Hiya friends, I hope you’re all well!
This post is one that I’ve been wanting to write about for a while and have not gotten around to writing……. so here we go!
Last year was a huge year for me especially with my fitness! As some of you may know, four years ago I was beyond fatigue and completely house bound at one point. Over the past year I have been pushing the old body to its limits and achieving things I didn’t believe I would be able to do again. It’s hard to imagine that at one point all I could manage was a 2 minute walk down my driveway. I’ll never forget the day I dragged myself out of the house to walk down to the beach, a 2 minute walk that would take me 10 and I got lapped by and elderly gentleman. I was heartbroken!
After four years of slowly making progress with my health through yoga, stretching, walking and seeing a exercise physiologist, I was able to make some great progress at getting my health and fitness back on track.
I was able to smash several goals of mine last year, including two major goals I had set 4 years ago. The first goal was walking my arse up to Machu Picchu via any kind of trail as well as walking up to the top of Waynua Picchu. Last July I made it to this wonderful part of the world and I ended up hiking a 17 km walk and then hiked up Waynua Pichu the next day! Oh it was soooo soooo rewarding, I may not have had tears during those moments but I felt overwhelmed with pride and achievement!
The other goal was competing and finishing City2surf, while raising money for Emerge the Australian charity for ME/CFS. For those of you that haven’t heard of City2surf, it’s only the worlds biggest fun run, where around 80,000 compete each year. The event is in Sydney, it’s a 14 km race starting from the CBD and finishing at Bondi Beach. I had only competed in the event once, which was prior to becoming unwell. Once was enough for me to want to go back for more. I had actually entered to compete the following year and that was when ME/CFS had taken over.
Well last August I competed and proudly raised $605.51 for Emerge my goal was $400! I was so stoked! On race day I headed over with my Husband, family and friends and we all took part. If you have ever competed in the event you will know that the atmosphere is just amazing! It’s a fantastic event with amazing views of Sydney. Because the event is so big it’s only natural that you will probably lose some of your party. I was lucky enough to have my brother with me the whole way. I didn’t intend on running, I hadn’t even really trained to run, but it felt right and so we ran a good chunk of the way.
Running down the last 2 km of the course was amazing, I was pinching myself, I really couldn’t believe that I was achieving this goal! There might have been a slight tear towards the finish line but again all I could feel was pride and achievement! I had made it!
Yeeeooooooooooooooooooooooooooww!!!
I hadn’t set a goal for time, all I wanted to do was make it across the finish line. The first time I had competed in Citysurf my time was 2 hours 15 minutes, this time I was actually faster! 1 hour and 57 minutes! Boom I’ll take it!
So much hard work has gone into getting myself to this point. There has been a lot sweat, tears, tantrums, aches, pains but I kept at it and never gave up!
This has shown me that if you put your mind to something anything is possible! Work hard and never give up my friends!
Lennae xxx
Lennae's World 
So inspiring! I get frustrated because every time I try to resume working out, I get sick with upper respiratory stuff over and over.
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Thank you Marya. Oh that would be very frustrating, does it happen with different types of exercise? Lennae xxx
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I know I commented on instagram about how amazing you are doing but this is truly inspiring! Such incredible work you have done – you should be so proud! Congratulations on your walk and amazing donation! Lots of love xx
findyourownhope.blogspot.com
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Thank you lovely, that is very kind of you to say. I hope you are having a great week. Lennae xxx
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Hi Lennae,
My name is Isabelle and I have a 16 year old daughter who has been ill with cfs/me for three years now. I am watching the spark in her struggle since the illness has wrought havoc with her schooling, social life, etc, and I am interested in more specifically how you got to the point of being able to fulfill some of your dreams -yoga, walking etc, as maybe it could shine a light for her in some way?
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Hi Isabelle, thank you for your message. I’m sorry to hear that your daughter has been struggling with ME/CFS it is such a horrible illness and to experience it during her teenage years is awful. I wish I could give you a simple answer with how I got my health back but it was a lot of things and factors that played a role. My Doctor was very good and supportive which helps a lot, I seeked a holistic approach and found a Naturopath that was able to help me with my diet to eat healthier and supplied me with herbs and supplements rather than use medications. I found a wonderful group of people on Instagram that all suffered with a similar illness to mine or had ME/CFS. It was a way I could meet people and feel social, but at the same time I could chat to them about everything and they would understand. As hard as it was to exercise my doctor referred me to an exercise physiologist. I didn’t understand why at first, I could hardly move. We started off by lifting tinned tomatoes as weights and a 2 minute walk, from there I worked my way back that way. One other thing that I found was helpful, was that I cut out pictures of all the things that I wanted to do and wished I was doing and stuck them on a board. They were my goals and I put this board somewhere where I would see it every day, so when ever I would feel low I would see the board and it would help me focus. I also put up quotes all round my bedroom, so when I woke up each morning I would see them. I hope some of these suggestions help and I hope your daughter starts having better days ahead.
Lennae xxx
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