Heartwise Webinar

 I was asked many months ago if I was interested in sharing my experience with Atrial Fibrillation. I was not sure what they wanted but if you know me I'm always happy to share my story via social media, podcast, interview. I'm all about awareness for all that is out there to help promote a healthy lifestyle. I'm not talking diet specifically but more the direction of doing physical activity because you can. It doesn't matter what activity you are committing to whether it be as simple as yoga or tai chi to endurance sports like ultra marathons or triathlons. If you have a goal to do any of these to help you get through your diagnosis or maybe to return to that activity then this was the focus of my webinar. I was paired with two doctors as part of the panel and was able to lead off the discussion basically talking about me. Now some of you who have come across my blog have seen me in some form of doing some form of talk or being interviewed but this was my first chance at actually in a panel. I did not expect questions as I am not a medical expert so I left that to my fellow panelists Dr. Mehrdad Golian (my electrophysiologist) and Dr. Jennifer Reed (Director of Exercise and Cardiovascular Health.

Overall I had a pleasant experience. I had prepared a bunch of speaking notes, but I totally went without them. I started looking at them but then basically just went with the flow. I had eight (8) minutes to do my part and hand it off to the rest of the panel. I was warned and somewhat relieved that I would not get any questions, but definitely I wasn't too worried if I didn't get any 😉

If you want to sign up for other Heartwise webinars then click here and register to be on the email list.

Direct link to my Zoom feature here

Motivate to Move - Podcast

I had the opportunity to be on a podcast with one of my marathon buddies who I met at the 2017 Ottawa Marathon.

We were both struggling and we both struck a conversation on that hot day and we commiserated about our experiences and both finished. Probably the worst marathon for us both, but needless to say we struck a friendship that took us to Twitter and Instagram.

Have a listen to see our conversations expand to running, training for my Ultra marathon, my AFib diagnosis, recovery, "Michelle", race weekend and supporting other runners. Oh and a new lease on life and getting back more time with my family and friends.

I'm sure either of the links work, but I gave a few options.

Spreaker

Listen Notes

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Episode 62 BEaTS Research Radio

 Patient Alumni

Since "graduating" from the Heart Institute this past July 2020 I have always ensured that I bring awareness about this world class facility.

I was contacted by Katya to see if I would be interested in doing this podcast to lead into the final week of Heart Month. I was more than happy to help bring a different perspective from research to a patient experience.

Here is that episode: Episode 62

A Runner's Racing Heart: Danny Pak gives back to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute by taking part in vital research studies

A Runner's Racing Heart: Danny Pak gives back to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute by taking part in vital research studies: The quarter-century-IT-professional with the federal government remembers when his doctor told him his blood pressure was a little high.

The three most important letters in the Alphabet!

NSR

For a heart patient, especially for this AfibAsian, NSR (Normal Sinus Rhythm) are the best letters in the alphabet.  On Thursday, July 18th I finally met with my electrophysiologist and received the "all clear" to proceed and exercise with higher intensity. Of course during this time to maintain a more sensical approach so I will stay the course. Thanks to "Michelle" I'm a bit bound by taking it easy and will be forced to return to active running when I'm given the all clear, but it was the best news I've had since the ankle sprain.

So next step is to just make sure I follow the doctor's orders.

As for my EP he's ok with me doing things, but when I asked about training his reply was for running to stay fit, but if I had a goal and desire to do something is train within my limits. 

For now my updates will be more about "Michelle" the diva cankle and hopefully I'll be ready for some fall running.

If most of you know me then this is a huge milestone for me.

Moving forward! Lub-dub lub-dub

Normal Sinus Rhythm

Michelle Update - Fri. July 19th

Bruising from Acupuncture and a bit of Michelle

Volunteering

Since my summer running is on Hiatus...Thanks "Michelle" I've shifted to helping Miss L to get her volunteer hours volunteering at the last couple of events.

The Cyclelogik/Hintonburg 5K and the Farm 5/15 Run.

Always fun to give back and still get to see my running friends. Best run community!

Traffic cones err volunteers

Water Station with my girls

Courtesy of Ian Hunter

Courtesy of Ian Hunter

Courtesy of Ian Hunter

Courtesy of the cankle's namesake Michelle

23, 7 Months Post Ablation & Rolled Ankle Recovery

July 6, 1996

This year Kiera and I celebrate number 23 of married life together, but at least another 10 as a couple. Some quick highlights:

• started my civil servant job 1996
• bought our first car together 1997
• Had our 1st born in 2000
• Kiera finished her masters in 2000
• bought our first house together in 2000
• Had our 2nd child in 2003
• Kiera started her civil service job in 2004
• took our 1st destination vacation in 2008
• we got our 1st fur friend forever 2009
• moved and bought our 2nd home in 2010
• many more or either on my social media since really came alive around that time my life is pretty much on the Internet or rather our lives have been shared online.

