Every year in April, 35,000 runners crowd the streets of Paris in the annual Paris International Marathon. Farid Foroutan, a heart failure researcher, and Jeremy Kobulnik, a heart failure clinician, are training and running together with a goal to complete this year’s marathon in under 3 hour and 30 minutes. Together, they are on a mission to raise funds and awareness in support of heart disease and heart failure research, and to inspire their patients to test their limits!

“Heart failure is a common chronic disease that can affect patients of all ages and can severely impact their quality of life. Running the Paris International Marathon and raising funds is a means of advocating for them and for promoting a heart healthy lifestyle.”

-Farid Foroutan, Heart Failure Researcher
-Jeremy Kobulnik, Heart Failure Cardiologist

Read more in the Paris Marathon Blog

Read more: Heart failure team pushing their personal limits en route to Paris Marathon

I am an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and staff cardiologist at Sinai Health System and the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. My patients know that I passionately advocate for them to increase their physical activity as part of living a heart healthy lifestyle; this can be quite challenging and intimidating. Many of them know that I enjoy running, but they don’t know that I find it challenging to run in the cold and early in the morning, and I have never completed a marathon. As a tribute to the challenges my patients face and to raise awareness for heart failure, Farid and I have decided to run the Paris marathon which starts at 8:30AM (or 2:30AM Toronto time) and takes place the weekend prior to presenting heart failure research at the international heart transplant conference in France. The training requires running 80-90Km/week for 18 weeks, rain, freezing rain, snow, freezing temperatures or shine!

I am a heart failure researcher with the advanced heart failure, cardiac transplant and mechanical circulatory support program at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. Observing the extreme ends of health and disease in complex patients managed at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre is my motivation for dedicating time and effort for discoveries supporting evidence-based medicine. I am an advocate for organ donation and transplantation Swimming, biking, and running are my remedies to the stress of daily life. They are my hour or two of self-reflection and meditation. This is my second mission as part of the Test Your Limits team, although I’m certainly no stranger to its potential for inspiring!