Driving to Ireland today for some guiding work, very excited but also feeling slightly nervous

This is a very new feeling for me. You know how much I love heading over to Ireland for my guiding work or fishing and photography and so on, but this is the first time I have ever gone there with a slightly nervous feeling as well as all the usual excitement. I’m not worried about getting another heart attack or anything like that, but the fact is that I don’t quite know yet how much I will be able to keep going and going with the long days we do out there…………..

It’s really boring but I have to be sensible if I am going to get back to better than full strength. I am currently doing three 5k runs a week at a pace which keeps me just about around the average heart rates my physiologist has allowed me to increase to, plus I am doing loads of dog walks as per usual, and for the most part I am fishing like I did before my heart attack. Once a week I also have a nicely physical online heart rehab class where I always do the harder rather than easier exercises, so basically I am doing a load of exercise, I am losing more weight, I am eating well, and I am feeling really good.

But from time to time I get a bit knackered and there isn’t much I can do about it other than be sensible and go to bed relatively early because I always wake up early anyway, or during the day I might need to sit down for a bit and read a book or something like that. I love my guiding work that I do with John Quinan over in Kerry, but the simple fact is that I might sometimes need to pull back for a while and recover on this trip. It’s a bit of an unknown for me which is why I feel a bit nervous. In the hospital they wanted to sign me off work for a pretty long time, but I said that I was self-employed so it wasn’t going to happen. I don’t enjoy doing nothing but I do know how lucky I am to still be here and I’d like to be around for a while longer if at all possible.

So I am driving to Kerry today with every single intention to do as much as I possibly can - but I need to be sensible, and sensible was never my middle name. I know that our clients will understand if I need to pull back at times, indeed a rest from me and my overexcitement will do them no harm anyway! I don’t want to let anybody down and I really want to go and do my work which I love so much. On the one hand I think I should be absolutely fine, but a part of me knows that it’s unlikely I will be able to maintain my usual pace over there. I am doing well but I owe it to my family to not be a tit and set myself back. I will do all I can to keep you updated when I am over, really looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning in Kerry and getting on with it. You can call me Captain Sensible!