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hey Runners only with dime Harley
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sitting here today with the legend Ian
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Winston hello
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why can't I hear you what's going on
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here
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oh we got you there we go yeah get nice
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and close into that microphone mate sure
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cool um hey it is so fabulous to be
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sitting down with you today off um I've
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read a lot about you I've followed your
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journey
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um a mutual friend of ours Steve
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kilgallon he wrote a book about you yep
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um one hell of a story so you're a
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marathon runner and then you have a
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workplace accident and now you're um
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you're like a wheelchair athlete
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yeah yeah nothing changes
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um
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used to gym bike swim run before my
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incident and I'm Jim bike swim running
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after my accident just do a little
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differently that's all yeah yeah so the
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um the insulin that you speak of that
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happened in uh June 2011 so you're
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coming up 11 years you want to you want
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to go back to that or not really uh yeah
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it'll go down in in probably in in our
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family history as one of the darkest
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days of our family so yeah but um
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yeah but there's been some good stuff
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that's come out of it yeah of course of
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course I mean I think a lot of it's got
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to do with your character as a person
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and just the type of person that you are
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but do you not do you not like to
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revisit it because you just feel like
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you've drawn A Line in the Sand and
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moved on
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no I'm I'm pretty lucky when it comes to
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that because I don't remember anything
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um so the the trauma is is really for
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other people who
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um because I just missed like three and
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a half weeks of my life going on I
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didn't and so the the trauma is for them
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for me it's more about dealing with um
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with the hidden injuries that I have and
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that people don't see and and the
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constant daily battles with life with
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people who don't understand
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or don't really want to understand what
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disability is all about because I I'm
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actually not disabled I'm just
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physically challenged you know and so
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people don't actually get that when I
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get cross about not being able to access
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something or it's not because I have an
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attitude it's just because I want to get
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there and I'm you know and you stopping
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me from getting there is is one of those
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things that really really makes me cross
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yeah especially in this day and age what
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are the um what are the um hidden
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injuries that you speak of well I have a
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traumatic brain injury which a lot of
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people don't actually understand there's
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more there's more signs coming towards
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it because of what's been going on in
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rugby you're read about this so This you
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didn't know this in the beginning it
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wasn't discovered until a couple of
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years uh yeah it took um it took over
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over six months to manifest itself it
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actually started to manifest itself once
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I got out of Rehabilitation well the
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first phase of Rehabilitation started to
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manifest itself
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um there were little signs in
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Rehabilitation but we just put it you
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know I was still on quite of drugs and
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stuff like that and so but as I came off
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those drugs my personality had changed a
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little bit and Catherine my wife was
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starting to see traits in me that she
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was a bit concerned about and then she
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sent me off to a family doctor and she
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sent me off to James Cunningham who's a
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neuropsych and I had a lot of testing
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and found out that um yeah I've got a
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moderate to severe
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in certain areas of traumatic brain
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injury which people don't see but it's
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so basically from 6am to 12 noon I'm
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pretty good but then as uh and then I
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have to go and have a sleep and then the
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afternoons get a little bit difficult
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and then the late afternoons are more
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difficult
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um it's just it's just with cognitive
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stuff and and lights and stuff like that
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but
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um oh you just get tired real quick yeah
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do you find it gets worse if you have to
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concentrate on a time oh yeah yeah yeah
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definitely definitely so it's it's one
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of those things
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um so I like to try and get all my
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training done in the mornings
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um although of late I've been doing some
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afternoon training at that difficult
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time where I I struggle cognitively and
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once I get on the bike on the trainer I
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don't have to think too much and so it's
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actually afternoon sessions have been
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pretty good actually yeah geez you're a
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tough bag around here you're right now
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because I think um and um I mean
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everyone everyone has that happens
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in their life I I think the that
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been through is probably like one
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percent of of what you've been through
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um but I feel like
