Why 15 minutes 41 seconds changed my life today

To many people 15:41 is probably a very slow mile. To me its a new lease on life. There was a point in my life when being on the treadmill was equivalent to dieing in my eyes. Not anymore!

In Eighth grade I was diagnosed with some heart problems. Pretty severe heart problems. So severe where I ended up having two surgeries. 1 unsuccessful and 1 successful where a small portion of my heart was burnt to stop my heart from going into V-tac.

Now what does the treadmill have to do with this? Through the process of what felt like hundreds of tests to figure out exactly what was wrong with me. I was ordered to have a stress test. To the average person I imagine the stress test isn't that big of a deal. But not to me. In my head I could remember the Dr telling me that I needed to be thankful that my "disease" was caught because things could of ended very badly otherwise. I was told that my condition seemed to be brought on by my heart rate being elevated and since I was at that time a three sport athelete in eighth grade, who knows when it could of acted up. On the volleyball court, on the sidelines of the basketball game, or on the track? So you see where my issue with the treadmill came into play. You want me to get on that thing as I'm attached to all these machines and get my heart beating at a fast pace? Are you nuts!! I clearly remember the first time being at a stress test. I lasted about three seconds and freaked out crying that I couldn't breathe and I couldn't do this. Now after the second surgery was performed and I was told that I was cured I was told to take another stress test just to see. Nope not me. I wasn't having it. I was taken from being an athlete to a person that was deathly afraid of raising my heart rate. That time I think I lasted about twenty seconds, with the same results crying and freaking out.

I went through high school afraid to participate in any sports, still afraid to get my heart rate elevated. This even after the doctor told me I was cured. I would of loved to have played sports in high school but in my head I was convinced I was going to collapse and die.

Now advance to me turning 21. I went back for a check up with my cardiologist, wore a 48 hour monitor and there were no signs of any irregular heart beats on any of the feed. You would of thought that would be enough for me to finally realize that I was cured and was safe to work out.

Didn't work. I still wasn't able to emotionally accept that I could get back into the swing of things. I've worked out off and on since then but never lasted and never was serious enough about it.

That brings me to today. I jumped on the treadmill with a totally clear mind. And with a combination of walking and jogging/running I did a mile in 15:41! Yes I was breathing heavy at times, but did that stop me? No. I was convinced to complete it and when I did I cried tears of joy. I proved to myself not only that yes I am cured but for not being in the best of shape a 15:41 mile isn't too horribly bad. Its the starting point for me to now aim to achieve a 13:00 mile by 2011.

Never would I think that I would be so proud of the numbers 15:41, but I think that mile today broke down a lot of walls that have holding me back over the years.