Celtman Realised
So here we are. 7 years on from the accident the Celtman entry has been manifested. More on that shortly.
But quickly first, I have just realised that I didn’t update you on the Aberfeldy Middle distance race last year! Thankyou to all those that donated :) And I finished it, a mere 6 years late :), and also incredibly I completed it in bang on 6 hours which was the target time. Aside from slower than hoped for transitions, all went to plan. And importantly I had fun. Not too much emotion given the significance of the race, although on the run I did have wee moment as Hannah was waiting for me at the finish and Aimee had been with me all day the day before. Never a day passes when I am not so grateful for all the support I have had from friends and family and particularly my wee tribe of 3 and what they have been through in relation to my accident :)
So back to Celtman. I am beyond grateful to all the support I have received in my recovery as I have detailed in other blogs. I am launching another fundraising campaign alongside this event for 2 of the main charities that have helped me in my recovery. I will explain a little detail for those that are here for the first time.
In 2018 I had a bad accident that resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), many broken bones, a collapsed lung, a pelvic bleed leaving me 3 hours from death and a 5-week coma. As I began my recovery, after being told I may never walk again (I disagreed with that prognosis) I began to set myself goals in my rehab. Initially they were focused on walking and speaking again. Then they progressed. Firstly, I took part in a short triathlon. Then I started to wonder. What if ??
I wanted to set myself a North Star to keep me motivated in my recovery. I was also setting up a blog (you’re reading it) to document my recovery. Hopefully it would inspire others that I had been meeting on my journey of what was possible with a positive mindset following any kind of trauma.
I had fancied Celtman b4 my accident as a challenge following my first life change of losing 6 stone and getting into triathlon. But had never been successful in the ballot.
So why not now. Hence the birth of this blog.
And incredibly, here we are in 2025. And on June the 14th I will be taking on the Celtman.
The Oxygen Works and Headway Highland and been very important charities in my recovery. I am so grateful for their support and I would like to take this opportunity to raise some more pennies for them to continue the great work they do in the highlands. And say thank you again 🙏 and thank you for all the kind donations people have already made over the last few years.
The Fundraising page is here.
A little more detail
As those of you that have been reading the blog will know, I suffered a near fatal bike accident in June 2018. I was clipped off my bike by a van on leaving Muir of Ord. Upon coming out of my coma 5 weeks later I was told by the attending consultant I may never walk again. After suffering many broken bones and a brain injury, I had to work very hard to talk properly, support my brain to function effectively and aim to walk again. I had so much support from family and friends, specialists within the NHS, other physical specialist for which I will be forever grateful. I also had to draw on my own reserves and determination to do my part in the recovery. Part of the that process was setting goals.
One goal was to walk which I managed after a few days and weeks after coming out of the coma. They were stressful days for the nurses as I just went for it! Determined or a little stupid…I’ll let you decide.
The next goal was to get back on a bike which I managed within a few months of coming out of my coma. With the help of friends Ewan and Pete, I was back first on a stationary bike in the gym and then on my mountain bike on the canal and at the local woodland trails (on a frosty/icy day). Possibly not the wisest, but the next goal achieved.
A triathlon was next. Triathlon Inverness were planning to put a relay team to a race in Monike a year after my accident. It is essentially a team of 4 each competing a short triathlon of 400m swim, 7k bike and a 1k run 1 consecutively until the last competitor crosses the line. I could have been completing an Iron Man distance race or so it felt like, but another milestone checked off :)
Within the first year I had decided to do a blog to chart my recovery (you’re reading it!) and I had to pick a name. I had always eyed up the Celtman before my accident. So I thought what better aim to have in my recovery and hopefully demonstrate what can be achieved with a positive mindset. As I planned out when it might be possible to do it, I knew I needed to build up. It’s a ballot entry too so a little luck involved to get in. The full Celtman is a mighty X-Tri that includes a 3.4km sea swim (with loads of Jelly fish) , a 200km bike ride and finishes with a mountain marathon over 2 Munros and harder than a full Iron Man!! To that end I decided to do the Solo Point 5 which is a half distance X-Tri in the same location of Torridon on some of the same trails to see what I would be letting myself in for.
I built myself up with consistent training and in 2022 managed to achieve the Solo Point 5 in around 8hours which you will have read about on this blog. I was so grateful to be on this planet to even take part in stuff like this, and managed to be mindful enough to “enjoy” racing around Beinn Alligin and Liathatch in very mixed weather but a lot of learning and things to take into future races.
Training has been a phenomenally positive part of my life since I began to lose weight in 2002. Following the accident, I was so grateful to be able to do this stuff again and it quickly became integral to my life. As you will have read about on the blog the work bit of life had changed significantly too, with new and I think improved focuses. But training and exercise had regained there place.
Now that I had proved to myself, I could do something big with Solo Point 5 my attention turned to Celtman. Time to build up. I’m also not getting any younger;)
Over the next couple of years I did a couple of Inverness Half Marathons, 2 Loch Ness Marathons, 2 more half Iron Men in Swansea in 2023 and Aberfeldy in 2024 (the race I had been training for that fateful day in 2018 and an emotional moment) and a Highland Cross in 2023 ( the race I had completed the week before my accident in 2018). I have been incredibly proud of all this considering my condition and prognosis in 2018. I have had many ups and downs on the journey of recovery in relation to injuries and mental challenges. Doubts are never far away, but I have always had amazing support around me from friends, family and physical specialists to keep the body in once piece. And a determination to achieve whatever I set my mind to by getting the training done and considering diet, sleep, strength etc, etc
I had nearly given up on Celtman in 2023/24 convincing myself that Solo Point 5 was enough to realise the name of the blog. But two friends convinced me to keep going for it (they know who they are) …so thankyou 🙏
And here we are. I have learnt so much along the way, details for another blog, but consistency, belief, determination, patience and a large support network are central to the journey thus far. I’m now at the beginning of a full Irom Man Training plan, which will of course be tweaked to factor in the very specific conditions that will be faced at Celtman. With a fair wind I will stay largely injury free and ready for the challenge on the 14th of June. I’m planning to do more regular updates on the blog as the training progresses and todays pic is from a 90-minute training run with Cam this morning, my boss and also my support runner for Celtman. We often train together as he is an ultra-runner and is preparing for his own phenomenal challenge. Running, yep you heard that right, running the North Coast 500 in May. Just the 2 marathons each day!! He is raising money for Mikeysline so any pennies you can spare for that gratefully received :)
Ciao for now and speak soon :)
