'The Bachelorette' 's Shawn Booth Opens Up About 10-Week Recovery & 30-Lb. Weight Drop After Horrific Car Crash

After surpassing a near-death experience, the 29-year-old personal trainer is training for his first Ironman triathlon

Shawn Booth is lucky to be alive.

Shortly after graduating from Keene State College in New Hampshire, the 29-year-old was involved in a head on collision that nearly cost him his life. After two weeks in the ICU and a total of two months in the hospital, the Bachelorette alum, though losing 30 pounds, made a full recovery.

Now, Booth’s attitude towards life is centered around seizing the day.

“My best friend, Kyle Christianson, served as a Marine sniper in Iraq,” Booth says in the June 2017 issue of Triathlete magazine. “He and I talk a lot about how we’re living on bonus time. How we shouldn’t be here, how lucky we are.”

More recently, Booth has taken his “seize the day” attitude and started training to compete in his first-ever triathlon.

“When I’m an old man, I want to look back and be like, ‘Wow, that was one crazy life,’ ” he says.

Booth, who is a personal trainer, has enjoyed sharing his love of fitness with his fiancée, Kaitlyn Bristowe — who has been instrumental in supporting him throughout his rigorous training schedule.

Jason Davis/Getty Images for St. Jude

“She’s really understanding about all the time I’m putting in, and she helps in any way she can, either with cooking — my diet is insane right now, I’m eating so much — or sometimes she’ll have a protein shake ready for me when I get back from a ride,” says Booth.

This past weekend, Booth, in preparation for his Ironman triathlon, ran the Rock & Roll half marathon on behalf of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, finishing in 1 hour and 49 minutes.

“I’m lucky to be even doing this at all,” says Booth.