Time to Ring The Bolus!

I had an incredible past few days. On Friday Courtney and I drove up to Lake Placid to volunteer at Ironman USA. Although we both got a bit sick from the 40 degree temperatures at night and didn't get nearly enough sleep the whole weekend was a blast. I never thought that handing out water to so many sweat soaked athletes could be so much fun. The smiles on someone's face during the marathon portion of an ironman when you call out their name and tell them they look strong is just an amazing feeling - I was in complete awe of these athletes and have tremendous respect for each of them.

Since my college football days ended I have been looking for a new athletic challenge. I have been seeking a way to perform in front of crowds and test my body's limits. Diabetes has given me the opportunity to make endurance sports even more challenging than what they already were and lets me "fight" something during them. I was so inspired by what I witnessed on Sunday that I woke up at 5:20 am on Monday to get in line to sign up for the 2008 Lake Placid Ironman! On July 20th, 2008 I will swim 2.4 mile, bike 114 miles and run 26.2 miles.

I can't wait for my training to start and I'm really looking forward to sharing my blood sugar challenges with each of you. During the race we saw 2 people with insulin pumps and 2 people wearing Tour De Cure bike jerseys. Last week I did my due diligence to make sure it was an ok decision to sign up for this race and spoke with some amazing Type 1s who have successfully completed ironmans or other triathlons in the past. Jay Handy of the JDRF and Tom Kingery of the future Team Running on Insulin both spoke to me at length about the training requirements of the race but more importantly helped me embrace my enthusiasm for this challenge. Through this event I hope to show all those diabetic kids or adults that we can challenge our physical limits and can compete in insane athletic events. Now it's time for me to live up to my blog name and Ring The Bolus; this next year will have more sweat, more pain, and more commitment than any athletic endeavor I've tackled in the past and I can't wait!