but the progress for me has been great

I know myself better - I spend enough time with myself; feet pounding, lungs straining, running through my mental drills, distracting myself and keeping myself going.

And I don't know what else is to come... It used to be easy, I knew my limits and I dreamed of pushing them a bit... This year that hasn't been the case, 10k is the best example... my PB was 69 minutes... Then I took it down to 67 in a flying race... Then in a race I expected to chug along in it went down (almost my accident) to 64... Yesterday, was a there and back 10k, just to start the planned training for the ultra... 68... As a training run that was fairly comfortable.

Can I go faster, probably... It's a brave new world out there, scary, but new:-D However, speed is only part of it, I also have distance to go 50km... in one hit... 31 miles... basically Liverpool to Manchester, in one go...

This is a wistful post, as remembereances of exploits past should be, and a hopeful post as those looking forward should be. 


And to paraphrase Robert Frost - Miles to go before I rest, Miles to go before I rest.

TTFN

Paul