Remember when boys used to eat your bonnie bell lip smacker?

Today I swam, then biked the Ironman course, then laced up the running shoes to throw it all toether and feel like a triathlete. My friend, Kate, and I went out and enjoyed a beautiful day. It was really fun to see all of the other Ironman athletes testing out the bike course whether they were biking it or driving it. Lots of license plates from Minnesota and Illinois.

When we got to about mile 25 we ran into my Ironman friend from 2006 - Jeremy Scherbert. In 06, Jeremy and I both had hypothermia and met at mile 2 of the run course. We finished the race together that year. At about mile 30 I realized, "Huh. My lips are chapped." No chapstick. None. By the time I was running I was licking my lips and dreaming of 1979, wearing my tasty Bonnie Bell Jumbo Lip Smacker around my neck, popping the cap and lathering it on my lips. Then I thought of my friend Tom L, who once told me about how he used to ask girls if he could borrow their lip smacker...and he then would bite off the top of it, eating it and leaving the girls screaming and mad. When he told me that story, I quietly enlisted him in the Bonnie Bell Fan Club - he anonymously received a club membership and free lip smacker for a year.

Yes, these are the thoughts that come to mind as I am trying NOT to think about my chapped lips as I finish up my run.

Today's lesson? Bring chapstick if you are racing Ironman. And why didn't we think to get them on board as sponsors??? :)

This steezin' fool is on his way to New Zealand

I know this post isn't really about Triabetes. But, this post is about my very good friend, Sean Busby. Sean is a professional snowboarder diagnosed just a few years ago with type 1 diabetes. I interviewed Sean when he was first diagnosed. Between myself, Miles Gerson, and Sean, we created a snowboard camp in Wisconsin for kids with "d". We had so much fun doing it, Sean's been hard at work creating more camps around the country.

I just hung up the phone after Sean called me (we were discussing Facebook issues as usual LOL) to say he leaves in the morning to hang out with "d" kids over in New Zealand. Pretty cool! He'll be there awhile.... when he returns, he is joining an expedition to snowboard Antarctica. Yes, he is quite crazy. I posted about him today because I stumbled on this picture of Sean. He usually hides this part of himself because he doesn't want kids to see it. But it really struck me. I hope someday he can look at this tattoo and say, "remember when I had diabetes?"

Follow Sean's adventures: www.ridingoninsulin.com and www.seanbusby.com