Lisa Vowles shares her inspiring story of conquering a massive physical challenge with MS

Now she is conquering the ultimate physical challenge, running the furthest she has ever run in her life.

Ms Vowles has run 18 races in 18 months, an achievement that was showcased on national reality television show This Time Next Year on Monday night.

Making the pledge to learn to run 5km on national television changed her attitude to living with nervous system condition MS.

"I used to say I can't do that because I have MS. Now I say I am going to do that because I have MS," she said.

"You flip it around and it is an amazing feeling."

Ms Vowles had experienced extreme fatigue and numb fingers for five years leading up to her diagnosis.

In 2013 her condition deteriorated; she suffered chronic fatigue, experienced memory problems, was more clumsy and at the end of the year suddenly lost all control of the right side of her body.

She was diagnosed with MS in 2014 after an MRI, the same time she had just re-married, her young twins had started primary school, her eldest was in secondary school and she had just completed seven years of part time study to become a secondary school teacher.

"From that day onwards my world completely crumbled around me. I felt like a big part of me had died," she said.

"I sunk into a very deep state of depression and anxiety. I hated everything that year. I didn't want to be at my kid's schools, I didn't want to go down the street, I didn't want to go to family functions or parties and I didn't even want to celebrate my own 40th birthday.

"I was a very angry person and I was stuck in a horrible stage of grief for about two or three years.

"I had to find a new normal."

Ms Vowles said joining a gym in 2016 began to shift her mindset.

She had begun watching the series This Time Next Year on television and an experience during a holiday in South Australia was when her focus on running began.

"Almost two years to the date I was walking along the beach in Port Lincoln. It was a beautiful sunset and there were people running in different directions. I looked at them and wondered 'where were they running to, where were they escaping to, where was their mind taking them?'," she said.

"Something just took over me. I had a real Forrest Gump moment and just felt like running. I started running along the beach, ran up the pier, stood at the end of the pier and ran back up the beach toward the hotel. It was probably only a kilometre but I was exhausted.

"I got home and watched the last episode of the last season of This Time Next Year. We sat around as a family and asked 'if you were on the show what would your pledge be?' I said to my family I wanted to learn how to run. It just came out, just naturally. Two days later I applied to go on to the next series."

Watch the promotion video for Monday's episode of This Time Next Year below.

In February 2018 Ms Vowles began her journey to achieve her pledge of running 5km. In June she ran 5km in the MS Run in Melbourne with training help from her fitness coach Jake Thompson at Sean Weir Fitness.

"In that training time I had some really crap days where I was fatigued and in pain. I partially dislocated my knee when I had a fall and wasn't allowed to run for six weeks," she said.

"People think 'how can you run when you struggle with chronic fatigue and sometimes can't walk in a straight line?' The answer is you have to find a way.

"After I did my first run that was the moment where I said I can accept MS now, because if I can get to the end of a really hard run and still survive, I can conquer anything. And I have."

Ms Vowles said all of her symptoms flared on the day of her first run; an intense heat in her right arm, buzzing hands, pain in her head from the piercing sun and she swayed from side to side, supported by her daughter and husband on either side to manoeuvre her around the course.

"Having this goal has improved my mental health. If you don't have strong mental health you are not going to be able to look after your body," she said.

"Having this goal meant that I could do anything. I never thought in a million years I would be the sort of person who says 'I want to go for a run'."

Ms Vowles is now working to complete five more runs before the end of the year, mostly 10km in length. She is aiming to complete longer runs interstate and possibly overseas, with an ultimate dream of running the Great Wall of China.

Her most memorable runs so far include Run For A Cause with her family in Ballarat last year.

The Mother's Day Classic around Lake Wendouree this year was the first time she had run the lake since 16-years-old. She said one of the most special things she had ever done was to run 10km around Uluru on a family holiday.

Long-term, Ms Vowles will continue to keep as physically and mentally healthy as she can to manage the MS, an unpredictable condition that varies for every person.

"There is so much to look forward to. That feeling when you cross over the finish line. It is so worth it," she said.

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