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my relationship with running has helped
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me deal with that because you sort
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of like whenever the hits the fan
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you think okay well yeah I did this
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marathon and I trained and I've done
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this
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um and it sort of gives you strength and
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resilience is it was that your sort of
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experience like when you were lying in a
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hospital were you like oh when I started
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lying in hospital I started doing setups
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I was the only access only thing I could
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do because both arms were broken and and
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had to be like really badly damaged and
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I had bandages all on me the only thing
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that that could work was the stomach
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muscles so sit-ups was was all I could
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do because I had a nickel how could you
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do that without the um stability of your
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lower legs well the thing is you know
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you learn from Pilates and from yoga and
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all that did you you can't engage them
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without having to do a full setup but I
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mean that's that's all I could do
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basically but
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um yeah running running is a it's a
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double-edged sword for me now it's um so
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I I do struggle when I see people
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running do you get started to fomo
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Awards yes well not jealous but I just
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um running used to be my mindfulness
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basically so if I was stressed at work
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or anything like that I used to put my
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shoes on and just go run and after a
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while your troubles just sort of like
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dissipated they don't you can sort of
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work them out and I'm lucky I live in an
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area where you know I used to be able to
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just run up into the waitakere's and
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although I'm not a big track runner
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um I used to get up just up into the
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into the shallow Hills here and and you
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know you
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after three hours you come back you're
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pretty exhausted your troubles have gone
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away to someone exist but yeah it's it's
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running definitely I mean it's been a
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part of my life since it's like five
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years old um
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I've always run I didn't run between
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I stopped running
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after my first um spinal injury back in
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um in South Africa in 1993 I stopped
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running completely
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um the surgeon told me that it wouldn't
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be a good idea of a carried on running
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what caused the spinal injury oh at
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school a guy pulled a chair out from
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underneath me that was yes you know they
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they're funny yeah yeah exactly yeah and
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it just all went wrong and you know the
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angles it had to hit in perfect angle
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you know most people just get up from
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that and brush it off and never but yeah
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so I had a geez you've been in the wars
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man yeah so it's um it's it's one of
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those things that you know but when I
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came to New Zealand and and my back was
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had been pretty stable for a long time
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um I happened to get back into running
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um and then I got into Triathlon and all
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that kind of stuff but but running has
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always been there as a as a
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it's just a Moody and also it's a great
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way to stay fit and and keep the keep
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the weight off and yeah yeah so
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um and you know once you get up once you
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can run for two hours without without
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even thinking about it
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um getting to that two hour markers is
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awesome but once you get over that and
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you you know and then you start going to
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the three-hour market and just having a
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casual run for three hours is just
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awesome you know yeah people people
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don't realize how good it can be
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um but you know I think
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got to have that mental strength to
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actually train to get to that too Mark
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and you've got to be pretty determined
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um and also you've got to actually
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you've got to actually want to do it
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you've got to love it yeah you don't do
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it if you if you don't love it and
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that's
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um that's what I always think about
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anything that you do in life if you
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don't love doing what you're doing then
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don't do it but um yeah but watching
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people run on a crisp early Winter's
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morning is is a very mind-blowing
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experience for me because I do I do I
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miss it I do miss it without a doubt but
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uh because although I do hand cycling
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and I swim and I go to the gym and
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everything like that it's a completely
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different feeling and workout that you
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get when you run
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um you know running with your legs is
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completely different to hand cycling
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with your arms you know but um I'm you
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know I'm I am pretty blessed because
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I've I've done all the stuff that people
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dream about you know I dream about
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running a marathon I've I've done 100K
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walk I've done 100K half walk off run
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um I've done I've done all that kind of
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you're talking pre-accident yeah yeah
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yeah yeah yeah yeah I've done all that
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so I don't
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um I don't sit there as some people
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would in if they weren't an athlete
