Saturday, May 17th 2025 began as any other Parkrun day. I got up at 7am and made a cup of tea, had my usual "Fitness Test" shower (checking out all my joints and muscles were up for a jog), got dressed and, as a warm up, walked down to Wycombe Rye.

I felt that I was finally over the string of petty viruses I'd had over the winter but was still getting back to full fitness. So by the end of the run I was feeling a little tired and needed to give the final sprint a bit more effort. As I crossed the line I felt a little light headed and stopping my watch I noticed my heart was running at 172bpm. I wondered whether I might be having a cardiac event and the very next thing I was aware of was Victoria telling me that I'd had a cardiac arrest and had had two rounds of CPR and a single zap of the AED.

I was so fortunate that day to have at the Parkrun, a cardiac nurse, a doctor and two off duty paramedics with the Parkrun AED close at hand. Wycombe Rye Lido, where the run finishes, also has an AED and trained staff who came to assist. Being professionals, my lifesavers had taken timings and I had been "dead" for just six minutes. Thanks to their speedy response I was able to return to Parkrun two weeks later to show everyone that I was well on the way to recovery. The following week I was able to walk the course and now I am close to the 100 Parkruns milestone.

But more importantly, I have been able to celebrate another birthday with my wife, daughters and grandchildren.

When I complete my 100th Parkrun, I want to draw attention to the importance of everyone knowing CPR; an easy to learn literally life-saving skill. A cardiac arrest could happen to anyone at anytime and not everyone is going to be as lucky as I was to have professionals around me. Even if you are unable to contribute to this charity that promotes CPR please check out the British Heart Foundation website to "Learn CPR in 15 minutes for free with RevivR"; https://revivr.bhf.org.uk

Thanks to you all.