My name is Dr Aisling Hillary, I am an A&E doctor and one of the medical team involved with the Green Hearts Campaign. I was the 2015 London Rose of Tralee, and have thoroughly enjoyed getting involved with the Irish community in London over the last few years.
I have decided to run the Kew Gardens 10K for Green Hearts this year because I have seen the great work they are doing in trying to promote and improve the health of the Irish Community in Britain.
They are also gathering important data to ensure we can use this to further develop national programmes that will improve the lives of the Irish community Britain.
It is in our culture to adopt the attitude of ‘it’ll be grand’ and unfortunately we use this phrase all too often, even when it comes to our health.
The Green Hearts campaign is trying to appreciate the importance of our Irish culture, while trying to tweak our behaviours and lifestyles somewhat by highlighting the importance of heart health and how to go about improving our heart health.
Like all charities, to continue doing their great work they need funding and that is why a group of us are running together to try to raise awareness about and funds for the Green Hearts Campaign which is an initiative that was started by the Irish in Britain Charity.
To get prepared for this run, I started trying to get generally fit by doing a workout DVD at home.
It is a 20 minute workout in the comfort of my home and it suits my routine as an A&E Doctor working a lot of shift work which can make it hard to get to the gym.
Previously when I was training to run I was using the couch to 10K app which I found very helpful in preparing me for running longer distances.
I have no doubt that the 10K run will be a challenge, but I am excited to be running it for a great cause, to be ‘giving my heart some love’ and to be doing it with a great team of other excited runners as we raise awareness of the importance of looking after our health!