Wedding Day July 1996

Multi-Celebration selfie

So this year we did something a bit different. We wanted to go try a spa, but nothing too crazy. I know Kiera loves Le Nordik, but we've done that so many times and I've wanted to do something different so we went to Strathmere.

We did a rest and relax package and I have to say if you want to get away this place really is a gem. It's tucked away in North Gower and the food and facilities are top notch.

We had a relaxing dinner and watched the thunderstorms in the distance, but it never hit North Gower. But it did knock out the power for a moment and reset the AC so our room was super hot so we called someone to check it out and found that the AC was on, but the breaker was tripped so it was registering 26C so it took some time to cool down, but by the late evening it was fine. Next morning we had our breakfast and couples stone massage. It was amazing! The breakfast and the massage. We enjoyed our one night stay and even extended by seeing Rocketman that afternoon before we went out for dinner as a family for #23 to celebrate all our achievements.

chilling on the patio outside our room

appy tacos

free range bison burger

tuna

ice cream sandwich

Options

Sangria

Food credit

Then our breakfast and morning stone massage

Waffles

Eggs Benny

Hot Stones

Post Massage

anniversary bouquet

7 Months

Not much to report other than the usual scarring and the lack of information from my caridologist/Electrophysiologist. I don't know why they don't to see me, but I've been checking for my last Holter, but with their computer switchover I haven't seen it uploaded yet so I will have to call again and figure out what is happening.

So I've had some issues, but it could be related to the next topic

MEC Fortune Fell

From my FB post:

Today I had my first DNF! As well my 1st trail race of the season ended after 600m into the race and my foot slid in some gravel and I rolled it really bad. I was thankful for Katherine Kate Vicki and a few others. Ranya went and got some help as I hobbled to the steps of the lodge while the medics looked me over and the. I was able to walk to their tent and get ice on it. It was quite the cankle! 
I’m disappointed I couldn’t enjoy the race that I was training for and I had to bail.
The medics were fantastic. They kept me humoured with anecdotes of bone saws and amputations. Thanks 🙄
But seriously they were fantastic.
Thanks to those that stopped by to check on me and even take the obligatory injured runner photo 👌🏼 Cliff and Cindy
Huge props to Rebecca for heading to my car to grab my change of clothes and being a human crutch to take me back to my car. It was very much appreciated. ❤️
Now to swallow my pride and hope to heal quickly. It was a tough way to end what started to be a great weekend.
At least I was able to celebrate 2️⃣3️⃣ with my life partner Kiera at Strathmere for an adults only stay paired with dinner, breakfast and a hot stone massage.

Team Awesome Reunion

Fell at 660m

trying to keep the swelling down

Making light of the situation. Thanks Cindy

Of course Cliff made an appearance with a Stephen aka Bytown Boy photobomb

Nothing broken

enlarged cankle

that looks terrible

Not exactly comfortable

Now I await the main verdict that I have a long road to recovery. Stay tuned as I'm now moving from heart recovery to ankle recovery. If you're following my social media I've named my cankle "Michelle" and the boot "AC-0707"!

Canada Day Road Race - Redemption Run

2019 Canada Day Road Race

Race Report

As most of you know this race was somewhat of a milestone for me. A year ago amidst a heat and humidex advisory and a fresh diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation I had to ask the doctors to let me walk the 5K. It was a humbling experience and it's hard to imagine that the journey I went on from that point to where I am today.

I'm grateful to those that have supported me along the way and it's been tough some days, but the one constant is my motivation to move forward and keeping plugging away.

Also the day before the race I volunteered with Run Ottawa at the Stittsville Bushtukah to hand out bibs. Shona, Helen, Ron, Arij and myself had the pleasure of greeting runners. I think there were more kids running than adults. 😄

A break in the race kit pickup for a group selfie

I dragged my oldest ML to take photos as the usual official/unofficial photographer was running and wondering if I could take some, but it seemed we were both in the 10K so I said let me see if I can convince someone to do some photos. 😉😉 and she did great. She took 90% of the photos and I took over for the tot trot and the 1K.

