Everything Happens for a Reason

So Jesse has a middle-school "girlfriend" named Madeline. 3 days ago she asked what the symptoms were for type 1 diabetes. She just called. She's in the hospital with a blood sugar of 516. She has type 1. Jesse just talked to her to tell her it sucks....she'll be fine....you get used to the shots...I'll help you at school....

Everything happens for a reason but right now, it doesn't feel very good. Yet, I know she is in the best hands......

A break in the clouds....

The weather has been nothing but rain and storms the last few days in Madison. Yesterday my kids spent most of the day watching tv in the basement with tornado sirens going off most of the afternoon. I thought, however, that it was a good sign that I was actually upset that I couldn't get my running in or my biking. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm losing the weight I had gained over the winter (mostly, I think after 35 it isn't even so much weight gain - as I never ever weigh myself - but more so the dang shift of waistlines etc that just makes you realize your age). I proudly displayed my new "bike tan" at WNBR (Wednesday Night Bike Rides) this past Wednesday, thank you very much. I saw some old JDRF Death Valley riders that I really miss. They've promised to bike DV with me in 09.

This morning I woke up to the sounds of cars crashing outside my window. I live at the bottom of a major hill and we were experiencing some serious flash flooding at the intersection. I watched more than one car try to slam on brakes when they hit this newly formed lake, hydroplaning across. Seriously, it was so bad I actually had to WAIT to go get my morning coffee! That'll teach me for running out of my own coffee! For those of you who know what I look like at 6:30 a.m. without coffee... I know you understand the issue! Ha!

So, the forecast for Madison for the next 7 days is: RAIN. Lots of it. I have found a break in the clouds and going to give it a shot. Luckily I'll be in Washington, DC all week and can escape the weather! Except.....DC has a forecast of 99 degree temps. Sigh..........................

I biked the IM course with all 12 today...

...well.... not really. But in my head today I biked with Guiness, Ninja, Shackster, Steve 3.0, Steve C, Joe, Aaron, Anne, Brian, Peter, Crazy Bill, and Larry.... they were all there... in my mind.

I woke up to an amazing Wisconsin morning. You know what it said to me? "Absolutely fabulous bike tan lines are waiting for you, Michelle Alswager, get dressed! Get dressed! Wear that t-back and get the tan of your life!" No really! That's what I heard.

6 cups of coffee, a few emails, a little work, feed the cats...and I'm off to ride 30 miles. Except...except..... I decide to meander over to the Verona quarry and dip the toe. Would it be warm enough for a swim? Indeed! It is! I'm so excited by this that I say HELL WITH IT GIRL....bike the IM. And so I did.

I'm about 42 miles into my biking and I stand on Garfoot, my fav of the course, the sun beating on me, the wind perfect, cyclists coming the other way, and all I think is, "I have to take a pic and send it to the Triabetes gang!!!!" And I did.

I get a text from Anne telling me that she just ran 18 miles and thanked me for sharing my experience with her! She's a CRAZY woman, but then again, isn't that what inspired me to get on my bike and do a full 75 miles today?

I'll admit...Old Sauk Pass HURT. It did. And then came b!tch hill, but I just smiled. Midtown, bring it on, right???! Home stretch....

Here's what went through my head today. I am part of a team. But my teammates don't live here. And yet, they are with me when I'm training. All of them. I've trained for many things....the Ride to Cure Diabetes in various locations, other IM... and this is SO different.

For the first time in my "training" life... I am ok with biking alone. Do you know why? THESE guys are with me the whole ride.... they inspire me to keep moving and I'm so proud to be part of them, that they allow me to be part of them.

And now..... bed! I'm running in the morning and the kids can't wait to go to the quarry tomorrow night! They know how to dial 911....

PS I have the SWEETEST back tan. Mission accomplished.

I'm ready for my wetsuit, Mr. Deville

I hate "cold". Hate it. I'm the world's biggest baby about getting in the pool. TOTAL toe-dipper. To be honest, I once got to the pool, dipped the toe and actually LEFT without getting in. Yep, I'm Ironman tough. haha

Today all I managed to do was go to the theatre and see Sex In The City (excellent by the way). But tomorrow.... tomorrow..... I'm dipping my toe into my favorite swimming hole, the Verona Quarry. It's quiet, wooded, and I don't want anyone seeing me try to squish my untrained body into the seal suit. Yikes. I hope it still fits.

So let's get it straight. Today Anne biked 124 miles, and I made an omelet at 11 p.m. Obviously two very well-trained machines. :)

But seriously, I AM excited to put the wetsuit back on. I am looking forward to open water swimming and getting into my full training mode.

Road ID - Can't Wait to Wear It!

