Half marathon 6 months after widowmaker
For this who need a bit of encouragement or belief I thought I'd share my story.
I'm 48 years old. I had a widowmaker last November. I was in good shape previously from hiking and runnning. My heart attack came on the way home from hiking. All my extremeties went numb at the same time and the pain was insane. I somehow still drove myself to the hospital. I got yelled at for that but I was making decisions on the fly.
Got a stent within 90 minutes or so of walking into the hospital. I was discharged about 48 hours later. At discharge my EF was 55 so somehow I escaped with fairly minor damage. Doctor said if my clot had been in a different place I'd have been dead.
I went through cardiac rehab and they encouraged me to get back to doing what I enjoyed. At first I was terrified and some of those early workouts were tough mentally and physically. We talked about my hobbies and the woman in charge of rehab said I could ski, hike, or run a half marathon again. At my followup with the cardiologist he said the same and as far as they were concerned I was under no restrictions except try to not hit my head or get injured because of the blood thinners. Also please don't train for a marathon (yet).
The first few weeks running on my own were hard. I was scared and had a few mental breakdowns. Went home crying a few times. Scraped up my hand falling on the sidewalk and bled all over the place. Finally felt back in March that I was coming around and feeling more 'normal' so I decided to sign up for our local half marathon that was almost exactly 6 months after my heart attack. I decided that since they said I could that I would.
I'd done about 15 half marathons previously but this was the hardest I've ever trained. I still knew it wasn't going to be fast. I was just going to do it and prove I could and finish. I ended up finishing in 2:45 with my family there to cheer me on. It wasn't even remotely my fastest but it didn't matter. I broke down crying a bit at the finish line. My 4 year old did some artwork on my shirt to support me.
We can still do hard things after this. It's possible. It's scary and it sucks. But get out there and try. Life isn't over. Keep pushing.
Maybe it's not a half marathon. Maybe you hate running. Doesn't matter. Go for whatever you want and do it anyway. Go live your life.