So, I'm sitting on this blanket...

Concerts on the Square is a wonderful place to be on a warm summer night. Hundreds of people on blankets, picnicking and enjoying the Madison Chamber Orchestra, seeing people you know, (watching your seven year old find live ants to put on the spiderweb of the beautiful lion statue at the capitol...to see them devoured). You get the idea.

I'm with old Madison friends, and a few new ones. I met Sheryl on a WNBR. That's "Wednesday Night Bike Rides" to us locals. She met us out and brought some of her friends to mingle with us. Turns out, one of her friends went to junior high and high school with me in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Graduated the same year, in fact!

So it turns out a few others from the Eau Claire North Huskies reside in the area.

What's my point? I don't know. I think my point is that today I got an email from another alum, Eric, who I haven't talked to in may, ah, 23 years? And he said, "I just saw your Triabetes video, it's great what you are doing!"

So my point is that Triabetes is everywhere, and I absolutely love that. New fans! hooray!

PS I have no idea who this is in this photo below taken in 1980 but dude, I had to post it.

Cross Training - Wisconsin Style

I could have rode by trainer today in my living room. I could have gone for a run outside. It would have been tough to get to the gym, but heck, I could have packed up my swimsuit and headed for the pool.

But no, today I did a little cross-training....Wisconsin Style. That's right, you Triabetes geeks. In Madison, Wisconsin we got 17 INCHES OF SNOW. 17. The picture above is the view from my driveway as I left for work today.

So, today's strength training was 2 hours of shoveling. Hard sweating, sore muscles, core training baby.

Come on, AHN..... can you BEAT THAT???????????????????????????????????????

I don't know about the rest of the Wisconsin Triabetes athletes...but I am ready to hit some dry pavement......I'm so jealous of Anne riding in San Fran..... Hmpfh.

Bad Medicine...is what I needed

"So, Michelle....where've you been spinning these days?", said the friend who teaches spinning, via happy email.

Michelle looks around the room. She glances nervously to the right and spots her trusted steed, Johnny C, hooked up faithfully to his cyclops fluid 2 trainer, gently collecting delicate powder we call....dust....

"Ummmm....nowhere? Ah, when are you teaching class?" says an out of shape Ironman Sign-upper who hasn't done a damn thing.

Says evil friend/spin instructor, "Tonight at 6:30 p.m. See you there!

I walked into my club, got on my fabulous JDRF spankin' new bike shorts, filled the water bottle, got the cycle ready, climbed on.

Giddy up.

The music started and WOW...did I miss spinning class! What was I thinking blowing off the club all this time??? I got in my groove and grinned like an idiot during Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" as I cranked up my standing climb and grinned for those 5 minutes of painful climbing. Oh yeah, bring it on!

Thanks, Ryan, for getting this butt back in the saddle....tomorrow morning I plan to run on the fresh powder (errrr...ah....I really mean that sickening 8 more inches getting DUMPED on us) and go for a swim.....

Next post is going to be about the giving of others and general kindness rumored......film at 11.

Ninja Stealth

I saw this icon and thought of Steve "Ninja" Ahn. So I had to upload the photo. I was either going to load that up, or a picture of a thermometer to show the reason why I have a good excuse yet again today not to workout. I have managed to come down with the fever and chills on the day before I leave for a trip to Phoenix to attend the JDRF Gala. I'm going to be an airline passenger's worst nightmare! No one is going to want to sit next to me and all of my germs. But I'm determined to go.

Since I'm out here on the web and I usually ask anyone for anything - we are a nonprofit trying to spread the message that people with diabetes can do anything they set their minds to. That said, Dave Shack, the guy who "came off the couch" to do this Ironman is transforming rapidly and we need him to be equipped with hi-def cameras to capture the transformation (I never called you fat, Mr. Shack! So stop saying that!). My friend, Shawn, is working hard to track down some donated cameras, but if you believe in our mission and can get us some cameras for the athletes to record their lives, we sure would appreciate it!

Now I'm going back to bed. I have to rest before my trip.

I'm behind in the blog life, but I refuse to mention McDonalds

I have no business blogging about the Triabetes project because I can't come close to the riveting stories that are told by the athletes that are already blogging (go to http://www.triabetes.org/ to see the links to their blogs). But I thought, what the heck, blog. My perspective will be that of the mom of a type 1 child. I am doing the Ironman with these amazing people. Unlike the rest of them, I haven't begun my training. What's my excuse? Um, my day job as Executive Director for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation keeps me busy. I travel a lot for my job. I have 3 amazing kids ages 7, 11 and 14. I spend too much time on Facebook. My friends twist my arm frequently to come out and do stupid things like go to the Roller Derby (what? huh?) My bike coach (a Triabetes athlete as well) hasn't bugged me NEARLY enough to get off my butt. Errrr, my dog ate my swimsuit?

There are 5 of us I consider official Triabetic Wannabes that work very hard on this project. Me (of course) with a focus on keeping the athletes happy (you ARE happy, aren't you??), Nella Citino and Ray Ibsen who are putting the beautiful documentary together and have a child with diabetes, Matt Corcoran, M.D., the amazing doc for this team who also happens to run Diabetes Training Camp, and of course Nate Heintzman, scientist extraordinaire out in San Diego sweating his you-know-what-off to lead this project. If this blog doesn't go over well, Nate and I can always start a blog about burritos or something.

I can't tell you the reward I feel each and every day when I read the athlete's blogs and watch them transform before my eyes. Your eyes. I can't tell you what it feels like to know I brought them together AND we are having fun along the way. I can't tell you what it feels like to know my type 1 son, Jesse, is diggin' it.

I'm not mentioning McDonalds, and it's not on my running route. Not yet. If they become a sponsor, I promise to run past it and eat there. For now, I continue to run the Arboretum with my friend Zeke telling me to get my butt in gear. I look forward to my weekly runs to Picnic Point with my good friend, Tierney, who tells me I'm old and fat and MAY finish IM.

Bring on the smack talk...it's the only thing that will get me across that finish. I have a goal, it's shallow, but a goal nonetheless. I'll share in a future blog.