I have been for a run! The first since my heart attach ten weeks ago!

I thought that I might try it this morning – I had a horrible anxious feeling that’s been building for a while, although what it’s about, I do not know.

My best guess is that I am used to a haunting and creeping anxiety about when my husband would next have an episode and how severe it would be. Would we need to go to hospital? Would I find myself persuading him to accept the help he was actually begging for Might it get nasty? Could I end up in physical danger again?

I had two caffeinated coffees and my breakfast before going. I don’t normally have caffeine first thing any more, but I figured that it might help get the heart rate up before starting.

Then I walked briskly up and down the street: I had been strictly instructed to ensure that I warm up properly before exercise – no more going from nought to sixty in the bat of an eyelash!

I had a short 1k route in mind, which started downhill, then had a short bit steep climb, before returning to the house.

I am not sure that I could have talked while I ran; the instructions the cardiac nurse has given me was “exercise at a rate that allows for conversation”.

I felt good when I got home. Good for trying it – and good for achieving what I’d set out to do. It is a starting place. I feel as though I have reclaimed something of myself.

I’ll try not to think about how much fitness I’ve lost since my heart attack. That won’t make me feel good – I needs must focus on the recovery and measuring myself only in terms of “better than last week/month”.

Keeping a good promise to yourself is a most excellent way to boost your mood.