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beforehand thinking oh I should have run
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a marathon or I should have done this or
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I should have done that you know I'm
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lucky enough I did do those things um
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it's a good attitude but yeah yeah I see
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what you're saying you can't do those
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when you were when you were lying in
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that hospital bed and you know you
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became fully aware of the extent of
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things like we were you depressed for a
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time um no I've never I've only cried
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once and it was uncontrollable for about
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45 minutes and that was about uh
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must have been about five weeks after
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the incident
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um just one evening I just started
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crying and I just couldn't stop crying
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and
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and then after about 40 minutes I
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stopped crying and that was that and
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that's the last time
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um I have felt any kind of
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um morning or yeah yeah yeah I I
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um I mean don't get me wrong I must I
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miss not having legs that I'm without a
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doubt I mean that's and the weird thing
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is is that they're still with me because
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of the the Phantom legs or there the
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feet are there everything's there I can
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bend them I can I can move them around
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and so
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and that's and that's the trouble I have
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at the moment is that I can't actually I
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can't get rid of them
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um so it's they are how do you mean can
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you explain that well what's happening
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yeah so that the thing is because the
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legs are there from a phantom point of
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view right it's very difficult for me to
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cross over it into
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the I have no legs kind of like story
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and that's I so I sit on the fence like
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I'm still I still feel like I'm fully
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able but you know the legs are not there
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if I'd go to stand up
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so it's a it's a very very difficult one
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to
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to explain to people that and that's why
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I said I don't actually feel disabled
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um and I don't actually let I don't want
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to actually or try let my disability
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um stop me from doing anything oh and
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you don't I've watched your what's your
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journey from afar you definitely don't
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you're living a very very rich yeah ten
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ten years of trying to walk on
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Prosthetics is still is still the goal
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to run
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um on blades
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um it's still one of my goals that I'm
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actually working towards
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um it's just that because of the way
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that my spinal fusion was done in 1993
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and we've had some technical issues with
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the Prosthetics but we're getting over
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those
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um and yeah that's it if I can get to
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running 100 meters or 200 meters on
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blades on a track then I'll be happy
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because then I'm actually doing what I
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used to do because I started off as a
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track runner not as a you know I started
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off on in the fields on on tracks and so
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and when that happens not if when that
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happens let's hope it works out better
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for you than the other um
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um but you know it's it's an interesting
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uh that's interesting because drugs
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um drugs make a big difference in a
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person's life
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um and I I'm actually trying to get off
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drugs but unfortunately with my injuries
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I've got to have a couple of drugs to
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keep the pain levels down yeah is that
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bad is it just on a daily basis no I
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live in pain all the time really
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whereabouts in my in my legs right
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um so I have a so I take nerve nerve
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pain drugs to keep the nerves at Bay
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um yeah and just like my right arm is my
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right hand and my right my left hand
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because I lost a finger on my my hand
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um oh did you I didn't even notice yeah
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like a Simpsons here yeah yeah it's a
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proper um comic end because it's only
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got three fingers
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yeah no absolutely five because wait
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where's that one two where where's the
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so the middle finger was amputated right
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but the back of the finger where I had a
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big gash they used the so they cut the
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skin underneath the the middle finger
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and it's flipped over so that actually
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over there what you can see there is the
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fingerprint of my middle finger
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so I still have all my prince
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so that is mind like I've been sitting
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here with you Ian for a quarter of an
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hour I didn't even notice I never
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noticed she's the surgeons did a
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brilliant job she's she's awesome she's
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um
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but uh you know the thing is I had the
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Phantom in there as well the nerve pain
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in there so riding the bike
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um I've actually had to
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over the three years that have been
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seriously riding I've had to actually
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the first couple of sessions of like one
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hour I couldn't actually hold the cranks
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anymore the hand pedals because they're
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cramping
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um But as time goes by and you get you
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know it's just like running uh the worst