Besides Lifescan, I don't think I've taken much blog time to thank our sponsors of the fabulous triabetes project. Today I got a great email from Road ID (http://www.roadid.com/) telling me to go spend some money on my Triabetes sponsored gadgetry. Now, if you know me, you know I'm not like this:

But I will tell you this...I spent 15 wonderful minutes shopping at Road ID. What GREAT stuff! I bought a firefly to wear while I am out running and biking. I really try pretty hard not to be biking at night but there are times these bad boys would be perfect when you are caught in the rain. I ordered a blue one... :)

Then, I had to pick a Road ID. What to do...what to do... I decided I wanted something I would wear a lot, so I went with the "Fixx ID"...

I got this cool little "shell" to go around it - I chose orange (Nate, are you SOOOOO proud of me going with the Triabetes orange???). It will be proudly worn and nicely matched with my already well-known adornment:

Thanks to Road ID for their sponsorship of this project! Now go get yours!

I finally have a tshirt for Bill Carlson

Ok, I've got a BIG message I want to send out about the JDRF gala on Friday that ROCKED THE HOUSE thanks to so many people. I'll talk endlessly about having my Triabetes athletes here (John Moore, Brian Foster, Joe Brady, Aaron Perry...) and how fun it was to have Phil Southerland here along with his Team Manager of Team Type 1, Tom Schuler.

BUT...as we finished up the gala, Brian Foster was in town and wanted to do this little 5K for the physicial therapy department of the UW-Madison, to give Ray and Nella a little footage for the documentary. Now, this girl has NOT been running. Running her @ss off to get the gala going, sure, but not training. SO.... Brian is at my house, we are just chilling out, talking about the documentary...and I think, "well, Michelle, giddy up. Time to lace up the shoes officially."

Training season. Late start.

So we go to the race, it's a beautiful sunny morning, 52 degrees. Brian and I have on our Triabetes shirts (of course), Ray, Nella and Elisa show up to film. I'm feelin' good. Brian goes to the front, I meander to the back as to not embarrass myself. Phil had given me this awesome Team Type 1 jacket that I was going to wear, but realized if I wore it, people would think I was actually an athlete. Not wise. Went for some quieter fashion thanks.

Started off the race with a bad stich in the right side. Tried to push through it, felt a little whiny. But I felt ok as I finally passed some 90 year old guy (seriously, how bad am I????) and got a little stride.

I knew Brian would finish at like 15 minutes (of course he did, finishing like 6th overall) and jogged back to find me, thank GOD I was not walking, then I see Ray pull out his video camera. Girl tries to lay it on hard for the camera. As I finished, the timing crew stopped me to get my #. I have this thing where I have to keep moving, or I feel breakfast coming up (in this case, breakfast was merely coffee, but it still felt bad). It subsided and I felt good.

I'm sad to say it took me 28 minutes to finish that bad boy, but hey, I think I won my age group. Ok, ok, there weren't a lot of old people like me there! But I'll take it.

BILL CARLSON: I love my LA Marathon shirt you gave me. I have a "UW Wisconsin Rehab Run" shirt for you. Time to trade up, baby.

I'll Take the 200 Words Given to Us...

Ok. So it's not the world's biggest article. I was excited, however. The May Issue of Triathlete Magazine is out! The May Issue is out! I walked over to Barnes & Noble to get my fresh copy (a triathlete doesn't DRIVE to the bookstore - sheesh!) of the issue.

Page 30 of the 25th Anniversary Issue. There it is. My idea on real, bonafide, national magazine paper. Someone.......pinch.......me.

I have had an interesting week, for sure. I found a new house to move into. I move Saturday. Yes, that is a crazy thing to do right before my huge SOLD OUT gala (gosh I love saying that). But hey, chaos is life, live on chaos. What choice do we have, right? I know there are people out there who enjoy their 6000 sq ft house with pool in the backyard, but hey, are they living life? They go to work, push some paper. Not me. Sometimes the bumps in the road are big enough that you hit your head on the roof of the car, right, but hey, we still find time to make it to the Wednesday Night Bike Ride with 200 of your closest spandex-clad friends, bike into the wind only to enjoy the 30 mph ride back with wind pushing you onward....grin, and enjoy the beginning of what I call "training season". Giddy up. (Athough Mark G did tell me that my idea of bringing razors to the wnbr rides to get guys to shave their legs for my enjoyment was a "bad idea." What? Party pooper....)

As for me and Triathlete Magazine, my issue is framed on my JDRF office wall. I won't be replacing that bad boy until Dave Shack ends up on the cover of GQ, or we get that 3 page story - cover of course - of Bicycling Magazine.

Wicked happy evil grin.

Today I am definitely glad I didn't trade it all in for some 6000 sq ft house. You?

Type 1 Snowboard Camp with Sean - I'm exhausted

For the 3rd year in a row, I've brought Sean Busby, type 1 professional snowboarder, to Wisconsin to host a camp for kids. This year another foundation that normally "hosts" it canceled it at the last minute. Sean was receiving sad emails from veteran campers who were disappointed, so we trudged forward and made it happen on our own, me, Miles and Sean.

