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!

Sponsoring My Charity As Part of Ironman

Hello, Friends! It is that time of the year where I race another Ironman triathlon and raise funds for charity. I am supporting the same charity as 2010, and it is for kids stricken with cystic fibrosis. This charity provides resources for these brave and positive children to exercise and breathe better and naturally. I certainly hope that you can assist us in our collective cause. Breathe Life Fully! 

My fund-raising page ‘Iron-Team Varella’ is up. I am supporting Breath4CF, part of the New Zealand Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. My mathematics is simple: 100 multiplied by $30 each or 300 times $10, will do the delightful and meaningful deed. Or will Pareto Law persist? Let us see if we can budge paradigms and social phenomenon.

Thanks to David Chambers, from NZ, who reminded me to consider this initiative we did in 2010. Back then I closed with a whopping NZ$2,083.00, and David did better. Both of us got to meet the charity organizers and the kids after the race – it was a touching moment to meet both parents and children of CF. My target this year is NZ$3,000.00. I hope to raise funds as close to this amount. I would deeply appreciate your participation and involvement in this cause. I than YOU in advance for donating or spreading the word!

It feels good to do something helpful and useful for others. I am fortunate that I can enjoy a lifestyle that includes endurance sports. Children stricken by cystic fibrosis have difficulty in breathing because the experience large buildup of phlegm in their lungs. Exercise discharges this fluid and allows the kids to enjoy their childhood and stay alive. In this case, exercise can sustain lives!

*****

After a tumultuous week wrestling with a second bout of flu, and a sprained lower back I managed to complete my sessions. I skipped Thursday as I was quite knackered and my lumbar region was making it hard for me to ride the double sessions. Yesterday, I swam with my group in the open-water lagoon, followed by a short run. After Friday evening’s 2-hour long run intervals in the evening, I crossed the 'imaginary finish-line' in third after two tough-working veteran runners, Jimmy and Vincent. It was a fun way to cap the week's training commitment.

Total training time this week: 11.0 hours (3 sessions for each discipline)

Leadership by Charity

‘It is better to give than receive.’

This morning, I decided to sign up for yet another charity cause. In the Ironman Korea 2006 edition, I raised about US$400 for Standard Chartered Bank’s Save A Sight charity initiative. I was delighted that I had enthusiastic supporters who nudged this process along for me.

Sometimes, it just feels naturally good to do something beneficial for others. There are many values we can activate from being charitable. These include generosity of spirit, abundance, care, consideration, recognition, passion, trust, faith, choice, wellbeing, choice and collaboration. Each value connects with another, and they can be combined to create even stronger and robust values. That is why values can be spread, promulgated, propagated and acquired.

Acts of kindness are about being thoughtful. When someone says to you: ‘It’s the thought that counts!’ it means that you have expressed values that are considered thoughtful. Fundraising has always been a popular way of expressing our values that assist others to live better quality lives.

When you select the Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand as your charity to fundraise for, you can be sure that every single dollar you raise will be used to ensure people with Cystic Fibrosis lead a physically active life, something that is essential to preserve their lungs.

Children affected by Cystic Fibrosis need all the help they can to breath easier. Breath4CF was established to help families meet the cost of their children's physical activity needs and to ensure that their quality of life is enhanced and prolonged. Breath4CF grants funds to people with CF for gym memberships, entry fees, lessons, sports equipment etc, in fact Breath4CF will help towards any physical activity for a person with Cystic Fibrosis, that produces a health benefit.

If you would like to make sponsor my charity for the Ironman New Zealand race, please do so at my fundraising web page.

Already, Terence Ng has pledged $1 for each kilometre I complete in the swim, ride and run. The children thank him for his $226 [wink]. Thank you for reading.