When Binalong farmer Geoff Henderson
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But a visit to his GP for a routine check-up revealed something much more frightening.
While walking the Milford Track in New Zealand early last year, the cattle and sheep farmer started feeling lethargic and did not have his usual energy levels.
"I didn't think any more of it until I went to the doctor in April just for a routine check-up and was told I had a pulse rate of 26 and within half an hour, was in an ambulance on the way to hospital," he said.
The 68-year-old discovered he was suffering from a heart condition called sinus bradycardia and had a pacemaker inserted in May last year.
"Everything prior to that, I just put down to getting old – feeling lethargic, getting a lot of cramps, feeling dizzy, just generally feeling not as well as I should have. I didn't put it down to anything specifically but when I had the pacemaker put in, my energy levels increased substantially... and just every day I just get up and live and don't hold back," he said.
Proving his pacemaker is no barrier to an active lifestyle, Mr Henderson will travel to America next month with wife Fiona to compete in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis.
He will be running the 10-mile (16 kilometre) race and beat 300 nominees from across the globe for the coveted spot.
He was one of 25 runners from 10 different countries selected by non-profit organisation Twin Cities in Motion to compete in this year's Global Heroes program. Each runner has a medical device to treat a condition such as heart disease, diabetes, spinal disorders, chronic pain or neurological disorders.
Mr Henderson has always been quite active, having played AFL until he was 32 years old and competition tennis until he was 60 years old. He also did a 16-day trek of Ama Dablam in Nepal in March.
He has used the Global Hero opportunity to highlight the need to improve health outcomes in rural and regional communities, especially for farmers.
"Being selected has given me a platform to promote rural health and the importance of farmers, who generally think they're bullet proof and healthy, to have more regular check ups at their local doctor on an annual basis," he said.
Mr Henderson said farmers tended to be very busy and never seemed to have "enough time to go get the most important thing checked which is their health".
"If I hadn't gone to get a check-up, it could have been a lot worse outcome than what I actually had," he said.