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the worst is a the um I don't know if
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you can see the baby finger here because
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of the break and the hand and with the
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ulnar nerve coming down I always this
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has like a bit of a hook and it it
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actually causes me a bit of problems but
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you know I've actually just found I've
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shipped riding the bike not with cycling
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gloves anymore I'm actually using a
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weight lifting gloves and they have a
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little bit more padding in them and and
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they're a little bit stiffer and it's
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actually much better so
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um no I didn't yeah so it's just just a
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case of of
00:14:04
um
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training the arm to do what I wanted to
00:14:07
do basically um so yeah it's just so the
00:14:11
nerve pain is is it drives me insane
00:14:14
sometimes sometimes it takes me to a
00:14:17
place where I have to actually take a
00:14:18
little bit of harder drugs to actually
00:14:19
get it under control and that to me says
00:14:22
it must be really bad because you're
00:14:24
you're a tough cookie yeah yeah not it
00:14:26
is bad but I I don't I don't try and let
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it control me yeah I try and control it
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but sometimes it gets a better of me but
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um so that's the only the only drug but
00:14:36
I will tell you that um
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uh beckon uh must be four years ago
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maybe five years ago four years ago I
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can't remember the exact date
00:14:45
um
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uh I they changed my drugs
00:14:51
to two different types of drugs because
00:14:54
we were worried about what the one drug
00:14:56
was doing over a long term you know and
00:14:58
uh
00:14:59
and I went to a really dark place not
00:15:01
because I wanted to go there but the
00:15:04
drugs actually took me a dark place and
00:15:06
it was just fortunate that I actually
00:15:09
had a meeting with
00:15:11
um my neuropsych and he took you know he
00:15:14
took one look at me and luckily we got
00:15:16
off those drugs because I was not in
00:15:18
good shape I was actually just I'd
00:15:20
actually the drugs that got to the stage
00:15:22
where I just thought that you know life
00:15:23
wasn't actually worth living really oh
00:15:26
yeah no it was bad it was bad for about
00:15:28
five six weeks I didn't know what was
00:15:30
going on I couldn't understand why I had
00:15:33
changed but then we realized it was the
00:15:35
drugs my body didn't like those drugs
00:15:37
and my mind didn't like those drugs so
00:15:39
yeah so there are a couple of drugs that
00:15:41
are just um you know so you know going
00:15:44
back to I don't know much about the
00:15:47
pretorius thing but I know that he was
00:15:49
there was a few drugs involved right and
00:15:51
who knows cognitively what those drugs
00:15:53
are doing I don't know yeah absolutely
00:15:55
um your legs um that they're very high
00:15:59
up aren't they
00:16:00
um yeah where they were amputated yeah
00:16:02
they make it hard with prosthetics no
00:16:04
I'm actually lucky because my actually
00:16:05
legs are quite long for Prosthetics so
00:16:07
the amputations I think are about a
00:16:09
hundred mils above the knee right
00:16:12
um but the way they were
00:16:14
um traumatically amputated was at an
00:16:17
angle so the one knee was completely
00:16:21
shattered and there was no ways they
00:16:23
could actually repair any kind of way
00:16:25
and the other knee was good but because
00:16:27
of the amputation and the whole cough
00:16:30
muscle had been taken off
00:16:32
um so they they could there was they
00:16:34
were they couldn't save the knee so then
00:16:36
they actually decided and I'm actually
00:16:38
very grateful they decided to be a
00:16:40
symmetrical so both legs are exactly the
00:16:43
same length are these 10 mils between
00:16:44
each length
00:16:45
um which makes it really really good for
00:16:47
Prosthetics because they're not making a
00:16:49
different prosthetic for so both when my
00:16:52
prosthetic the the um the sockets
00:16:55
they're called that actually fit over
00:16:57
your legs
00:16:58
um they pretty much similar whenever
00:17:00
they make them which is much easier if
00:17:03
you're dealing with that kind of thing
00:17:04
because I've seen people who have who
00:17:06
have asymmetrical sockets and you know
00:17:08
you I think it's be a lot harder but um
00:17:12
yeah no that's the good thing is over
00:17:14
the years I've I've developed some
00:17:17
skills in terms of being able to stand
00:17:19
on the ends of my legs and walk on the
00:17:21
ends of my legs oh look on the stumps
00:17:23
yeah oh so you it's if you go in the
00:17:25
bathroom in the night yeah yeah yeah
00:17:26
I've actually I've I've um desensitized
00:17:29
the nerves at the ends right wow that's
00:17:31
remarkable yeah no it's and it's pretty
00:17:33
cool for for walking Prosthetics because
00:17:35
you don't have that that pain because
00:17:37
the pain in the original putting those
00:17:40
things on and and and standing up on the
00:17:43
ends and getting that it used to become
00:17:45
quite a numb feeling you can actually
00:17:47
feel what was going on because it was so
00:17:49
numb from pain but you know it's there's
00:17:52
a whole lot of different um types of
00:17:54
things now that they do to actually sort
00:17:57
that kind of thing out so in the in the
00:17:59
10 years that I've been
00:18:00
attempting to walk on Prosthetics and I
00:18:02
have walked on Prosthetics successfully
00:18:05
um
00:18:06
the the whole technology has just
00:18:08
changed dramatically there yeah um so
00:18:10
now my sockets actually only they only
00:18:12
have got up halfway my legs they don't
00:18:14
go right up to the top they don't
00:18:16
actually come and support the hips I've
00:18:18
built enough strength to be able to
00:18:22
um and that's because I've been able to
00:18:23
walk on the ends of my legs I've built
00:18:24
up all the strength and the tendons
00:18:26
there and everything like that but um
00:18:28
yeah so that was a big end and that's
00:18:30
just by learning from other people like
00:18:32
people from overseas
00:18:34
um and I don't know if you know Cameron
00:18:36
Leslie here in New Zealand he's a triple
00:18:39
gold medalist Olympic paralympic gold
00:18:42
medalist and swimming he's he's born
00:18:44
congenital but he walks on the ends of
00:18:46
his league right and one of the things
00:18:48
he said to me way back he said if you
00:18:51
can learn to do that that would be the
00:18:52
best thing because just yeah and I just
00:18:55
a lot of hard work and a lot of of trial
00:18:58
and error and it's you know this whole
00:19:00
thing
00:19:01
it's it's not something that just
00:19:04
transpires in one day and you fixed it
00:19:06
it's just it's just evolving the whole
00:19:09
time
00:19:10
um well you're retraining aren't you
00:19:12
yeah basically having to learn yeah you
00:19:14
know and I I keep saying to a lot of
00:19:16
people that my initial Rehabilitation at
00:19:20
um in the hospital once I got home the
00:19:23
rehabilitation just hasn't stopped and
00:19:25
it's just going to carry on so that's
00:19:27
why I actually go to the you know I
00:19:28
constantly go to the gym and things like
00:19:31
that because there's that constant
00:19:33
everything for me is changing all the
00:19:35
time I strengthen one area and then
00:19:37
another thing will happen and so we've
00:19:39
got a little issue going on at the
00:19:40
moment which is going to have to be
00:19:42
fixed I don't know how but um we're
00:19:44
waiting to see The Specialist and then
00:19:46
discuss that but
00:19:48
um it's just a because I do leave it
00:19:51
lead an active life
00:19:53
I can't yeah just it's it's just gonna
00:19:57
evolve and I'm just gonna have to keep
00:19:58
rehabilitating the whole time and so
00:20:00
that's where the gym comes in really
00:20:02
really handy that's where the pool comes
00:20:03
in handy I feel like even if the
00:20:05
accident didn't happen this would be um
00:20:07
this would be how you are now though you
00:20:09
could constantly be learning and I
00:20:11
actually think I wrote a post to a
00:20:13
friend in Australia that
00:20:15
um you know a lot of people look at at
00:20:17
people with disabilities doing sport
00:20:19
that it's like super inspirational and
00:20:22
everything okay and I I do I the word
00:20:25
inspirational doesn't sit really really
00:20:27
well with me I'd prefer to be
00:20:29
motivational if somebody can be
00:20:32
motivated because they see what I do
00:20:33
that's cool and if it gets them off
00:20:35
their bum and doing something then
00:20:36
that's cool what are you like
00:20:37
inspirational what is that because I'll
00:20:39
be with you because um I'm just doing
00:20:42
what I did before I'm not like I said I
00:20:45
I used to go to the gym I used to run I
00:20:47
used to bike I used to swim
00:20:50
what I'm doing now is I go to the gym
00:20:52
exactly and I'm not you know and I'm not
00:20:56
climbing any mountains I'm not jumping
00:20:58
out of airplanes I'm not I'm not trying
00:21:00
to show that people with with who have
00:21:02
lost limbs and stuff like that can do
00:21:04
because I know if I want to go and jump
00:21:06
out of the plane I can go and jump out
00:21:07
of a plane it's it's it's nothing but I
00:21:10
think some people
00:21:12
uh yeah inspirational
00:21:16
um
00:21:18
I I don't know I just don't see myself
00:21:20
as I I wouldn't like people to
00:21:24
um
00:21:26
I don't know how they can see me as
00:21:27
Instagram well okay can I try and
00:21:30
explain yeah okay well I think um
00:21:33
anyone would like put themselves in your
00:21:34
