It was a day like any other six years ago when Richard Day completed his regular 20km run around Richmond Park.

But on this occasion something was wrong.

His heart stopped and he went into cardiac arrest.

Luckily for him though, his wife was on hand to save his life.

"I can’t express enough how grateful I am to my wife Wendy, who learnt CPR many years ago, and the paramedics who managed to revive me – they are the reason why I’m here today," Richard said.

"I’m also thankful for the British Heart Foundation’s research, which has helped pioneer some of the life saving techniques that were used on me.

“There are still times where I can’t quite believe I’m alive. It took a long time to recover, but I was determined to run again."

And run he will.

He has signed himself up to take part in the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon to raise money towards the BHF’s research into heart and circulatory disease.

“Running makes you tune in to yourself and nature," he said.

"When I run now, I am very aware that I came close to never seeing the wonders of the outdoors again.

"My cardiac arrest has made me reassess life. As a family, we have started doing things that we put off or hadn’t done in a long time, like visit my family in my birth-country of Canada.

“If I think about my cardiac arrest too much, it’s easy to get weighed down and weirded out by the enormity of what happened, so I just appreciate my second chance at life and do my best to make the most of it.”

To view Richard's Justgiving page, click here.