“I’m coming, put on your sneakers! “Five days a week, Gwendoline Galeotti hears about these words from her husband. Little Lyvio (2 years old) will soon have to leave his mother alone, it’s almost time to go running. A habit that this resident of Woustviller (Moselle) has taken for a good decade and from which she rarely deviates. “Even when it’s cold,” laughs the 30-year-old (36). “It has clearly become a drug. When I can’t go on vacation, it hurts me! »
The daily life of many French athletes? Yes, maybe, with one small exception: rare are those who are affected by ankylosing spondylitis. A chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the joints. Lorraine has suffered from it since she was 18 years old.
“It came like that, one day, when I saw that my wrist was swollen and I couldn’t move it anymore,” she recalls. “I was thinking of a mosquito bite except that my toes started to look like knackis and the next day, the knees and elbows were also affected…” Gwendoline Galeotti was taken care of “rather quickly” in a hospital in Metz, where “they immediately understood what it was about”. “I stayed there for a week for tests, infiltrations, punctures etc. “, she completes, not without reviving some painful memories. But it also transforms it in its approach to physical activity…
“I was so afraid of not being able to walk anymore…”
“I was immobilized in my bed looking at people outside and telling myself that they were lucky to be moving. I was so afraid of not being able to walk anymore that it clicked: I started exercising right after! “At first slowly, for a few hikes, then “at the gym”. Until finding a much greater pleasure in running. “I started when I was 24 or 25, alone, outside. I need to feel my body, the sun, the wind… I listen to music at the same time, I think of lots of things, I love it! laughs the one who works as a medico-phychological aid with autistic children.
It has to be said: the pleasure is not always there during these outings “along the Saar, or near the ponds, especially on the road”. The disease has certainly been distanced but sometimes returns in a sprint. “I have infiltrations every two weeks to prevent it from swelling again and two days before, the pain comes back with great fatigue. The bites are also very painful and since the treatment is immunosuppressive, my immune system is weakened. So I grab a bit of everything that’s lying around and am often sick. In addition, I have asthma, it often burns my lungs. It’s a bit hard for training. »
But not enough to make her give up. For the past few weeks, she has been preparing for the Paris marathon, scheduled for April 2. It will be his third time on the queen distance, after two editions in Metz in 2018 and 2022. “I hope to do better than my 3h59 and 4h05, I registered in the 3h45 start lock”, announces the Mosellane, delighted to take part in such an event. “It’s one of my dreams… It’s going to be incredible with the atmosphere, the people, I get chills. My spouse and the little one will be there. To experience new great moments. “Crossing the line is a victory for my body and one of the most beautiful emotions I have felt in my life,” concludes Gwendoline Galeotti.