Why a blog about ultra running and atrial fibulation

Like many ultra runners, I have big goals. Most people would be proud to run a marathon, and I was too until I did one. Then I read about 50 and 100 mile races in beautiful and remote places, and those became the goal I set myself.

So when I was first diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia, it didnt really sink in. In my head, I had my running life planned out for the next several years. I was preparing for a series of increasingly difficult events (Lean Horse, Western States, then one day Hardrock with some steps in between) I was ok with some setbacks: a missed cutoff, a DNF, an injury, etc- but I wasnt really ready for something to keep me from ever reaching my goals.

At that time, when I was looking for information about endurance athletes who were dealing with afib, PVST or other arrhythmia- I didnt find anything. I couldnt find a really detailed post about what to expect during a cardiac ablation, or what it was like for an athlete recovering from one, or how heart medications would effect my running times or endurance. So the first goal of this blog is to help people who have these concerns to find some information.

Secondly, I hope to find some people who are also afib runners, who will comment on the blog. Perhaps these people will give me some advice, or just share their story of dealing with arrhythmias and running.