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so so you get back home and you're recovering and you're adapting to life
00:00:03
and I guess you're still adapting to life now like with day-to-day challenges
00:00:06
that pop up but when do you get the idea to um like embark on a sporting career well like I say I I've always dabbled in
00:00:14
some sports so it was about okay where do we go from here and I thought you know I want to make this a New Journey
00:00:22
so I thought let's do something radical some people might call it stupid Dom but I thought let's find find a
00:00:30
sport and do something so instead of just aiming for something small I thought I'm going to aim for something
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big so I thought right I'm going to try to get into a New Zealand team um in a sport that would have to
00:00:44
challenge me so like I say said before I've dabbled in a bit of running and I've dabbled in a bit of cycling but I
00:00:51
hate swimming with a passion absolutely Lo it um so I thought probably for one because I have to keep my mouth shut to
00:00:59
I so so I thought let's try Triathlon um so you know there was all these things and these challenges and I
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knew swimming was going to be my challenge obviously you know I didn't know if I was going to sink swim or go
00:01:14
in circles mate you know um so I just jumped into that challenge so literally a month to the day of having Stumpy
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removed we went to Hawks Bay I didn't want to do it at home I wanted to be out
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of my surroundings and just be somewhere where I felt that nobody was looking why
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because it was the first time I was going to be in public and be exposed you know for one woman and TOS are you know
00:01:43
it's not something we like to do L alone with half a wng right but for for anyone
00:01:49
that's listening to this that doesn't know that area of New Zealand like
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you're talking like a two-hour road trip that's like from Fielding to Haw Bay
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it's a couple of hours it's a a long way go for half an hour in the pool but I
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knew there was a good pool there and I knew it was it was going to be quiet at that sort of time so so way we trudgeon
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and we decided it was going to be for a weekend away as well you know okay okay so um yeah way we trudgeon um Owen comes
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into the pool with me I stripped down um I got my goggles and I hopped in the pool and I was like how the freak am I
00:02:23
going to put these bloody goggles on there was another new challenge straight away see what I mean are things like
00:02:30
that every day that you would so the first thing I done was I got my goggles I stuck the strap over my nose and I
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pulled it back and I looked like Miss Piggy with my nose and the Flaming ear but I pulled the strap back and then I
00:02:41
was able to adjust my goggles yeah yeah and it was like there's a challenge who
00:02:47
else has tried to do that you know um and I and I overcame that challenge so the next thing was to see if we could
00:02:55
swim now I had no flaming idea Dom how I was going to go M had no idea had no idea how Stumpy was going to react to
00:03:04
being put in water yeah yeah I'm just trying to yeah yeah yeah you know all these things um
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that people probably just take for granted but it was all new for me and hence why I wanted to be in a
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surroundings where nobody knew me so that I could just give it a go if I floundered if I sunk if I went in
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circles nobody was going to see me that I knew so yeah I just I said to ow film this this is going to be
00:03:32
interesting so um he got my camera ready and away I went I just instantly went under the water pushed off the edge um
00:03:41
propelled this my right arm over and I propelled forward threw Stumpy over and I felt like I went flaming nowhere
00:03:49
because there was nothing there to pull back you know um but I just kept swimming with this arm and so were you
00:03:57
going were you going straight or were you sort of veering well yeah yeah you were going straight I didn't feel like I
00:04:03
was but but yeah when I watched the video cuz I concentrated on that bloody black line you know that's always in the
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pool um and so obviously my core was doing a bit of work but we got to the other end mate and I just came out from
00:04:19
under that water and once again it was just a massive smile it was like yes you know I've done that so yes here comes
00:04:27
the journey I know I can swim where do we go from here how do I improve um how do I include these three disciplines
00:04:35
into one um to make this journey happen and that's where it started though that's exactly where it started exactly
00:04:43