position and think about how they could
00:21:37
potentially react to this um drastic
00:21:39
life change and maybe they think
00:21:41
um they would sit around and mope and
00:21:44
sulk and feel sorry for themselves so to
00:21:46
see you just getting on with it
00:21:49
um I suppose they said it's
00:21:50
inspirational and you you don't know how
00:21:53
you would react until you're in that
00:21:54
position maybe they wouldn't sulk and
00:21:55
mope and just watch TV all day but maybe
00:21:58
they would yeah you know thinking about
00:22:00
what you just said is so right the way
00:22:03
through my my early childhood and and my
00:22:06
teen years I've had these like little
00:22:08
series of events that have probably
00:22:10
actually made me a lot stronger so one
00:22:12
of the events is ah no I I was either I
00:22:16
think I was six years old it's either
00:22:17
six or seven and we had Athletics day
00:22:21
which was a big thing in our schools in
00:22:24
a Saturday afternoon and Saturday
00:22:26
morning I went to a building site with
00:22:27
my brothers and I stood on a and I I
00:22:30
don't know if you're a bully beef can
00:22:33
uh canned meat oh yeah yeah you know
00:22:35
before something yeah yeah so you know
00:22:37
how that on those can meats you have the
00:22:38
the little uh key and you turn it and
00:22:41
you oh yeah and when you open up a real
00:22:43
sharp edge on that can I stood on that
00:22:46
can and sliced my toe open
00:22:48
and I had to go off to the hospital and
00:22:50
they put seven stitches in my toe my big
00:22:52
toe
00:22:54
um but that didn't stop me from from
00:22:55
running and competing in at least day
00:23:00
um and yeah afterwards the the toe was a
00:23:02
little bit of a mess but
00:23:04
um I you know and I go back to I I go
00:23:07
back to that day and I think okay so
00:23:10
you know if I was at seven or six or
00:23:13
seven I was able to do that
00:23:16
um then as as time has gone on these
00:23:19
kind of things
00:23:20
um it hasn't you know like my back issue
00:23:23
when I was a teenager
00:23:25
um most people would have probably
00:23:26
stopped playing sport but I carried on
00:23:28
playing
00:23:29
um and it's just because it's sporters I
00:23:32
just love sport it's just been such a
00:23:34
part of my life it's um you know hockey
00:23:37
cricket
00:23:38
anything basically
00:23:40
um anything to do with sports never
00:23:43
really got into tennis
00:23:44
um
00:23:45
but yeah no you know just uh soccer I I
00:23:50
was not play rugby because I had an ear
00:23:52
operation I was only allowed to get in a
00:23:55
swimming pool when I was eight years old
00:23:56
because I had an ear problem right from
00:23:58
birth and I was only fixed when I was
00:24:00
eight so I was only allowed to get into
00:24:02
a swimming pool when I was eight so
00:24:04
those kind of things
00:24:06
um yeah it probably led to
00:24:08
when when this happened that yeah sure
00:24:11
you've got a big Hiccup and a big
00:24:12
changes in our life and big changes for
00:24:14
Catherine and the boys and
00:24:17
um you know we've had we've had our
00:24:19
whole house that's been had to be
00:24:20
redeveloped with ramps and ramps and all
00:24:23
that kind of stuff and right and you
00:24:25
know it's taken a long time for us to
00:24:27
actually find kind of like some kind of
00:24:29
like stable stability because I've had
00:24:31
31 surgeries
00:24:34
really yeah when was the most recent uh
00:24:37
so the lease was 2019 I had my hand
00:24:40
redone uh wow this was all inflamed and
00:24:44
all red and we couldn't understand why
00:24:46
and then the surgeon went in and he went
00:24:48
all the way up and found some trapped
00:24:50
nerves up here and so yeah so that was
00:24:53
the last one so it's been three years
00:24:54
now is that the end of it uh no
00:24:57
um
00:24:58
um
00:25:00
yeah does that frustrate you um yeah it
00:25:04
does because it's downtime it's um you
00:25:06
know you can only watch so many movies
00:25:09
um but you know the thing is you
00:25:12
um because I've been there and done it
00:25:14
already
00:25:15
um it'll just be just have it get done
00:25:18
just wait for it to heal and then just
00:25:20
get carry on again yeah so
00:25:23
um the good thing is is that as you know
00:25:25
Fitness once you've got a good base
00:25:28
you do lose a little bit of your
00:25:29
shopping but you don't lose your Fitness
00:25:31
overnight yeah the muscle memory and
00:25:33
also you know you know you can get it
00:25:35
back oh yeah that's that's a cool thing
00:25:37
and and there's some exciting stuff
00:25:38
that's happening in the next couple of
00:25:39
months that's
00:25:41
um that you know if if I do have to have
00:25:43
time down time then at least with this
00:25:46
other exciting stuff that is happening
00:25:48
so how frustrating was it for you like
00:25:50
you talked about the adjustments around
00:25:51
the house and stuff how hard was it to
00:25:53
retrain yourself like uh you know it was
00:25:55
an incredibly frustrating time or did
00:25:57
you take to the the chair like a duck to
00:25:59
water no no the the hand cycle took a
00:26:02
while to adjust because I can't supinate
00:26:05
and pronate this hand okay so
00:26:08
um getting into a bike into a position
00:26:10
where and then oh this is your like your
00:26:12
competing yeah yeah right Oh you mean
00:26:14
the wheelchair yeah oh no the wheelchair
00:26:16
was pretty easy yeah
00:26:18
um yeah I couldn't yeah once once I got
00:26:21
it yeah it was pretty easy they they
00:26:24
cool it's just it's just transport
00:26:27
basically um but um I've got three
00:26:30
different types of chairs off so I've
00:26:32
got a four by four for the beach and
00:26:34
which able to meet to get into the sea
00:26:35
because that's very very important
00:26:37
important for me to actually get in in
00:26:39
salt water
00:26:41
um because my my early adult life was
00:26:45
spent in Durban and natal in South
00:26:47
Africa where the beach was was very very
00:26:50
important to our social life
00:26:54
um yeah so coming to New Zealand um
00:26:57
it's not it's not the same because to
00:27:01
get to pihar is quite a trick but yeah
00:27:03
to get to North Beach and Durban was so
00:27:06
easy just down the motorway and you're
00:27:07
there kind of like the beach was there
00:27:09
and you know you had you had miles and
00:27:11
miles and miles of beach they're very
00:27:13
similar whereas here you've you've got
00:27:14
these Pockets where you go to so been
00:27:16
fortunate enough that um Catherine's
00:27:18
families had a cottage in whitianga for
00:27:20
25 26 maybe 27 years now and so that's
00:27:24
an escape and so Buffalo Beach that's a
00:27:27
great Beach great yeah so
00:27:30
um so lucky I have a 4x4 that I can
00:27:32
actually get down onto the beach and get
00:27:33
in the water um although I've got to
00:27:36
have the waves I've got to be a little
00:27:37
gentler so I get lucky
00:27:39
washing machine but um yeah I can you
00:27:42
know the good thing is I can't I'm a
00:27:44
pretty form for me and my
00:27:48
um body I'm a strong swimmer so uh
00:27:51
um I can swim pretty well yeah were you
00:27:54
because you're um you work as a swimming
00:27:56
coach now yeah I'm a swim teacher and a
00:27:58
swim coach yeah were you were you much
00:28:00
of a swimmer before the accident uh no
00:28:02
swimming was a means to get on the bike
00:28:03
right okay okay yeah yeah I remember the
00:28:07
first person who ever looked at my
00:28:09
swimming stroke you asked me once I'd
00:28:11
finished swimming 50 meters asked me
00:28:13
what I was doing and I said I was
00:28:14
swimming he said no it looked like he
00:28:16
said no you're not so
00:28:19
um yeah so the good thing is the one
00:28:21
good thing coming out of the accident or
00:28:23
the incident was that I had to learn how
00:28:25
to swim again and so this time around I
00:28:28
knew what I was having to do and learn
00:28:32
um whereas when you're five you forget
00:28:34
you forget all this stuff and how you
00:28:37
learn to swim and then you know you
00:28:38
people a lot of people after
00:28:40
after two or three years of swingly
00:28:42
since they give up and they don't
00:28:44
actually ever swim again they don't
00:28:45
actually go forward or yeah I've I've
00:28:47
actually kept up since since I've
00:28:49
learned to swim I've actually kept it up
00:28:51
myself and then I went off and and
00:28:53
became you know I did the courses to
00:28:55
become a swim teacher um just because
00:28:57
swimming swimming in New Zealand is so
00:29:00
so important I mean we live around water
00:29:02
oh yeah we've got a moat and it's just
00:29:04
I cannot believe the number of kids who
00:29:07
just can't swim properly
00:29:09
um and it's it's wrong it's absolutely
00:29:11
wrong kids need to learn how to swim but
00:29:14
um that's a double-edged sword as well
00:29:15
is because that's exhausting it is
00:29:18
exhausting yeah and yeah I'm guessing
00:29:21
it's completely different as well
00:29:22
because your legs um first of all you
00:29:24
use them to kick but even if you're not
00:29:25
using them to kick them guessing they'll
00:29:27
provide you some sort of low balance
00:29:28
well yeah the water line it's like a a
00:29:30
yacht a long a long yachtis Foster then
00:29:33
a short yacht and the same as with legs
00:29:35
in your body position you know it's yeah
00:29:38
but the the cool thing is that I I I can
00:29:41
teach and I have been teaching pretty
00:29:44
well for the last couple of years
00:29:46
um I've got a couple of I've got a young
00:29:49
para that I'm that I'm coaching
00:29:52
but yeah it is it's it is a different um
00:29:56
it is different
00:29:58
um but I've I've just actually completed
00:30:00
a life coaching course as well because
00:30:03
um I'd like to help people with
00:30:05
resilience
00:30:06
um and teach them
00:30:07
what resilience is all about people give
00:30:10
up too quickly
00:30:11
um you know even even running people
00:30:13
will they'll run for three or four weeks
00:30:16
and then they'll just give up because
00:30:17
just school getting too hard yeah and
00:30:19
and the main thing is bro because
00:30:20
they're actually doing it wrong
00:30:22
you know they they they're trying to
00:30:24
they're trying to get there too quickly
00:30:26
as you know as a runner you've gone you
00:30:28
know to run a marathon you I mean you
00:30:30
could go out and run a marathon but
00:30:32
you'll probably kill yourself or you'll
00:30:34
you'll definitely be very very sore
00:30:35
there yeah 100 or you'll be at the
00:30:37
doctors because you've you've torn
00:30:39
