The Ironman with a Playdough Heart

I wanted to set the scene before starting to write this blog titled "The Ironman with a Play-Doh Heart", just to show you what a difference a year can make. I am going to share my experience of taking on an Ironman distance triathlon and then discovering shortly after that I have congenital heart disease that stopped me in my tracks in October 2021. Along my journey, I hope to bring some laughter, maybe some tears, but most importantly, a mindset that you can overcome adversity and achieve your goals. 

It was a Friday in October 2020. I had just eaten a litre tub of ice cream and was considering opening a cold can of cloudy cider. And, from out of the blue, what enters my head? Let's commit to a full distance Ironman triathlon in 2021. That's big talk from a middle-aged, overweight, vertically challenged human being. However, you have to be in it to win it, right?

I say to myself, “Craig, should you think about this?” as I hear the gas erupt from the second can of cloudy cider. But still, before you know it, I've googled the next Outlaw Triathlon Nottingham, produced my bank card like some gunslinging cowboy drawing his pistol, and paid £350 for the pleasure of signing up for a full distance Ironman in July 2021. The fun begins.

I’ll come back to the Ironman preparation and competition later, but first, let's fast forward 12 months. It's Friday, the week is coming to an end, and it's a lovely day in Lincoln, but in all honesty, I'm not feeling 100%. I sit down and decide to just take 10 minutes sitting on this bench to compose myself before returning to the University.  

Then suddenly, I can hear a voice saying, “are you okay?” 

I'm thinking, who said that? 

As I open my eyes, to my amazement, two paramedics were looking at me and asking me if I’m okay. As expected, I say yeah, just perfect! All sorts of things are running through my head. I’m busy this afternoon, the caravan is in a field, my parked car is in an expensive car park in the centre of Lincoln, and I need to get home tomorrow. I have a lovely conversation with the paramedics, and I turn down the request to go on a trip in their beautiful campervan to the nearest NHS hotel.

I manage to get myself to the library and climb the three-storey building. As I reach the top of the stairs, I can feel my heart pounding and acting in a way that I haven't recognised in the past. As I take a seat in the quiet area and open my laptop, emotion overcomes me for some reason. I know that something more serious is occurring than not feeling 100% at this point. After a short while, the emotional episode is over. Time to crack on with life!

However, a note to oneself. No cloudy cider. Red Stag whiskey for me, until we speak to the medics at least.