a month of the day after meeting Stumpy how you guys have got kids he how old are you kids Owen's got Owen's got kids
00:04:50
and I've got one um yeah that the young well 34 now so they're all growing up so
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they're all gone you know doing their what do what do they make of um everything um honesty they don't treat
00:05:04
me any different yeah yeah no but they must be [ __ ] proud um I hope they are yeah I hope they are yeah um is it not
00:05:12
not a convers not a conversation I've said it's not a conversation of gr up is
00:05:17
that just sort of your your family you know don't like to talk about myself I
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really don't really don't feel comfortable talking about my achievements because I do it for me and
00:05:27
I do it for Owen I want him to be proud of me um yes I'd like um ow I think Owen's family is proud of me I don't
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know I don't I I as I say it's not a conversation I like to yeah hey are you
00:05:41
happy with what I'm doing are you proud of me you know that's not something I
00:05:45
you no and it shouldn't be your job to say that but I I feel like to show to
00:05:49
show such courage and strength and such adversity I feel like that's something
00:05:53
that Warren saying to someone you care about hey I'm really I'm really proud of
00:05:57
you I know um Owen's son's son which is Owen's grandson Josh I know he's proud of me we text quite regularly
00:06:05
they live in Australia and Josh is one that you know I'm proud of he's done
00:06:10
well in rugby so I think it's through the sport that we connect you know and
00:06:16
and he he'll quite often text and say you know I'm proud of you Shar you know
00:06:22
um so yeah I know he is and if I can make him proud well you know and likewise um so yeah yeah I think they
00:06:29
are proud of me yeah yeah sounds a bit like my family we don't we don't necessarily you know tell each other
00:06:34
these things with words but I feel like sometimes you should exactly I you know I was always bought up we were never
00:06:40
told we were loved we were never cut off you're just supposed to know it you know
00:06:44
we would that wasn't our family Dynamics um yeah it just wasn't in us so
00:06:50
when I went to the farm you know it was a totally different ball game you know my my Auntie and Uncle would come up and
00:06:56
give me a cattle you know that was all new to me you know um so yeah things changed the Dynamics
00:07:02
changed yeah but yeah not it wasn't a that sort of Lifestyle yeah so what's
00:07:08
the first event that you do so you go to go to Hawks Bay have a have a got swimming and you think right I'm going
00:07:12
about to do this so then what I do is it just like a standard Triathlon or is it
00:07:17
what length um yeah it was just you know I I actually I went from trying to swim to entering the New
00:07:27
Zealand um par um championships or national championships um went along to that um
00:07:36
and there was you know there was only about three or four of us CU it's not a
00:07:40
lot um yeah and I won that and that was the start so I decided right here we go this is how we start earning points and
00:07:50
getting into um the Paro Olympic ranking situation so um yeah it started there and then of course the next thing you
00:07:59
had had to go to Oceania which was in Australia um went over there I got Sila um so the pro the progress and the
00:08:08
progression was starting to happen and I was loving it you know um Shane and Tammy Reid were coaches in Fielding um
00:08:17
Shane was a um Olympic triathlete himself um I don't know if you've heard
00:08:23
him um you've only got to Google The Beijing Olympics and Shane's the first
00:08:28
one out of the water and man he's he's a weapon right um unfortunately Shane's
00:08:33
passed away um he had brain cancer and passed away you know not so long ago well when we say 12 months coming up um
00:08:42
so yeah it's but Shane was just one of those humble guys and Tammy's wife she
00:08:47
was a um National um triathlete herself and she decided to get into coaching so they came on board and they
00:08:56
started coaching me so that's where we started yeah so swimming and then um and
00:09:01
running you see had some running um experience beforehand it's running just the same what's the difference with so
00:09:06
no Shane and Tammy got me into a coaching program and they coached me for swimming running yeah and um biking um R
00:09:15
running as as an UT is is it oh mate weird is it weird seriously and two a what you know um put it this way the
00:09:25
first run I went out with Tammy I didn't know how I was going to I didn't know
00:09:29
how Stumpy was going to W it was freaking painful because of the the jarring oh okay the jarring it was just
00:09:37
horrible but I wasn't going to let Tammy know that so Tammy would run on the side
00:09:42
she said I'll run on the right hand side sh cuz I don't want to be anywhere near
00:09:45
Stumpy I said thanks um we'd be running along down the road next minute the bits
00:09:51
she'd give me a whack you know Tammy's only a little short ass and it's nothing
00:09:54
of a fit little lean mean machine and um next minute she'd give me a whack on on
00:09:59
the shoulder and I'd say what's that for and she'd say move over you're veing
00:10:04
