We did it!

We managed to hit the target I set of raising 3,000 pounds for the British Heart Foundation!

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated - and if you were thinking of donating but didn't get around to it, there's nothing wrong with going over target! Neil's family will be pleased when I tell them. I really believe that this is a good cause and I hope our little "drop in the ocean" can help us understand heart defects and heart disease better and avoid these tragic and shocking deaths as a result.


I have to say a special thanks to Christian Petersmann who was the one to take us to the target with a very generous donation indeed. He is also competing in the Ironman in Brazil, although I suspect he will be already having a beer at the finish line by the time I get there.

Anyway, that's one target met, now I just need to meet the other and for that, it's down to me.

Half way there

As you may know, the reason this blog exists and the motivation behind my becoming an Ironman is in memory of my dear friend, Neil Suddes. I have been trying to raise money for research in heart disease and, so far, I have managed to get half way to my target of 3,000 pounds. Please at least read the following and consider making a donation - it requires just a few clicks and it is perfectly safe. Thank you to every one for their support, both in my fundraising target and in my personal target of becoming an Ironman.

[Scroll down for Spanish / Para leerlo en español, ver abajo]

If you didn't know Neil Suddes then all I can say is you missed out.

I first met Neil back in the 90's in a pub in called the Devonshire Arms which, known to us record-heads, was one of the few places you could go to hear good music in Cambridge in those days. Whenever Neil was on the decks we would try to keep the pretences of a conversation up while fighting the urge to jump up and ask what every "fookin' tune" he played was. Ironically, he probably found a number of them in a BHF charity shop for next to nothing.

For me, Neil personified everything I love about music. Sometimes the rest of us could get quite competitive over digging out that elusive tune gathering dust in some record shop. Neil had a brilliant ear and an amazing knowledge for music coupled with the luck of the Gods in unearthing rare records, and yet he was always humble and generous in sharing these with his friends. Above all he was so creative - a true original - and had a fantastic sense of humour which was definitely reflected in his music, his graphic design and his photography. After all, you should never take things too seriously...

I always felt as though I could pick up with Neil just where I left off so it was a terrible shock to hear that he had died, suddenly, of a heart attack aged just 41. You only have to type "Suddes" into Google to see that I was not the only one deeply affected by this loss.

I recently got into running marathons and triathlons and I know only too well that some people have a heart condition of which they can be completely unaware until a set of circumstances - heat, stress, a virus maybe - strikes them down. For this reason, I chose for the money I raise to go to The British Heart Foundation: in spite of having "British" in the name, it is an organization which funds life changing research with a global reach. Neil was a keen cyclist and I would have enjoyed having a geeky conversation with him about Campagnolo Record versus Shimano Dura-Ace. Instead it seems fitting to dedicate my efforts in the Ironman in Brazil 2011 to the memory of all those great evenings we spent together.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Si nunca llegaste a conocer a Neil Suddes lo único que te puedo decir es que te lo has perdido.

Conocí a Neil en los años 90, en el pub “the Devonshire Arms” que, conocido por unos cuantos discófilos, era uno de los pocos sitios donde uno podía escuchar buena música en Cambridge en aquella época. Cada vez que pinchaba Neil, nosotros intentábamos disimular, manteniendo una conversación mientras resistíamos la tentación de preguntarle que c*ño era el temazo que tocaba. Irónicamente, es probable que, muchos de aquellos discos, los hubiera pillado en una tienda de charity de la British Heart Foundation por unos pocos peniques.

Para mí, Neil era la personificación de todo que yo amaba de la música. A veces los demás éramos bastante competitivos en buscar esa joya elusiva, cubierta de polvo en alguna tienda de discos. Neil tenía un gusto espectacular, un conocimiento asombroso de música y la suerte de un cabrón para encontrar discos y era, sin embargo, siempre humilde y generoso, compartiendo sus descubrimientos con sus amigos. Sobre todo era tan creativo – un verdadero “original” – y tenía un sentido de humor fantástico que quedó reflejado en su música, su diseño y su fotografía. Al final y al cabo, las cosas nunca se deberían tomar demasiado en serio…
Siempre tenía la sensación de que podía retomar mi amistad con Neil cuando quisiera así que era un palo terrible cuando me dijeron que se había muerto, inesperadamente, de un infarto con tan sólo 41 años. Con que teclees “Suddes” en Google, verás que no fui el único tan profundamente afectado por esta noticia.

Hace poco empecé a correr maratones y triatlones y sé de sobra que hay gente con una condición cardiaca de la cual ni siquiera son conscientes hasta que, un conjunto de circunstancias – el calor, el estrés, un virus tal vez – la pone en evidencia. Por eso, he decido recaudar dinero para The British Heart Foundation: a pesar de tener “British” en el nombre, es una organización que financia investigación que puede salvar vidas y que tiene un alcance global. Neil era un ciclista también, y me hubiera gustado discutir con el los méritos relativos de Campagnolo Record y Simano Dura-Ace. Como ya va a ser posible, me parece apropiado dedicar el esfuerzo que me va a suponer terminar el Ironman de Brasil en 2011 a la memoria de aquellas veces que pasábamos juntos escuchando música.

Gracias por haber tomado el tiempo para leer mi página de JustGiving.