you've damaged yourself completely and
00:30:41
so you've got to teach your body to
00:30:43
learn how to run a marathon you can't
00:30:45
actually just go I mean there are some
00:30:47
people who are genetically
00:30:49
who just could do it and because they
00:30:51
genetically built but most people aren't
00:30:53
genetically built to run and um so
00:30:56
resilience do you feel like that's
00:30:57
something that um that can be taught to
00:30:58
people or is that gonna yeah you do yeah
00:31:00
I do I do I think it's definitely
00:31:03
um I think it's definitely a mindset and
00:31:06
you need to actually talk to somebody
00:31:07
who
00:31:09
who's been there and be able to coach
00:31:11
you through it because not not everybody
00:31:13
has it's not even everybody is mentally
00:31:15
tough
00:31:17
um there's I mean I even think there's
00:31:19
times when I'm not mentally tough when
00:31:21
do you like win uh sometimes when when
00:31:24
I've got a hard training schedule that's
00:31:26
downstairs on the train and I'm I I
00:31:28
don't want to go down because I know
00:31:30
it's I know it's going to be sore and
00:31:32
uncomfortable and and
00:31:34
um and you think of every oh should I do
00:31:36
it or should I do it and and then
00:31:38
eventually you go down and you do it and
00:31:40
it's not so bad but just that you know
00:31:42
you know you know when it's going to be
00:31:43
uncomfortable yeah you know it's going
00:31:45
to hurt and and
00:31:47
yeah other ones that feel best
00:31:49
afterwards yeah you do you don't want to
00:31:51
do it and then you just once you've done
00:31:52
it yeah because the thing is it's um
00:31:54
it's just that uh I think I don't even
00:31:58
know West Coast Road in the white X yeah
00:32:00
all right okay so it's a hell of a climb
00:32:03
yeah so
00:32:04
um you know training run uh which is a
00:32:07
better way should we go up quarter Road
00:32:08
or shall we stay or stay on West Coast
00:32:10
Road oh which is one's going to hurt the
00:32:12
the least oh let's go up Carter Road
00:32:13
because you know that West Coast Road
00:32:15
has got three little knots do you I mean
00:32:17
you've got the the climb to the top of
00:32:19
Scenic Drive so you think oh which is
00:32:21
the worst which is a lesser two evils
00:32:23
you know but and I and that's just a
00:32:25
mental it's not a physical thing because
00:32:28
your body will go wherever your mind
00:32:30
takes it but it's it's beating the mind
00:32:32
it's it's but I think I think when you
00:32:36
the unknown is easier you know when you
00:32:38
then the UN then the known so it's like
00:32:41
it's like writing the Orca Marathon okay
00:32:44
so the last three times that I've done
00:32:46
it the first year was just to see how my
00:32:49
arm would cope
00:32:51
um and we got to about 37 K's and this
00:32:53
arm started to cramp and I thought okay
00:32:54
so I had to back it off completely
00:32:56
because I didn't really want to I didn't
00:32:58
want to have to stop and then
00:33:01
um and then the second time was let's
00:33:04
see how you know we've made some changes
00:33:06
to the bike but then we were having
00:33:07
mechanical issues because the tolerances
00:33:09
in the bike the bike frame and the and
00:33:11
the running gear was just not right and
00:33:13
so I was I had but I was thinking when I
00:33:16
was going up the bridge this this last
00:33:18
time that I was actually because I'm
00:33:20
fitter and stronger I could actually
00:33:22
because I knew that I just had to just
00:33:25
pull the cranks over and crank I could
00:33:27
actually look around and enjoy the
00:33:29
sunrise coming up and I although we were
00:33:31
going up the hill and I I didn't
00:33:33
actually just kill myself going up
00:33:36
because I wanted it's got to be hard
00:33:37
though that um it's um going up the
00:33:40
Auckland Harbor Bridge it's um
00:33:41
deceptively long and steep yeah it's
00:33:43
just over a kilometer
00:33:45
um from the from the devonport side yeah
00:33:47
that's going to be hard doing that with
00:33:48
your hands no the thing is
00:33:50
um so I just put it in a gear that I
00:33:52
knew that I I wouldn't actually hurt
00:33:54
myself and I'd actually said to myself I
00:33:56
want to go fast on tamiki Drive I wanna
00:33:59
so I don't want to kill myself on the
00:34:01
bridge
00:34:02
um and yeah no it was just awesome just
00:34:05
put it in in a gear and I just seven
00:34:07
kilometers an hour up and my heart rate
00:34:09
didn't go with 175 and you know and I
00:34:12
probably lost maybe a minute or two on
00:34:14
that on that climb but the thing is it
00:34:16
was something to enjoy the sunrise it
00:34:18
was beautiful it you know it was and
00:34:20
then when we got to the other side once
00:34:21
I got over there then I put the hammer
00:34:23
down and I you know I've looked at my my
00:34:27
um Telemetry afterwards and I'm pretty
00:34:29
happy I'm barring the sun Strikers I
00:34:31
have to worry about it and also through
00:34:33
um through the viaduct they're the
00:34:35
council had made some really some
00:34:37
changes
00:34:38
all these roundabouts and all you know
00:34:41
and and and and because of the
00:34:43
narrowness and they've that they're all
00:34:46
the bike Lanes where they've got these
00:34:47
funny concrete things you had to be a
00:34:49
little bit mindful so you had to back it
00:34:50
off there a bit but but yeah no it's
00:34:53
it's
00:34:55
um it's a different now that I'm fit
00:34:57
them my arms are stronger and anything
00:34:59
like that I can't actually start
00:35:00
enjoying it yeah whereas the first two
00:35:02
years I must say that it was more about
00:35:04
survival in terms of what I was trying
00:35:06
to
00:35:07
achieve you know and I even in the in
00:35:10
the 2020 um Marathon I actually crashed
00:35:14
I actually
00:35:15
um going through Mission Bay I I got a
00:35:18
little bit of a um a wheel wobble and I
00:35:21
over corrected with my with the this um
00:35:23
wasn't strong enough to hold the bike
00:35:25
and the strikes are over corrected and
00:35:26
X-Men and I was I was on the pavement
00:35:28
and the bike was upside down and
00:35:30
everybody was sort of speed were you
00:35:32
going at the time uh about 24 25 cases
00:35:34
right wow so so everybody's coming
00:35:36
running over and they want to check me
00:35:38
and I'm saying just I'm not interested
00:35:39
in me just get the bike riders the bike
00:35:41
okay so you know get back in the bike
00:35:44
and go again and um yeah that was that
00:35:47
was crazy
00:35:48
um but uh you know and then and then
00:35:51
this year I finally felt that I'm strong
00:35:54
enough now to actually
00:35:56
um start pushing we are pushing higher
00:36:00
and going longer and faster
00:36:02
um but yeah that's but now it's all
00:36:04
about technology now it's it's the bike
00:36:06
that I'm on is is not the best and
00:36:10
um it's not even far from the middle so
00:36:13
how so it just sometimes yeah it's just
00:36:16
it's the it's the cheapest bike you can
00:36:18
buy and it's just as you know when you
00:36:20
buy as somebody actually put an analogy
00:36:22
oh so you're riding like aware without
00:36:24
being nice to you I like a real Spike
00:36:27
you know I said yeah yeah as opposed to
00:36:30
going to the bike shop and buying sure
00:36:31
you know buying a uh yeah well not even
00:36:34
that but just a a you know buying a a
00:36:37
bike that's actually
00:36:39
um fit for for that kind of thing so
00:36:42
yeah so we we've we've got some plans in
00:36:44
the in the in the wind to actually get a
00:36:46
new bike so that's cool fantastic yeah
00:36:48
now What's um I I've never met um
00:36:51
anybody before that's done both that's
00:36:52
that's run a marathon on their legs and
00:36:55
uh done a marathon with their their arms
00:36:57
as well what what are the differences
00:36:58
I'm guessing the legs are a bigger
00:37:00
muscle group
00:37:01
um and I suppose but the arms are a
00:37:03
smaller group but yeah I suppose you can
00:37:04
roll a little bit uh yeah once you get
00:37:05
once you get uh once you get the um the
00:37:08
roll on and you and you get into that
00:37:10
Rhythm
00:37:11
um the arms actually you don't have to
00:37:14
actually put too much power through the
00:37:15
arms I've found on the weekend that
00:37:18
um I've got quite good um tricep
00:37:20
development
00:37:21
um in both arms now and triceps I think
00:37:23
pay a huge part in but it's it's just
00:37:25
yeah once you get into that into that
00:37:28
Rhythm and it's the same same with
00:37:30
Marathon running with legs once you get
00:37:31
into that Rhythm
00:37:33
um and you've trained your legs you can
00:37:34
go and go and go you know you don't
00:37:36
actually it's when you it's when you
00:37:38
start taking when you start pushing and
00:37:41
that heart rate elevates and the lactic
00:37:44
acid starts building up if you if you
00:37:46
get to that stage once it's gone and you
00:37:48
can't you can't get it back it's just
00:37:50
staying in that Groove
00:37:52
um you know not that's that's the thing
00:37:54
with training is you you train for that
00:37:56
Groove yeah
00:37:57
um and then you just push it a little
00:37:59
bit harder when you when you're racing
00:38:01
is the feeling at the Finish Line much
00:38:02
the same uh bittersweet because
00:38:06
um people people see you coming are you
00:38:09
riding a bike oh that must be so much
00:38:11
easier
00:38:12
you know and you're at a running event
00:38:15
and and and you know this is I take my
00:38:18
head off to the to the Auckland Marathon
00:38:19
because
00:38:21
um I went across to New York in 2015 and
00:38:23
I did the New York Marathon yeah yeah
00:38:25
first first um above the knee amputee
00:38:27
ever to do the New York Marathon yeah no
00:38:29
no no no no no no no in a hat in a in a
00:38:33
recumbent cycle with artificial legs was
00:38:35
the first right okay so I was in a
00:38:38
different because I I couldn't crank
00:38:39
with my arm we decide decided to
00:38:41
actually use my prosthetic legs and use
00:38:44
a recumbent hand cycle so and with
00:38:48
petals and so I was actually using legs
00:38:51
and while we were while we were in the
00:38:54
air between
00:38:55
um
00:38:57
LA and New York there was big
00:38:59
discussions where they're going to
00:39:00
actually disqualify me from entering
00:39:02
because they they saw the bike that I
00:39:05
was riding and they thought that I know
00:39:06
you've got legs you're going to just you
00:39:08
know you're going to be so far in front
00:39:10
because you're going to be but what they
00:39:11
don't realize is that it's you know
00:39:13