Photos I took are here

So for 2019 not only did I want to run I also wanted to go for the 10K. Doing 5K is fine, but I was on a mission...redemption as I call it as I had something to prove. I know I'm no longer fast as I'm still not really allowed to push my heart beyond my current threshold. For now I'm in turtle mode and treated the 10K as an LSD (Long Slow Distance) pace. Mind you my first km was a bit speedy. I was at a 6:31/km pace in the first bit and my Garmin was screaming at me. So it took another 2K before I settled into my groove. It was my first time back in the old course. From what I told we ran it backwards so it was nice to tour around Kanata Lakes as there was plenty of shade and the organizers had misters out which was helpful at certain stages.

I ran with an older gentleman and as we were approaching the 2Kish mark we can hear the heavy panting of the 5K folks making their move to place in the top 3. They were flying! We both joked that there wasn't anyone our age that was running at our pace in the lead group.

Once we hit the split where the 10K went straight and the 5K turned the corner we went up towards Kanata Avenue where we hit some elevation here and there. 

For the most part my Garmin was pretty quiet and I stayed within my Z3 threshold for HR. Pace wise I was pretty conservative in the first 5K, but then I started picking up my pace again in the 2nd half. Since I had not run this course before the last 1K was tricky as it was getting to the point where there was one final hill that surprised a lot of us since it was the first time. I got a video from an IG follower whose wife was filming and just happen to hear my name so she caught a clip of me finishing.

Thanks Marie (IG:marielosesit_again) and Sara for the video.

It was a great race and well organized. It's a Canada Day tradition so far. I've done this 3 years in a row now.

Blinged

10K done 1:10

Eagle's Nest Lookout

So what does one do when you finish a 10K race? Well you drag your voluntold photographer out to Calabogie for a hike.

It was a pretty simple hike unlike Luskville Falls, but enjoyable. Also very humid. Lucky for us there was shade, but as well we managed to get in just over 4K of hiking and some elevation which was not bad at all. 

1.5k from the highway and to the sacred grounds.

Eagle's Nest Lookout

this frogger was looking for some snacks

ML checking out the views

Done!

Framing skills

A great day and of course we stopped in Arnprior for some Wes' Chips!

The rest of Canada Day was a lot of RnR! Hope you had a good one!

My Heartaversary - Flashback

June 28, 2018

One year ago I went for my first ever stress test at the Heart Institute. If you have followed this blog the full story is there, but this post is just a reminder of how far I've come.

As I head into Canada Day long weekend I wanted to reflect on the past 12 months of my journey. It has been tough, but my desire and motivation to get back pushed me to areas of my body and my mind that I haven't explored. My heart condition has definitely changed me for the better. I've had plenty of support from my family, the run community, my peers and oddly enough the community groups I've discovered on Facebook. The mind is a powerful tool, but that too needs to be taken care of so a lot of self care was done in terms of mindfulness and learning to let go of the stress (still working on that) and live in the moment. Just don't sweat the small stuff.

So as I prepare for redemption at Run Ottawa's Canada Day Road Race I've decided to push myself (carefully) and do the 10K especially since the route has moved back to Kanata Lakes where there should be some shade and hoping people in that area will be out cheering us on. Nothing inspires you more when you see everyone in their nation's colours and seeing the community come out and cheer on runners.

Here's to my 1st year and hoping the rest of 2019 will continue to see my fitness improve.

Hope to see some you out there this weekend and Happy Canada Day!

Recovery after my 1st run on the Heart Institute Tread

After the diagnosis I was compelled to fill the prescription of my blood thinners and beta blockers

Six Months Post Ablation

Six Months

It seems like i posted not too long ago since Race Weekend and there isn't much to say, but I'm slowly rebuilding and doing a lot more. However since it is now six months since my surgery it is time for another Holter Monitor!!
Cue all the scarring and skin rashes!

Ouch!

 As part of my 6 month anniversary I finally received my vanity plates!

Before

Yep I did!

Oh and when I was at the Heart Institute running late I parked illegally and so now these virgin plates have received it's first official ticket! $60 for parking illegally. I sometimes wish I had more time to park, but I should have just paid the parkade valet SMH.

So next time I head there to go and drop off my Holter I'll just circle or take my chances and park in the parkade.

Mei

Last week I received a note from Mei Ling...not my daughter but a friend I met from the Team Awesome 2018 fam and mutual friend of Becky who takes care of Shade. I had the honour of running her in on her marathon at HOTtawa! So she shared the pictures that were taken of her from Marathon Photos.

Thanks Mei for sharing them with me!