Down by the River

One of the difficult things about CFS/ME is it’s very difficult to stay fit. In fact when your health is below a certain level it’s impossible. You just don’t have any energy to spare for exercise. It’s getting used up on much more basic everyday tasks.

Two years ago we got our dog Walter. At the time he was a puppy and I hoped that as Walter grew up and could walk further I would get stronger and be able to walk further too. Unfortunately that didn’t go to plan, because as Walter inevitably grew I deteriorated. However, two years later I feel ready to start improving my fitness levels more seriously.

I have been gradually improving them for the best part of a year now, and Walter and I have a little circular walk we do through our village. As the months have gone by I’m gradually extended it as my strength has improved. The circuit started out as just over a kilometre and then I expanded it to about two and three quarter kilometres. Last week I suddenly realised that a path along the river that has been closed for a long time had reopened and would be a perfect opportunity to expand my route and give Walter a new and hopefully interesting outing.  It also increased the circuit to three and a quarter kilometres and included several hills. So last week I tried it for the first time. I did cut it a bit short as I felt I was pushing my luck, but we did it again this week and I did the whole circuit.

Walter loved it. The day after we first did it I was only able to do a shorter version for our walk, but Walter really wanted to cross over the road and go down to the river. He stood by the crossing and whined, and looked at me and back over the road and whined some more. Never has he expressed such a desire to do a particular walk. On that occasion I had to say no, but we did it again yesterday, and he trotted eagerly over the road and we went down to the river. He had to stick his nose into everything. Obviously there are lots of new and exciting smells by the river.

Eventually I hope I can link this walk up with another one I do along the canal, which at the moment requires a trip in the car. But it’s something I need to build up gradually.

So why the sudden obsession with fitness? Well apart from the fact that I need to build up some physical strength, my husband and I are hoping to make a trip to the Lake District later in the year and I really want to be able to do a bit of walking. In my pre-CFS/ME life we did a lot of walking in the Lake District. In fact when I first got CFS/ME I said I would know I was better when I could walk up Skiddaw again (a very steep walk). Well, I don’t think Skiddaw is on the cards this year, but I’m hoping I might manage some shorter and less demanding walks in the fells.