using mechanical stuff that is it's
00:39:15
really difficult to actually crank so it
00:39:17
took me four hours to get around the
00:39:19
course that allowed me to start but
00:39:21
um it was then that I actually I I saw
00:39:24
all the hand cycles and I thought you
00:39:26
know we really got to try and hand cycle
00:39:28
and so I was fortunate enough in 2016 to
00:39:32
be invited by pnz to go down to a new
00:39:35
Plymouth to the the cycling camp and I
00:39:38
tried and it wasn't too bad and so and
00:39:41
it's just been a progression since then
00:39:44
and and now you know they're still
00:39:46
there's still heaps of work to do yeah
00:39:48
they're still I've got to make my
00:39:49
shoulders and chest and arms much
00:39:51
stronger so I'll be hitting the gym and
00:39:54
hitting the bike the cool thing I've got
00:39:57
nice training setup where I can just go
00:39:58
down and I can just train and just jump
00:40:00
on the bike and just crank and you know
00:40:03
there's nothing more that you can do
00:40:04
it's like running
00:40:06
you know the only way to actually
00:40:08
to run further and longer is to actually
00:40:10
do it yeah but train smart without
00:40:14
hurting yourself you know so um
00:40:20
total length
00:40:22
I don't know how old 57 total length but
00:40:26
only 10 in short you know I always get
00:40:29
it to myself again what do you mean well
00:40:32
well I'm only really 11 right I've been
00:40:34
rebuilt you know okay okay
00:40:37
at the total model or the or the new
00:40:40
model OKAY the the the simplified model
00:40:43
because it got rid of some body parts
00:40:45
yeah so this yeah but I don't actually
00:40:49
feel that old at all to be honest I
00:40:52
actually
00:40:53
um
00:40:54
you know I I get frustrated with the
00:40:56
traumatic brain injury because that is
00:40:58
the one that actually slows me down
00:41:00
because I I can't
00:41:02
if I didn't have the brain injury
00:41:05
um I'd be like a like an Energizer Bunny
00:41:07
with our legs it's just like but that
00:41:10
that just that's the handbrake that will
00:41:12
just stop me from yeah like a limiter
00:41:15
yeah it is I've got to be very very
00:41:16
careful and that's where Catherine has
00:41:18
been awesome she's you know she sees she
00:41:22
sees the subtle changes that are going
00:41:23
on she says you need to stop you need to
00:41:25
go rest you know sleep
00:41:27
um you know that kind of stuff so it's
00:41:29
good to have that support Crews yeah
00:41:30
how's the whole thing been for her the
00:41:33
last 11 years uh Bittersweet as well
00:41:36
very hard she's had to take on roles
00:41:38
that I used to do in the house and and
00:41:41
that that kind of that's hard for me
00:41:42
like what's the roles uh mowing lawns
00:41:45
just yes July five well high four no
00:41:50
well that I I used to love making them
00:41:52
yeah yeah I know that was awesome I used
00:41:55
to time myself to see how fast I can do
00:41:57
it
00:41:57
the quicker we could do it but also you
00:42:00
have to do it properly though but
00:42:02
they're quick you gotta you know I used
00:42:04
to love mowing lawns and and I used to
00:42:06
love washing cars and stuff like that
00:42:08
and so um you know just just those kind
00:42:10
of things
00:42:12
um she's she's had to be father and
00:42:14
mother to both boys because there's been
00:42:16
a lot of dime time for me that I'm
00:42:18
actually just haven't been present you
00:42:19
know so yeah that kind of thing that's
00:42:21
not through you can't feel guilty about
00:42:22
it no no no
00:42:25
um but you know there's things that I've
00:42:26
I've I do now that that probably roll
00:42:29
roll reversal so luckily I used to enjoy
00:42:32
ironing before
00:42:34
because you know that's the ideal lining
00:42:37
and that falling of the washing and
00:42:38
stuff like that but you know there's
00:42:41
um
00:42:42
yeah it's it's been hard for her I'll be
00:42:45
you know our whole relationship is
00:42:46
completely different because of the way
00:42:49
that life is
00:42:51
um
00:42:51
you know I used to be 24 7. I used to be
00:42:56
only needed a few hours sleep I used to
00:42:58
be always you know I could do everything
00:43:00
I didn't need a diary I always
00:43:02
remembered everything in my brain and
00:43:05
um and now I'm not that same person
00:43:07
anymore and I'm sure she struggles with
00:43:09
it to a certain extent um I know I feel
00:43:12
like it probably frustrates you more
00:43:13
than her you're still the same here no
00:43:16
no no things are different I'm different
00:43:19
um
00:43:19
you know I I see things a little
00:43:21
differently as well and um I do give I I
00:43:24
get frustrated pretty what do you see
00:43:27
differently
00:43:28
um
00:43:31
yes I have to protect myself and so
00:43:35
um I don't actually engage a lot
00:43:39
um sometimes I have to actually just I
00:43:41
divorce myself from from family life to
00:43:43
be because I just I just it's a
00:43:46
self-protection mode it's um we are
00:43:48
getting better at it
00:43:50
um but uh this recent little so during
00:43:52
lockdown
00:43:53
during August I was down in the garage
00:43:55
with my youngest son and I I did I did
00:43:58
something I don't know what I did but a
00:44:00
couple of hours later I could I was in
00:44:02
so much pain and
00:44:04
and the pain hasn't gone away but it
00:44:07
hasn't gotten worse which is a good
00:44:09
thing but it's it's a I had some
00:44:11
scans done in December and just waiting
00:44:14
to see The Specialist now but that kind
00:44:16
of pain so
00:44:18
I did I was down in the garage a couple
00:44:21
of days ago and I I had to just stop and
00:44:25
I gotta stop now because this thing's
00:44:27
just escalating and so that's
00:44:29
frustrating I've got a project down in
00:44:31
the garage that's what would normally
00:44:33
take two or three days it's gonna
00:44:34
probably end up taking two or three
00:44:35
weeks yeah so that that kind of
00:44:37
frustration um and then there's just
00:44:40
um
00:44:41
yeah there's been it's just subtle
00:44:43
changes people people don't realize that
00:44:46
um
00:44:47
you know living in Auckland is not easy
00:44:49
for a person with disability you know we
00:44:51
went to a place yesterday and I'm not
00:44:53
going to name where we went but winter
00:44:55
place yesterday
00:44:57
um and I rolled down the window and I
00:44:59
said to the guy just you don't want
00:45:01
people here at your business who've got
00:45:02
any kind of wheelchair disability do you
00:45:05
because there was just steps everywhere
00:45:06
right and he goes oh he goes oh you know
00:45:08
we've only just moved in here and you
00:45:10
know we still and I'm going well if
00:45:12
you've only just moved in on this deck
00:45:14
that looks brand new why didn't somebody
00:45:16
to put a ramp in you know but I you know
00:45:19
this is the kind of thing it's so
00:45:20
annoying yeah it is you know a lot of
00:45:23
people think that people with
00:45:24
disabilities should just be tucked away
00:45:26
don't see that and and that's why you
00:45:29
don't see a lot of people with
00:45:30
disabilities going out and doing stuff
00:45:31
and that's why you know you talk about
00:45:33
uh inspirational well you only see a
00:45:36
couple of these people out there doing
00:45:37
it because it is hard it's not easy it's
00:45:40
you know you've got a shopping center
00:45:42
a Christmas farmers at Christmas just
00:45:45
you know you try and get through all the
00:45:47
aisles and they've just packed them out
00:45:49
and I've gone to the stage now that if I
00:45:51
knock it over I knock it over I'm not
00:45:52
I'm not I'm not going to apologize
00:45:54
because yeah you know they they don't
00:45:58
actually see that people in wheelchairs
00:46:00
actually have a right to come into the
00:46:01
shop as well you know and it's
00:46:03
um I'm lucky I don't know if you see the
00:46:05
tiny little wheelchair that I've got
00:46:06
power chair that I've got I take it to
00:46:08
my shopping centers now I don't take my
00:46:10
bigger one into the shopping centers
00:46:12
because I just can't get through the
00:46:15
different yeah you're sitting in this
00:46:18
power chair that you're talking about
00:46:19
now and uh you're such a big dude with
00:46:21
your upper body I can't even see the
00:46:22
chair yeah it's very compact yeah it is
00:46:24
it is a very cool little compact chair
00:46:27
um but you know I've got another one
00:46:28
that I should at my day chair that I
00:46:30
should go but because
00:46:32
the biggest shops just clamber
00:46:34
everything they don't actually and you
00:46:36
go and then if you knock something over
00:46:38
I feel guilty that I've knocked it over
00:46:39
but I've got to the station now whatever
00:46:41
I don't want to actually feel guilty
00:46:43
because you know I've I do have a
00:46:46
I wouldn't say right but everybody else
00:46:48
has a right to go into a shop and and
00:46:50
buy stuff so why can't I go to shop just
00:46:52
because I'm I'm out walking but you know
00:46:55
and it's the same with with with mothers
00:46:57
that have strollers with their kids you
00:46:59
know push chairs and stuff like that
00:47:00
they battle as well you know so
00:47:03
um but the thing is you know that's a
00:47:05
short period of one's person's life
00:47:07
where
00:47:08
the wheel the the stroller or the push
00:47:10
chair goes out because the child grows
00:47:12
well before for me now until my
00:47:16
my dying day I'm going to be I have to
00:47:19
have some form of mode of Transport
00:47:20
whether because you what people don't
00:47:22
realize is with people with prosthetics
00:47:24
there's a limit of how far you can walk
00:47:27
in them because it's exhausting you know
00:47:30
you don't you don't think of people
00:47:32
who've got Prosthetics are just walking
00:47:33
around I mean double amputee are just
00:47:36
walking around cat they are one or two
00:47:37
but
00:47:38
you can't walk like five six hundred
00:47:41
meters you did yeah because you're using
00:47:43
so much energy
00:47:45
um
00:47:46
and not so much from a walking point of
00:47:48
view but if you think about if you just
00:47:50
think of key street now they've got all
00:47:51
these different surfaces and everything
00:47:53
I get walking with prosthetics you have
00:47:55
to actually mentally be engaged in where
00:47:58
you're walking because you've got to
00:48:00
actually you can't just stroll along and
00:48:03
let your your natural features you've
00:48:05
got to actually be engaged okay there is
00:48:07
a different surface there you've got a
00:48:09
feel for it and so you mean it's not
00:48:11
