Tomorrow is my opening day,a 5k in Narragansett will be the start of a long racing season. Tomorrows opening day will be nothing like baseball, in fact the only people that will care are myself and Leanne. I feel that is what makes me unique as a person and as a diabetic, I don't care what it is I'm going to enjoy what I do. For some a 5k in February is nothing, for others it is dumb, a few years ago I was on board with the people that running in February was dumb.
I often get asked why I enjoy running and riding my bike as much as I do, the truth is it is my escape from the world. It is my hour or two each day to escape and just let my brain relax, I also love what it does for my body and my diabetes. This past week as I began to get ready for the 5k I didn't have that usual fire in my belly. I was just going through the motions because I really don't have a big event to prepare for. Last year I had the marathon, if I missed a day I could mental believe that missing one day would cause me not to finish the marathon. I don't have that this year, will I have the mental strength to train day in and day out with no major goal?
This afternoon I got my answer when I got the mail. As I said earlier I make small events big in my mind, while looking through the mail I saw a magazine that was from the NYRR (the organization that puts on the NYC Marathon) and I saw a small box. I decided to open the small box first, inside was a bag of 100 red diabetes wrist bands, these wrist bands will be sold at our home basketball game on Friday for a senior project that I'm helping a student with. I then sat on the couch and read the magazine from the NYRR, the magazine is in the photo above. This was not planned but my NYC marathon medal was on our coffee table, (I still need to get it engraved) and the bag of wristbands was next to me on the couch. The third page of the magazine and every ad after it said "CONGRATULATIONS You finished the NYC Marathon!!" It then had the ad for a product. I looked at hundreds of photos in the magazine and then found my name and time. At that moment I started crying, at that moment it hit me that diabetes and endurance events are who I am. I may not have endorsements or be a role model for millions of people but I work my butt of to give hope to those living with diabetes and endurance events is the best way that I can do that. I say it a lot but everyone that supports me gives me the strength to go out and fight my diabetes and run or bike hours on end. When people ask me why I enjoy riding my bike or running I believe I should answer with "I do that because somewhere someone is saying they can't do something because of diabetes, I want to show them that anything is possible with diabetes!!"
I often get asked why I enjoy running and riding my bike as much as I do, the truth is it is my escape from the world. It is my hour or two each day to escape and just let my brain relax, I also love what it does for my body and my diabetes. This past week as I began to get ready for the 5k I didn't have that usual fire in my belly. I was just going through the motions because I really don't have a big event to prepare for. Last year I had the marathon, if I missed a day I could mental believe that missing one day would cause me not to finish the marathon. I don't have that this year, will I have the mental strength to train day in and day out with no major goal?
This afternoon I got my answer when I got the mail. As I said earlier I make small events big in my mind, while looking through the mail I saw a magazine that was from the NYRR (the organization that puts on the NYC Marathon) and I saw a small box. I decided to open the small box first, inside was a bag of 100 red diabetes wrist bands, these wrist bands will be sold at our home basketball game on Friday for a senior project that I'm helping a student with. I then sat on the couch and read the magazine from the NYRR, the magazine is in the photo above. This was not planned but my NYC marathon medal was on our coffee table, (I still need to get it engraved) and the bag of wristbands was next to me on the couch. The third page of the magazine and every ad after it said "CONGRATULATIONS You finished the NYC Marathon!!" It then had the ad for a product. I looked at hundreds of photos in the magazine and then found my name and time. At that moment I started crying, at that moment it hit me that diabetes and endurance events are who I am. I may not have endorsements or be a role model for millions of people but I work my butt of to give hope to those living with diabetes and endurance events is the best way that I can do that. I say it a lot but everyone that supports me gives me the strength to go out and fight my diabetes and run or bike hours on end. When people ask me why I enjoy riding my bike or running I believe I should answer with "I do that because somewhere someone is saying they can't do something because of diabetes, I want to show them that anything is possible with diabetes!!"
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