‘It was so debilitating and off-the-wall in how it changed my life’

In June 1983, 32-year-old Patricia Horgan from Dublin strolled into Penneys department store and bought a pair of runners for £1.99. They had no shoelaces – just an elastic strap across the front. She was preparing to run in the first ever Flora Women's Mini Marathon.

At the time, long-distance running for women was frowned upon and it was virtually unknown for women to train in public in the towns and cities of Ireland.

Some 31 years later, 63-year-old Horgan is preparing for her 32nd mini marathon. She has competed in every race since its inception and despite major health problems in recent years; she is determined to continue the trend on Monday.

Irregular heartbeat

In 2008, Horgan had been feeling unwell for a number of months when her health deteriorated during an August holiday in Spain. “I had been suffering with what I thought was vertigo,” she says. “I felt really really rotten and thought I was in some sort of trouble. I didn’t think it was my heart but I had had an irregular heartbeat for about six months before that.

“When they did the cardiograph, the doctor said I couldn’t go home and that they were going to keep me in. The doctor then came back to me and said my heart was fluctuating an awful lot and that they were going to have to put a pacemaker in.”

Pacemaker

After the procedure to have the pacemaker fitted, Horgan was preparing to fly home when she began to feel ill once again.

“I was due to go home three days afterwards when my husband came in and noticed my blood pressure was fluctuating. I had terrible pain in my back and was gasping for breath a lot. I went back to hospital and it turned out they had slit the top of my lung during the procedure and hadn’t realised it.

“My lungs weren’t filling up properly so they had to put tubes in but they didn’t work. They put a tracheostomy tube into my side to try and drain the blood from my lung but that didn’t work. After about two weeks of being really ill they said they would have to take my lung out and sew it up before putting it back in.

“My husband said no to that so they put some membrane on it and it took after about 24 hours.”

Three months

Horgan was in hospital for about five weeks and was forbidden to fly for a further six weeks after discharge – meaning her stay in Spain lasted almost three months. She says she came out of hospital in October and decided she was “going to get over that line in June even if it meant crawling”.

A number of weeks later, while she was having tests done, doctors told Horgan she had a thyroid problem and that this had been the cause of her rapid heart rate in the months before her trip to Spain.

“They monitored me for about a year and did three different biopsies. They said they were going to have to take my thyroid out – and that was absolutely horrendous. It was almost worse than what happened in Spain because it was so debilitating and off-the-wall in how it changed my life.”

Horgan says that in order to prepare for the mini marathon with the added strain of her health issues, she begins training a couple of months earlier than other runners.

“I still push myself because it’s a great goal,” she says.

“The training is manageable. I’m not trying to win the thing and I’m grateful to have my health and be able to compete.”

She says she hopes to complete the 10km race in about 70 minutes.

“I take my time until I get over the bridge at UCD. The toughest part is the first two or three miles. The crowd along the way gives you a great boost and all the women encourage each other.

‘Indescribable’

“When you get to Donnybrook you realise you’ve enough in the tank because the crowds are just fantastic. The camaraderie and the numbers of women of all shapes and sizes with every level of fitness is indescribable – I wouldn’t miss it.”