something I would have ever thought of
00:48:12
mentally is it's draining how do you
00:48:15
mean stuff it's like tiles you might
00:48:17
slide on them yeah yeah so you know the
00:48:19
thing is you've got to be mindful of
00:48:22
where your foot is going to go and and
00:48:23
what kind of surface so when you're
00:48:25
walking on Prosthetics you can feel the
00:48:27
difference between grass and and and
00:48:29
carpet and and floor and concrete you
00:48:32
can feel all those difference
00:48:33
um and all of them come with different
00:48:35
slip you know and the way the micro
00:48:37
processors work on the on the electronic
00:48:40
knees
00:48:41
um because they they take a lot of that
00:48:43
thinking out but you've still you've
00:48:45
still got to be looking ahead
00:48:47
and because you've got something false
00:48:50
underneath you've still got to be
00:48:51
feeling for it and so it's a mental game
00:48:53
as well as a physical game so singular
00:48:56
amputees can get away with it because
00:48:58
they've got one good leg that they can
00:48:59
actually rely on that day but when it
00:49:02
comes to double entities above the knee
00:49:04
it's it's a completely different and
00:49:06
there's there's a couple of guys in the
00:49:08
states who you know they've run half
00:49:10
marathons in in you know double amputee
00:49:12
above run off marathon
00:49:15
on on Prosthetics you know but they've
00:49:17
they've taught their bodies to run but
00:49:20
you know they they're they're a
00:49:22
millisecond away of of falling every
00:49:25
single time because they've got to
00:49:27
actually make sure that that blade comes
00:49:29
right back in the right place and
00:49:30
everything like that it's it's yeah it's
00:49:32
exhausting so if you think somebody
00:49:35
walking a kilometer just naturally
00:49:38
and then somebody walking a kilometer
00:49:40
with prosthetics a guy who's prosthetic
00:49:42
she's probably looking 300 400 more
00:49:45
just to do a kilometer so prosthetics
00:49:48
for me the way that I've got my
00:49:50
Prosthetics now is to be able to get out
00:49:52
the car
00:49:53
go into a shop maybe buy a coffee and
00:49:56
then come back and get in that and get
00:49:57
back in the car it's not to get in put
00:50:00
my Prosthetics on and and stroll around
00:50:02
the more for two hours do you know what
00:50:05
I mean you don't strike me some more red
00:50:07
anyway
00:50:08
it'd be nice to have that option yeah
00:50:10
yeah it's it's a yeah exactly you know
00:50:12
you have that option of of um of just of
00:50:16
doing something because everything has
00:50:18
to be planned in our lives I just like
00:50:20
to be able to do something off the cuff
00:50:22
or just you know just without even have
00:50:24
to thinking about it enough and if you
00:50:27
get there and there's a couple of stairs
00:50:28
you don't want to go oh now how do we do
00:50:32
this you know yeah so we went to a vet
00:50:34
not so long ago because our dog Baxter
00:50:35
and I would have thought oh most vets
00:50:39
you know they were they went upstairs
00:50:40
you know I must get to this place and
00:50:42
there's like six stairs up into and I so
00:50:46
luckily this chair that I'm sitting on
00:50:47
breaks down into four pieces so what we
00:50:50
did is I you know we opened the boot and
00:50:53
and kessen took uh took the chair out
00:50:56
and she broke it down and and I climbed
00:50:58
up the stairs on my backside and then
00:51:00
she brought the chair up and and you
00:51:02
know that kind of thing people just you
00:51:04
know and I'm I'm thinking man
00:51:07
you know it's a public place it's a it's
00:51:11
it's open to everybody
00:51:13
and this is the whole thing that we face
00:51:16
all the time is
00:51:17
um there's a well-known
00:51:20
um Steakhouse in Auckland that people in
00:51:22
wheelchairs had to go through the
00:51:24
kitchen to get into into because
00:51:26
everybody else could go up the steps and
00:51:28
you know people at wheelchairs going
00:51:30
through the kitchen and I've been
00:51:31
through yeah you know they always say oh
00:51:33
we've got exes and you go gotta go
00:51:35
through the back door just I've actually
00:51:36
just done a course where everybody else
00:51:39
was able to sit on the deck and have
00:51:41
lunch on the deck but I wasn't able
00:51:42
because there was a step
00:51:45
um luckily three days in they made a
00:51:47
ramp that I could get down onto the deck
00:51:50
but you know at in this day and age
00:51:52
hotels and stuff like that shouldn't
00:51:54
actually be it should be it should be
00:51:57
mandatory yeah yeah and I I must admire
00:51:59
I feel terrible about this I've never
00:52:00
really noticed and I suppose you were
00:52:02
the same before
00:52:03
um yes probably yeah mindful of that now
00:52:06
yeah but it's um a lot yeah a lot of
00:52:08
people who've come into who who live in
00:52:10
my life now they're quite mindful of it
00:52:13
um I know that my neuropsyche's he's
00:52:16
always looking at it now from a
00:52:17
different angle yeah yeah are you um
00:52:20
how do I put this um
00:52:23
I I spoke to a guy on my podcast a
00:52:26
couple of weeks ago called Brad smailer
00:52:27
who's um an amazing New Zealander he was
00:52:30
he was a wakeboarder one of the best
00:52:31
wakeboarders in the world and he he's uh
00:52:34
tetraplegic yeah yeah
00:52:35
um but he he he he got his injury doing
00:52:39
it doing a stunt and landing on his neck
00:52:42
and on his back on the on the ramp the
00:52:43
wrong way so it was it was it was his
00:52:45
own it was his own doing yours on the
00:52:47
other hand was not your own doing
00:52:49
do you have a grudge on anyone you're
00:52:52
mad at anyone you're not better no
00:52:54
because it yeah what's the point yeah
00:52:57
then you're going to get angry and you
00:52:59
get depressed and you're gonna be
00:53:01
thinking about ugly person and nobody's
00:53:03
it's so easy like when you have to go
00:53:05
around the back of a restaurant and
00:53:07
you're going through the kitchen it'd be
00:53:08
easy to point the fingers yeah the thing
00:53:10
is is when you look at the the incident
00:53:13
involved um
00:53:14
there's a lot of a lot of stuff that
00:53:17
went on it's just you know that's just
00:53:19
unfortunate that
00:53:22
um
00:53:23
it's if you're gonna be bitter and
00:53:25
twisted about it then you're going to be
00:53:27
better interested in who's going to want
00:53:28
to actually who's going to want to be
00:53:30
around a bit nobody lies better and
00:53:32
trusted people you know and the thing is
00:53:34
you know you've you've only got you've
00:53:37
only got one life
00:53:39
and you've just got to actually
00:53:41
you've got to enjoy you know you've been
00:53:43
throwing this this curveball or you've
00:53:46
been throwing this you've been thrown
00:53:48
into a bunch of eggs and and you've got
00:53:50
to actually decide what kind of egg
00:53:51
you're going to be you're going to be a
00:53:52
good egg or bad egg and
00:53:54
at the end of the day
00:53:56
um
00:53:57
good eggs are better than bad eggs put
00:53:59
it that way people people will want to
00:54:02
help a person who's who's got a better
00:54:05
attitude nobody likes coffee you know I
00:54:07
mean you've all been in the workplace
00:54:08
when the person the person who's got the
00:54:10
bad attitude nobody wants to deal with
00:54:12
them nobody wants to be their mate
00:54:14
um this drags everyone exactly so you
00:54:16
know and we haven't got time to be you
00:54:20
know time's going and with this virus
00:54:23
that's going on it's it's really
00:54:24
knocking all the events that you want to
00:54:26
do I'm just got an email this morning
00:54:29
that another event's been canceled and
00:54:31
I'm uh because I haven't you know like
00:54:34
you you asked me how old I was and I've
00:54:36
got things that I want to achieve yeah
00:54:37
yeah
00:54:38
um and I feel that by all these things
00:54:41
being canceled is my what I want to
00:54:44
achieve I'm I'm not going to get there
00:54:47
because you know we've missed out what
00:54:50
two years of of
00:54:52
racing to a certain extent
00:54:54
um the only good thing is that we can
00:54:56
get more training in it
00:54:58
but uh glass apple yeah yeah but the
00:55:01
thing is it's it is frustrating that you
00:55:03
know all these things but you know we
00:55:05
were lucky to get the Walker Marathon
00:55:07
undone yeah have you always been a good
00:55:09
egg or you've become a beard since uh
00:55:12
there's times when I've been a grumpy
00:55:14
egg but those those times
00:55:17
um
00:55:19
those times are there's a reasons to be
00:55:21
grumpy eggs
00:55:23
but I'll be I'll be honest the last
00:55:26
couple of the last year that I was
00:55:28
living in South Africa I was a grumpy
00:55:30
egg I wasn't happy about being there
00:55:33
um so yeah getting here was was awesome
00:55:38
um but yeah no I remember no oh
00:55:41
frustrated egg more than that grumpy egg
00:55:43
yeah
00:55:44
um you know like my mum I'd like to go
00:55:47
and visit my mum and she lives in
00:55:49
Australia and we can't do that at the
00:55:50
moment and she's not getting any younger
00:55:53
because I'm not getting any younger so I
00:55:54
know she's not getting any younger so
00:55:56
you're only 11.
00:55:59
yeah but um no I I I like to think that
00:56:03
I'm I'm a good egg yeah
00:56:05
um yeah so well I think you are that's
00:56:08
probably a good place to end up yeah
00:56:09
yeah um yeah and Winston motivational
00:56:12
and don't shoot me yeah
00:56:15
inspirational I feel like you should own
00:56:17
that and wear it that's not something
00:56:18
you should be embarrassed about it it's
00:56:20
a compliment yeah it's hard it's hard to
00:56:23
do that but I you know I'd I'd really
00:56:25
like to be nine as somebody who
00:56:27
motivates people and get stuff done yeah
00:56:29
you really are and I suppose if you're
00:56:31
going with that good egg versus Bad Egg
00:56:33
thing I mean this this accident's given
00:56:35
you the opportunity to do that oh yeah
00:56:36
no I think I think before I used to help
00:56:39
people before the incident yeah with
00:56:41
running and stuff like that yeah and
00:56:43
motivating people to to get off their
00:56:45
mums and do stuff so not doing anything
00:56:47
different that's why I probably find the
00:56:50
inspirational stuff a little bit I like
00:56:52
to be like motivate people you know yeah
00:56:54
well I feel like you're doing both those
00:56:56
things even though the tags don't
00:56:57
necessarily sit comfortably with you hey
00:56:59
thanks so much for your time absolutely
00:57:01
Jim thank you
