why I run for heart

“so are you doing it for charity?”

I heard this question many many times, people genuinely didn’t seem to understand why I wanted to run or walk from Perth to Brisbane.

The fact is, that in the early days, my motivation for what has become “Hearts Across Australia”, was to provide an undeniable, practical demonstration that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. If an obese non-exercising smoker could transform into someone capable of crossing Australia on foot, then surely anyone could do anything!

But always the question, and eventually I got the hint, and I decided to add a charity component to the event.

The fact is, I had always had a charity element to my running, firstly promoting my “Movember” link whenever I entered an event, and then the Rogue Runners Club’s “Believe in Blaise” link (the charity they supported for the financial year 2013/2014.

I actually approached Movember regarding this event, the “male health” aspect fitted perfectly, and I was especially drawn to “beyond blue” as part of that. My event didn’t fit the Movember model however, so someone pointed out that I talked a lot about feeling as though I had been 2 years or so away from a heart attack, and the obvious connectiont here would be the Heart Foundation…

So I approached the WA Heart Foundation and immediately found a lot of common ground in terms of mission and message, with a lot of emphasis on lifestyle change and active lifestyles. I very quickly knew that I had found my “cause”, and agreed to run the “HBF Run for a Reason” event as a Heart Foundation Ambassador.

I also ran the London Marathon, as well as the Gold Coast Airport Marathon in the red of the WA Heart Foundation.

It was in the build-up to London that I found a deep, personal connection to the charity. One that, ultimately, had a sense of destiny about it. A feeling of things being “meant to be”, and a rather surreal sense that I had somehow been led to this point by the events of my life…

Back in 1977, when I was just 8 years old, my Grandpa died suddenly of heart attack, while away on holiday. I had always been close to my Mum’s parents, and losing my Grandpa like that was incredibly hard.

By this stage, I had already decided to follow his footsteps by joining the Royal Navy, and with hindsight I believe that this became a way for me to keep his memory alive. I became very focused on that career path. Unfortunately, at the age of 15 or 16, I failed the Royal Navy medical due to a hearing loss. An event that had a significant impact on the direction my life would take, a direction that would ultimately lead to me becoming the 42 year old, 143kg, bitter, negative, sarcastic, obese, heart-attack-waiting-to-happen that I became.

Which in turn led to me turning things around, becoming a runner, and linking up with the Heart Foundation…

During one of the final training runs before I headed to London, I had a “moment”. A lightbulb flash, and shivers down the spine as I connected those dots. So, just 2 weeks before the London Marathon itself, I realised and declared that I was doing this for Grandpa, and even better than that, my parents (who still live in the UK) would be travelling to London to watch!

It brought with it an incredible sense of emotional release, and suddenly my work with the Heart Foundation went beyond my underlying need to “do good in the world”, it connected to my story, my personal journey, at a deep level.

I didn’t get to make Grandpa proud by joining the Navy, but on April 13th 2014 I did him and my whole family proud by completing the London Marathon.

Running for the Heart Foundation – perhaps it was always meant to be…