by Ellie Gay

Prior to my spinal cord injury, I wasn’t a very active person at all, except for my job. It was an eclectic little business in our rural country town of Yea – combining a mechanic workshop, the local RACV depot and a Stihl shop – I was always running around getting things done, and I loved it. I was a smoker and a social drinker and loved partying with my friends. ‘Gym’ was a name for a person, not a place that I ever stepped foot into, or ever thought that I would.

After my SCI, I committed myself to my rehab, to become the best version of me that I could be. I worked with two Physiotherapists and an Exercise Physiologist, as well as participating online with Dance & Roll on a weekly basis. I will give massive credit to my three allied health professionals, who, with patience beyond their years, encouraged me to try and incorporate more movement into my everyday life.

This penny never seemed to drop with me, as I would always find something less physical to do – it just didn’t come naturally to me. I would always take a stretch over a physical activity. I bought a boxing pad to stick on the wall, a weight machine, TheraBands and weights. Recently I even put totem tennis in my loungeroom. They all look great, and I see them every day, but just seem to sail on past on my way to do something else.

One year after my SCI I re-entered the workforce, and I have done three different jobs. The first job was working from home for a disability support service, but after nine months I realised that I needed to be around people. I was lucky enough to be asked to work at our local Bendigo Bank, which I did for 14 months, and it was great to be around the locals again that I had first met working at the Mechanic place in town, but it still just wasn’t the right fit.

Then my Exercise Physiologist jokingly asked me on a few occasions whether I’d be his receptionist, as he was about to go out on his own and open up a new business. So, I decided to give it a go and my goodness has this been the best decision ever, as I get to meet people from all walks of life who want to feel better, be stronger and have a sense of purpose. I love dealing with each and every person as I become a small part of their journey.

When my NDIS plan came up for renewal they cut Exercise Physiology out of my plan, and then slowly my funding made me cut out my original Physiotherapist, and then I had to cut down to only group sessions with my local physio.

All of these events have been a blessing in disguise, because as all of these physical sessions were being removed and reduced it became very clear that I would need to get on the exercise wagon for myself.
So, when my local physio put up a post on their Facebook page and issued a 100km challenge – and said that you could walk, run or push your wheelchair – I knew that she was directing the idea straight to me, as I’m one of only two wheelchair users she works with.

It piqued my interest enough for me to call the receptionist and ask her what this would look like – how many kms a day I would need to do, and how long that would take me. Once we broke it down to 3.5kms per day and roughly 30-40 mins, I decided that I could make all the excuses in the world to not do it… or… I could say Yes and give it a go. I downloaded the Strava App and created a profile and joined the group – there are 93 people in our little town doing the 100km challenge.

I live in rural Victoria, about six minutes out of town. Initially I thought I would have to drive into town to wheel around the streets – which to be honest are not at all wheelchair friendly – and I also have an amazing ability to stop and talk to anyone and everyone, so I needed to come up with another plan to make this work.

Luckily, I live off a sealed section of a quietish country road, so I decided to do the majority of this challenge by rolling out my front door, up our gravel driveway and onto our road. Don’t get me wrong, I have actually met new people that I didn’t know who live on our road, but I just have to remember to pause the App, have a chat, and then resume my wheeling.

This has been an uplifting experience. Some days I am racing the cows that love to follow me in the neighbour’s paddock, I watch the sunset, I smell the fresh country air, feel the breeze in my hair and the warmth of the sun on my skin. When I get to the end of my push I am uplifted. To say this may become addictive is an understatement, I now am averaging 4km a day as I keep pushing to the next tree or the next shadow on the road to increase my kms.

Pre SCI, I would never in my wildest dreams envisage doing the array of fabulous and meaningful things I am doing now. I am a Peer Coach for AQA’s upcoming personal development course, Unleashing your Potential, where I’ll be supporting participants as they work towards their goals. I’ve also started training as a Peer Facilitator for group skill and capacity building sessions, and I hope to become a Peer Mentor down the track, to support people in rehab.

I do public speaking for a myriad of different clubs, groups and schools from time to time too. To say I have found my calling in life feels amazing. To go from something so huge that has happened in my life, to what I am engaging in now. Life is a wonderful thing and I am grabbing it with both hands… hmmm, I wonder what’s next.

Ellie’s advice for tackling your own distance chalenge:

Find or create a group
To find out if there are similar distance challenges in your area, you could try connecting with your local exercise physiologist, physio, or gym. I know our little town has a Mothers Day marathon coming up. But if you can’t find anything, start something and recruit some friends or locals!

Get the app
On the Strava App you can create your own group and invite others to join, or join other groups. This is great for tracking your progress, creating accountability, and getting encouragement from others in your group – you send each other a thumbs up, messages and photos.