This year we returned to Devils Head Resort - the place we initially held the event. It was fun to return there and remember a lot of the great memories from our first camp. When the kids came back and thanked me over and over for saving the camp...wow....it made it all worthwhile for remembering this is about the KIDS and I'm glad Sean shares my passion in the "d" world. I've shared that passion with many people over the years and I just really reflected this weekend on those who have held onto the passion over all of these years and those who actually put kids first, and not just say they do. I digress.

What was really cool was to see how much the campers from the first year had improved in their snowboarding skills. I remember being on the hill with those very kids - Alex, Lucas, Jesse - when they were falling down and learning, just like I was! Now they whiz down the hills and halfpipes with Sean.

This year I brought the entire family. Joey (age 7) didn't want to snowboard and chose skis instead. Of course I was thrilled since I broke my tailbone boarding with Sean last year and it still is very tender. The thought of landing on it didn't appeal to me, so I happily put on skis with Joey. He was a natural at skiing! It wasn't long before he was up the chairlift with me.

I got up at 4:30 a.m. to drive Sean so he could get home to study in Salt Lake City. This trip was extra nice because Sean stayed at our house. How cute was it that Jesse's best friend came over to get Sean's autograph? I love snowboard camp and am so glad to be running the Wisconsin Camp again. I started it for Jesse, I continue it for Jesse.

What does this have to do with Triabetes? Nothing. :) But it has to do with the wonderful diabetes and sports world so I thought I would post something. Now, I'm taking a nap, lacing up running shoes and going for a swim tonight! The weather is warming up! Woo hoo!

Pick Me! Pick Me!

Mama needs a new pair of shoes...errrr...I mean a new bike, some coaching, zipp wheels, a 2xu wetsuit, and some big-time exposure for the best documentary currently filming - Triabetes. (www.triabetes.org)

PAY ATTENTION:

I have had the pleasure of meeting Stu of www.simplystu.com. Check him out if you haven't already. He spends some time interviewing top dogs in the Triathlon World. He turned me on to the Evotri (www.evotri.com) contest where a lucky winner will win a pretty sweet package. How do you win? You tell the world via youtube video why you "tri" and what you think you bring back to the Endurance Community that's worthy of recognition.

And so girl thinks to self... "hmmmmmmmm....." Definitely "hmm-worthy" at least, is the Triabetes project, right? I mean, 12 type 1 athletes training for Ironman Wisconsin 2008 and capturing it on film to educate the world that while not everyone with diabetes needs to go out and do an Ironman....they CAN. And DO. And while we are at it, can we educate the swim coach, soccer coach, basketball coach, track coach (getting the idea?) that little kids with diabetes CAN swim competively even though they wear an insulin pump, and no it is not a big deal if they have to come off the soccer field to treat a low blood sugar, and yes it is the responsibility to have at least a working knowledge of diabetes? I just got off my soapbox.

On Monday, 10 videos will be posted on the www.evotri.com website. For a few days, the online community will vote for the one they think deserves to be on the Evotri team. On Monday, you'll all get the link if I'm selected.

I hope I am selected and even if I'm not, it was a fun ride getting there. (And thanks Andiamo Productions for filming goofy me!)

Baby It's Cold Outside (or, I really can't stay)

No way am I going outside. -3 below without windchill. I woke up this morning to the sound of wind ripping things off my deck. I did some quick re-thinking of doing that 2.5 hour spin this morning at the club. No one would miss me...

I slept another hour.

It's ok, right? I did spin & a movie in my living room (a tradition) with some good friends on Friday for two hours.

I am excited because on Wednesday I am holding my JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes Info Meeting where new riders meet with "seasoned" riders to sign up and learn about the four rides we have this year. It always makes me remember signing myself up and how scared I was. What a great decision I made that day in 2004, eh?

I have finally filmed my entry to win a sweet new bike, coaching, wetsuit, zipp wheels.... it will be up and running soon enough after a few tweaks. The contest is about showing the world what you are doing to improve the endurance community, so it was the perfect venue for me to go on and on about the Triabetes Documentary! More to come on this.

I also heard from my good friend, Sean Busby, who will be hosting a snowboarding camp at Mt. Hood this year. (www.ridingoninsulin.com) He really wants Jesse to go, but I have to keep reminding Sean that single moms can't afford that :( Good guy that he is, he offered to take Jesse under his wing, fly him to Salt Lake City, where the two will drive to Oregon together. He'll stay with Sean, and Sean will get his sponsors to fund the rest. How cool is that? Then I took a deep breath and told myself Jesse will be fine on an airplane managing his diabetes. Ugh.

Ok, I'm off for a beer and burrito at Pasquals....my favorite.... :)