Being the victim of a robbery is not easy but for Navin Singh, having one of his bicycles stolen was more than just a financial loss.

Sometime early last month, while he was away for a weekend, someone had broken into the Redmond resident’s garage and stolen a set of winter tires and three bicycles. Singh said the tires were for a car he no longer owned and while two of the bikes held some monetary and sentimental value, they were nothing he could not live without. The third bike, however, had much more significant value for him.

“It has a lot of meaning,” Singh, 50, said about the third bike, a custom-built Guru Photon he invested upwards of $12,000 in to fit his needs. “I’ve been through some wars with that bike.”

Those “wars” include years of training and participating in a number of races, including an Ironman triathlon in December 2013 as well as two more shorter triathlon races. In addition, Singh is currently training to participate in another triathlon race in May 2017 in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Fortunately, after posting on social media about his stolen bicycle, he received help from others in the area’s cycling community who discovered the bike on an online marketplace. From there, Redmond police detectives were able to recover Singh’s bicycle and return it to him.

For Singh, participating in the races is not just about the competition or even physical fitness. The races (particularly the Ironman) are about inspiration — both his own and others’ inspiration.

That inspiration comes from the journey he went through to be able to participate in the Ironman.

In 1984 when he was 18, fresh out of high school and living in California’s Bay Area, Singh became ill but thought it was just the flu or a stomach bug. He had a fever and abdominal cramps, but within 48 hours, he was not able to move from the neck down. His parents took him to the emergency room and he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an auto-immune disorder that attacks the body’s nervous system.

Following the diagnosis, Singh spent about six weeks in the hospital’s intensive-care unit and then several months after that in a rehabilitation center undergoing physical and occupational therapy. It took him about two years to go from not being able to sit up in a wheelchair on his own to only needing leg braces, which is where he is today. Singh said he still has a little bit of paralysis below the knees.

While he was in the hospital, not able to move, he watched a lot of TV and saw the broadcast of the Ironman race. He saw how the athletes were mentally pushing their bodies to do what may have seemed impossible and decided to do the same.

“I just used that mindset to get better,” he said.

Just as the Ironman inspired Singh to get better after his diagnosis, Singh shares his story of achieving his goal to compete in the race to inspire others. He has been featured on various news outlets, including the Reporter in 2013, and through online social networks. Singh wants others to realize that there is hope after a life-altering diagnosis or event.

In response, he has received messages from people who have told him that his story has inspired them and for those who have faced smaller challenges, put things into perspective.

“‘It could be much worse,’” he said about what people tell him.

Singh, who was pretty athletic growing up before his diagnosis, said he always dreamed of participating in an Ironman race and decided to go for it, starting training at the beginning of 2013. That year, he entered Kona Inspired, a program that provides seven slots for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Entrants share their aspirational stories and the triathlon community votes for them to advance to the next round. Singh made it about halfway before he was eliminated from the contest.

And while his chance to participate in that particular Ironman race didn’t pan out, Singh, along with his coach and training team, decided to go for another race about two months after the Kona event in December 2013 in Cozumel, Mexico.

Athletes are given 17 hours to complete the race. The year he participated in the Ironman, Singh was the last one to complete the race and it took him 16 hours and 58 minutes, two minutes before the race ended.

“It was great,” Singh said about finishing the race.