Donando a través de JustGiving es sencillo, rápido y totalmente seguro. Tus detalles están en buenos manos con JustGiving – nunca los venderán ni te mandarán emails no deseados. Una vez que has donado, mandarán tu dinero directamente a la organización de caridad. Es la manera más eficaz de donar – recaudo más mientras la organización de caridad ahora tiempo y costes.

Así que, por favor, dona lo que puedas ahora.

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD)

Three people I know have died, suddenly, of a heart attack. They were all young and in reasonable health - one was even extremely fit and died during a training session with the Oxford rowing team back in 1991. When a fit, young person is struck down in the prime of their life it is just as much of a tragedy as any potentially preventable death but it has an even bigger impact because we tend to think that heart problems are the territory of obese heavy smokers. When Andrés Iniesta scored the World Cup winning goal for Spain, he took of his shirt to reveal his vest below, on which was written "Dani Jarque, siempre con nosotros" (Dani Jarque, always with us)

Dani Jarque was a professional footballer who died of a heart attack in 2009, aged just 26. Even I had heard of this tragic death when it happened and I have a positive disinterest in football. I have also read the case of a Spanish Marathon runner - whose name escapes me - who had run 13 Marathons in less than 3 hours; the 14th was literally the death of him.

It is getting to the point that people are starting to think that running Marathons or Ironmans is something bad for you or even lethal. According to one article I found on the internet, the mortality rate over the last 20 years of the London Marathon is 1 in 67,414. On the other hand, according to another (random) article I found, the incidence of Sudden Cardiac Death in the general population is about 582 / 249,146 or roughly 1 in 428! I know that I am not being very scientific here but that is just because I don't really have time to do a proper study. Nevertheless the point is that we are much more sensitive to cases of SCD amongst athletes because of the media, our preconceptions of the "typical" heart attack sufferer and the fact that - and this is the clincher, I think - they often die in the middle of a race or competition rather than quietly at home. Who can forget when Tommy Cooper died on stage and made it look like it was part of his act? I particularly remember it because it was the first (and last) time I ever saw him on TV.

Many people can have a dormant heart condition that only becomes significant when they are subjected to a particular stress, be it running a Marathon or getting upset with their boss. One good thing about running Marathons is that you are more likely to have had a ECG or Electro Cardiogram done while running to exhaustion on a treadmill. I last did this 3 and a half years ago when I abruptly stopped smoking and started running again. On Wednesday I will do another ECG as well as an Eco Cardiogram (where they can actually see your heart beating and check for deformities, some of which can escape an ECG). I'm lucky that I can do these tests at work for free - my workplace has a joint venture with Valentín Fuster, who is a famous Spanish heart surgeon, which gives us employees access to state-of-the-art tests and gives him access to thousands of willing guinea pigs. Even if the tests were not free, I would be prepared to pay to do them - its difficult to put a price on hopefully preventing something both utterly devastating and very improbable - but certainly I value it more highly than my ticket to run the Ironman in Brazil. I have not even thought how I might feel or what I might do if they discovered something - I'll cross that bridge when, and if, I ever get to it.

If I manage to achieve anything with this blog and the money I am trying to raise for the British Heart Foundation, it would be to break down this bipolar perception we have of Sudden Cardiac Death - of overeaters and overexercisers - when, in fact, this is a very serious issue that could effect each and every one of us. Sponsoring research can have very tangible results such as improving detection rates, prevention, surgical intervention. So please, if you have found this blog at all interesting or entertaining or even if you would like to pay me to shut up, please click on the Just Giving logo at the top right of this page. And also think about getting your own heart checked up even if you feel fit as a fiddle. The fact is we probably have less doubts about taking our car in for an MOT checkup than we do for getting our motor - the heart - a certificate of good health.

POSTDATA: I did the electro and eco cardiograms yesterday and got the results back - I am officially OK to do the Ironman. Now my chest is all itchy where they shaved me pie bald so that the electrodes could have a good connection. I did my five hours training just beforehand, so I got to exhaustion on the treadmill quite quickly. Its wonderful all this science and technology to measure all kinds of clever things to do with the heart but, what surprises me is, they only test you up to 85% of your "maximum heart rate" as given by the very unsophisticated formula of 220 less your age. In my case, I have the maximum heart rate of a 29 year old, hahaha. No, really, the formula is a load of crap and it means that we only did a cardiogram up to a pulse rate lower than I will be clocking at in the Marathon at the end of the Ironmaneco as I have a friend whose heart problem went undetected by the ECG but was spotted in an eco. This potentially saved his life (and he was still able to become an Ironman).

Nearly a third of the way there...

You've almost donated 1,000 pounds to the BHF, thank you so much! Now, wouldn't it be cool to be the one to tip the counter into 4 figures???

EDIT: Thanks to Fernando Gutiérrez for the 4 figures! (Let's see who will get us to 5...)

How fragile we are

I just had a piece of bad news today. This time it concerned someone who I wouldn't class as a friend but he was a trainee in my team for 6 months last year. I particularly remember watching the inauguration speech of President Obama with him - being African, he was especially proud and it was quite moving to share the moment with him. It's just mind boggling to think, had I known then, that sometime the following year, one of us would die suddenly of a heart attack... We still have the misconception that bad things only happen to other people, particularly if they are obese, if they smoke or if they don't do any exercise. It just isn't true and it makes me doubly determined to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. RIP