A MARATHON-loving postie is set to run again in the race which almost killed him.
Graham Barnett, who delivers mail to homes in Hadley Wood, was technically dead for three minutes after collapsing at the London Marathon in 2006, six miles from the finish.
No one would blame Graham, 59, for hanging up his running shoes, but he keeps on going – next month’s race will be his 27th marathon. “Running a marathon is a mental thing,” he said. “And I am a bit mental! You have to be slightly unhinged to do it.”
Graham, of East Barnet Road, who is a member of the Barnet and District Athletics Club member, used to weigh 16 stone and smoked 40 a day.
In 1987, a friend bet Graham he couldn’t run 26 miles. He did in 1988 and was running three marathons every year after that, with 50 half-marathons and countless 10k races.
But in 2006, without warning, Graham collapsed, suffered a heart attack and went to hospital.
“I like to joke that I ran the first 20 miles in two hours and did the last six at 80mph,” he said.
Doctors performed keyhole surgery through to one of his heart’s main arteries – which was 100 per cent blocked.
A postman for 26 years, Graham walks seven miles a day on his round. “If I hadn’t had the heart attack in the marathon, I think I would have died,” he said. “If I was on my round, I could’ve fallen into a ditch and that would’ve been it.
“I think I have cheated death. It totally changes your perspective on life.”
Graham is appealing for people to sponsor him for this year’s marathon, which he is running for inclusive theatre company Chickenshed, in Chase Side, Southgate. “I think what they do is brilliant,” said Graham.
Susan Jamson, press and communications manager at Chickenshed, said: “We are thrilled that Graham is going to run for us.” The company needs £3.5million a year to stay afloat.
Graham has run one other marathon since his heart attack when a friend ran alongside him all the way in 2010 – but this year he’s going it alone. “At 22 miles, it’s the crowd that get you through,” said Graham. “The hairs on the back of your neck stand up.”
Graham won’t be doing a marathon next year, but still hopes to run the New York Marathon before he retires from running.
“I still run because I enjoy it,” he added. “When you think about problems in your life, they just don’t seem as bad.
“But you’ve got to detach your brain from your body. If you ran with your brain, you’d only run a couple of miles!”
Get in touch with Chickenshed on 020 8351 6161 to sponsor Graham.
Indeed, it is. 