Breathing Well In the Dragon Year

Happy Lunar New Year in the Year of the Dragon!

Here is a story to warm your cockles, and even inspire you. It comes from my charity of choice for Ironman New Zealand. Fund-raisers get a t-shirt of participation, and get to meet staff of Breath4CF and the CF children and families. One of the athletes is attempting to get his racing-top signed by all the kids there.

‘Here at CFANZ we had a huge success for one of our young people with CF – Kristy Purton, who despite her condition is a fitness FREAK and who has tried several times to do a half ironman but her health has always got in the way. Well, late last year, Kristy finally cracked the Tauranga and Taupo Half-Ironman – an achievement we are all so HUGELY proud of her for. I wanted to share with you Kristy’s email to me letting me know what she’d done. Should give you all a bit of TRUE inspiration for the weeks ahead. As the CEO, I get to see bravery each and every day of a kind that most of us can only dream of – it makes me very thankful for healthy lungs and a full life.’

Kristy wrote:

‘Hey Kate,

I, finally, managed to enter and finish not just the one Half-Ironman, but two: one Taupo, then on Saturday the one in Tauranga. I was on IV antibiotics on the day of Taupo, so was at my best and felt healthy. I so enjoyed that one the most, although the course was harder than Tauranga. In Tauranga, I was full of flu few days before event which turned my chest nasty, have some nasty bug, huge temps and spit balls of blood, so was only going to attempt the swim, but after I started I thought I would give it my best and I somehow finished it. Wahooo! But am paying the price now, booked into hospital on Thursday, managing my diabetes was a mission during the Tauranga one to.

But I am so happy I have my two medals, mark them off the bucket-list, and just the full Ironman to go! LOL. The lady with me holding my medal is my coach. Without her, I wouldn't have stood a chance. She came to all my appointments and got my diet and diabetes and everything so sorted; and came training with me, and put in so much of her time.

You must be getting all organized for Ironman coming up, can't wait to watch that again.

Cheers

Kristie’

If you would like to make a donation, feel free to do so at our page: Ironman-Team Varella. All donations go straight to the Breath4CF and the Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand. My thanks to you for reading and donating. We are two-thirds there to our initial target!