out oh cuz the imbalance that's interesting isn't it you now I only had 1.75 kilos taken off right when I lost
00:10:14
the my arm but that 1.75 kilos Dom made a huge difference in my balance who would have thought well I
00:10:23
wouldn't have thought that yeah it makes sense though yeah totally so that's the
00:10:27
that's the running what about the um the the cycling so you just do you cycle
00:10:30
with just one hand on the bar so I started off just on a road bike um and then we progressed obviously to a TT bik
00:10:38
to start International racing with um and that's where the obviously first of
00:10:43
all how was I going to ride a TT bar with the EOB bars uh so um the limb Center it was like phone call to the
00:10:50
limb center now honestly they must every time they hear chez's making an appointment they must roll their eyes
00:10:56
and think oh God what's she coming out had us with at this time but um they came up with this rarely rad idea of
00:11:05
making a cup for Stumpy to sit in so I'd sit stumpy in this um and I'd be down
00:11:10
here like this okay so that's how we managed to get around riding on an aob bike on a TT bike
00:11:19
um and that's that's how we progressed on that but it was once again it was all
00:11:23
about balance because I couldn't put pressure down in that cup because of the
00:11:28
pain in the end my stump so we had cotton wool we had Lamb's wool we had foam we had so much in there to stop any
00:11:37
jaring um but yeah we we got around it and that's how my bike is still set up
00:11:42
today um and they just actually looking it's cuz it's all made of carbon at the
00:11:47
moment they're just starting to look at a new way of being able to do a 3D printed one so it's lighter and a little
00:11:54
bit more Flex in it for me so um yeah they're amazing down there at the LM Center in Wellington freaking cool
00:12:02
clever guys so when when able-bodied people do these um these sort of events there's pain that you have like there's
00:12:08
pain in your lungs pain in your legs whatever what extra pain do you have above and beyond that um is it just
00:12:14
Stumpy stump like a burning sensation or a throbbing or she's firing right yeah
00:12:19
when I say she he he's firing you he's been a typical male a right prick you
00:12:24
know um just being a pain in the ass literally you know real pain it's it's
00:12:31
it's a pain that you can't describe don't um yeah it's it's not a pain
00:12:39
that I can describe to people because people wouldn't believe it um but you know I I've found ways of
00:12:49
just getting getting out there doing things I feel if I'm doing something and
00:12:54
keeping active it's um helping with that pain if even though I'm in pain and I'm
00:13:00
causing myself pain mentally I feel like that and physically that I'm helping that pain yeah you're
00:13:08
making yourself stronger building resilience yeah but how do you um like how do you how do how do you block that
00:13:13
out like do you do you have mantras or anything or do you um I just you know I have got a mantra um yeah and I my
00:13:20
Mantra is I may only have one Wing but I can still fly and that's what I have I have to say
00:13:27
to myself or when I am in this pain I just say don't give in it comes from within and when I say within I mean it's
00:13:37
what's in your heart you know if we really want something we'll dig deep and
00:13:42
we'll do it you know we'll find a way but we have to find that way nobody else
00:13:49
will do it for us so so that pain that you're talking about is that only when you're like
00:13:54
competing and pushing it or is that training as well every it's everyday pain I'm in that pain every day mate so
00:14:00
when you're in when you're um this is the first time you know you're a prick
00:14:05
cuz you're making me open up about it D don't want to get the tissues I can get
00:14:09
the tissues no I I don't want tissues that's a sign of weakness it's no I
00:14:13
don't no I don't seriously it's it's because um it's from the heart you know
00:14:23
um I I don't talk about the pain people don't understand or know that I'm in CU
00:14:28
I've learned to hide that but should you um I don't want people to see me
00:14:35
weak no that's a weakness to me yeah and I don't want to be weak D yeah I want to
00:14:41
be that strong person you know don't get me wrong I have some days at home where I'm weak yeah when like when
00:14:49
you when you're trying I'm thinking again I'm probably projecting here but
00:14:53
if I was you and I was on that stationary bike in the garage on [ __ ] Paton or whatever for three hours and it
00:14:59
was it was hurting every second I'd probably have I'd probably cry to myself
00:15:03
I have do you I have done y yep you know I'm set up in the shed um I'm not like
00:15:09
some people that you know have their bike set up in the lounge that's to me that my inside of my home is home my
00:15:16
training if I have to train on outside is in the shed I keep that those two lives separate um so yeah you know there
00:15:24
are those sessions where you have to sit on that flaming bite getting numb bum and you know every other department you
00:15:31
know in a uncomfortable State um out in a shed and yeah there are times that yeah I I I do cry and I and I think it's
00:15:39
more just because it it gets overwhelming it's all too much or yeah yeah some days I do I feel like throwing
00:15:46
