Ziebell had always been active—so when she moved to France alone for graduate school, the gym was where she made friends. She dabbled in bootcamps, kickboxing, and rollerblading before joining aShe lined up for her second 13.1-mile race, the 2015 Paris Half Marathon, with confidence and an ambitious goal—to finish in 1:45. “I had it on my arm, on my watch, and I was constantly checking that,” she toldZiebell was on pace when—just before mile 12—she felt something click.
Confused and with her goal still in mind, she tried to get up and keep running. Medical personnel took her to the hospital instead. There, rounds of tests revealed a congenital defect in her heart—a tangled formation of her right coronary artery. She had it repaired with open-heart surgery in April, then stayed in the hospital until August, including some time in a cardiac recovery unit.
Arm pain, especially on both sides, could certainly be a sign of impending heart troubles, Martinez said. Other red flags to watch for include chest pain or tightness, passing out during exercise, or breathlessness that’s out of proportion to the pace you’re running. They’re most concerning when they’re new or different from what you usually experience, he said.
I started having heart flutters off and on and I went to see a cardiologist bc of my family history. I was treated like a hypochondriac for it. Asked if I was afraid I was going to die. They found that I was experiencing extra beats from me wearing a monitor. I was cleared to run