The finishing line was in sight ! The Stow half marathon had been a target 49 year old Alice had been working towards for the last 6 months, and here she was, only half a mile from the finishing line.
She had been aware of the nagging chest pain for the last few minutes, but she put it down to being a combination exhaustion and trapped wind. Bananas had always given her indigestion, and she had eaten three in the last hour, a popular strategy amongst long distance runners to boost their glycogen stores during high-intensity exercise. The added benefit of the potassium in bananas helping to reduce muscle cramps and stave off fatigue during a run was, of course, always useful !
Suddenly, the chest pains became intense, taking her breath away, and bringing her to an abrupt halt against the barriers at the side of the route. She collapsed to the ground clutching her chest, and was aware of the pain spreading down her left arm, and a strange tingling in her jaw.
She was aware of someone crouching beside her, their yellow hi-viz vest indicating their official capacity within the organisation who had organised the event. It was, she thought, ironic that the event was a fund raiser for the 'Heart Healthy Greens' charity, a charity promoting vegetables as a means of maintaining a healthy ticker. "This," she thought, "might look quite bad on tonight's Borders News ... 'runner in a healthy heart half marathon dies of a heart attack'".
It was indeed a heart attack, she recognised the symptoms, and said so to her hi-viz wearing saviour.