that session in but I know that at the end of that session if I didn't do that
00:15:50
session you know what it's like when you're a runner some days you don't want
00:15:54
to go out for a run but when you come back [ __ ] you feel good right feel way better afterward you do and that's how I
00:16:00
feel about if I was to cut that session short I wouldn't feel right it wouldn't
00:16:07
sit good you know um and I'd probably have to go back out later into it again
00:16:12
cuz the guils eating you up yeah for sure for sure and you you'd understand that yeah 100% 100% but what what I'm
00:16:20
dealing with is not this extra level of of adversity or or pain you know what I mean there's um there's that yeah that
00:16:28
ter putting yourself in the pain cave which uh anyone that's done any sort of
00:16:32
physical activity will understand but then but you know that that pain is going to go yeah
00:16:37
yeah no but what I'm saying sh is your pain doesn't go like no it's it's
00:16:42
constantly there and then when you're doing the exercise it just gets worse yeah it's rough mm it's a rough hand to
00:16:48
be dealt sucks sucks mate but um you know I choose to you know move forward yeah that's any
00:16:59
way to go isn't it oh for sure you know um yeah you know there are some days um
00:17:06
ow and may have gone out in the afternoon or something and I've finished training and I'll go inside and yeah I
00:17:13
do I'll have a cry but it's to myself I won't show that you why don't you out of
00:17:19
all the people you could show it to him right when he understand oh absolutely well you just prefer to you just prefer
00:17:25
to deal with the stuff on your own I'm juste yeah I I I don't like to show that side of me why
00:17:31
is an embarrassment thing or a pride thing a pride thing I think you know I don't want to be seen as that
00:17:39
wib um yeah but every yeah I mean I I you know what I don't even know I but I
00:17:46
feel like he if he ever listens to this he'll probably hear this and be frustrated that you don't lean on him a
00:17:51
little bit more probably but he knows that you know he he I think he knows that um
00:17:59
I know he's here if I need him he's always here um so I yeah he I think he's
00:18:07
learned now just you know don't don't 30 years don't even ask her you know just
00:18:13
roll your eyes and go a here we go again you know here she you know um I think he
00:18:18
sort of got used to me um and I say that in the way that I think he's got used to my ways my new
00:18:27
ways yeah [Music] so like who do you talk to about this you like you know you're talking to me
00:18:33
today about it but you talk to anyone else about it no this is the first time I've really opened up Don so you you've
00:18:39
been freaking privileged you buger um you know I I don't open up yeah but it's
00:18:45
good I Sharon like it don't you dare me Sharon as I said I'm only get called
00:18:52
that when my mother tells me off but you know um it's not a therapy session you
00:18:57
know but I feel I can open up to you because I feel that I you can relate yeah um you know you've had some [ __ ]
00:19:05
times in your life but as as I said earlier like from doing this podcast like almost two years now every single
00:19:11
person has has or will go through some sort of adversity it's all on a different level but uh and it's how we
00:19:18
want to progress with that adversity or if we want to progress some people can some people can't yeah I mean you you
00:19:27
can you can easily make yourself victim and no one no one would no one would begrudge you you you've got every right
00:19:31
in the world to but it's like it's not going to help you grow is it it's not
00:19:35
it's not going to help me or my journey you know my journey is about having the
00:19:40
best life and M I am yeah even though I have this pain um you know as I say um it's not about that it's about my
00:19:52
journey and how exciting that you're on the the I suppose the downward slide of
00:19:57
life on the the you know the second half of your life but it's also like a new
00:20:01
beginning oh it's the best part of my life you know um I would never have achieved or done half of the things I've
00:20:09
done Dom if I hadn't met Stumpy yeah you you could have though he why wouldn't
00:20:14
you have though oh M I wouldn't have been able to travel the world like I have no no but you you could have and it
00:20:19
would have been considerably easier like doing things likeon swimming or Coast to
00:20:23
Coast um but you you you waited until things got very very difficult for yourself before
00:20:29
you decided to but but that's what makes the challenge even more rewarding yeah
00:20:35
you know um and like I say it's always been about if one person can see me doing it and it encourages them to get
00:20:43
out and do something I feel like I've achieved what I've set out to do D oh I
00:20:48
think there's there's more than one you make yeah a lot of people feel like sex
00:20:52
as [ __ ] well I don't mean to do that I really really that's not my intent
00:20:58
mention Dom don't go that far um yeah no it's more yeah just if I can encourage
00:21:04
others yeah just you know just because we're challenged there's no reason why
00:21:09
we cannot still succeed at things and it doesn't have to be mad radical things
00:21:15
like I've done just small steps you know small steps make lead to bigger [Music]
00:21:27
STS [Music] m