For those of you who don’t know, I passed out in the middle of brushing my teeth one night last May. Over a year later, I’m still alive, got my driving privileges back, continue to have heart palpitations on a daily basis, and recently started getting chest pains while I run. So, I decided that before I go any further in my marathon training, I should get a check-up with my cardiologist. My appointment was this morning and I told him everything that has been going on. He paused and said, “ok, let’s check you out”. I’m thinking he did that just to humor me so that I didn’t feel like seeing him was a waste of time. With the stethescope in hand, he told me to take a few deep breaths, palpated my chest and abdomen, had me sit up, and said, “eh, you’re fine.” Thanks, doc. Anyway, he decided to hooked me up to a Holter Monitor for the next 24 hours since I was getting palpitations during my runs, which I never had before. As he left the examination room, he said to me, “run hard and make your heart thump”. Haha…that’s pretty ironic.

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Well, this Holter Monitor has become a good friend of mine this past year. We’re actually on our 3rd “date” now. I suppose it’s not that bad…aside from the sticky electrodes on my chest that make me itchy (I think I’m allergic to the adhesive), long wires that hang out from under my shirt, and a coolio walkman looking thing strapped to my waist. This afternoon, I went for my hill run and I ran hard! In fact, I managed to run 5K under 30 minutes…29:07 to be exact. That’s a 9:24/mile pace or 6.39 mph. It sounds pretty wimpy but it’s a first for me. And did I make my heart thump? Yep Yep Yep! I’ll just have to wear it until 9:15 tomorrow morning, turn it in, and wait a week for the results. I just wish I could take a shower right now…I’m not allowed to get the electrodes wet…boo…I’m stinky.