In 2019, life reached a breaking point. Severe heart failure had dropped heart function to an ejection fraction of 20%, and there was no real exercise base to fall back on.
The rebuild did not begin with a dramatic finish line. It began with smaller choices: walking more, paying attention, learning what effort felt like, and slowly turning health from an emergency into something that could be worked on.
Over time, that work became running, cycling, trail efforts, camping, and bigger outdoor goals. The numbers changed too: heart function improved, fitness returned, and the training log started becoming proof that progress can be quiet and still be real.
Stronger Each Step exists to keep that record honest. Garmin stores the raw effort. This site adds the story around it: what the run felt like, what changed, what was hard, what improved, and why another ordinary session still mattered.