Hey! How can I support Triabetes? Here's how!

So, if you want to have an interesting afternoon searching the web, I highly suggest googling things like "kids saying please" or "giving". I was looking for just the right image to put with my asking you, your friends and complete strangers for money. You know what came up when I searched for a cute little kid face saying please? I got this photo of kid flippin' the bird. Huh. My mom must have taught me wrong?

Anyhow. I've set up this really cool thing called "First Giving". Any money raised by clicking on the button to the left will go directly to funding the Triabetes project. I mean, look how COOL Dave Shack looks with these iron-fans last year during sign up!

But, Michelle, isn't the project already funded? Well, yes, thanks for asking. We have had HUGE support from sponsors who gave us huge amounts of money (ahem, Lifescan) and those who gave us really cool stuff like Specialized helmets, shoes, and optics, training from Diabetes Training Camp, spibelts, vitalyte, purefit bars, money to spend at the tri-sports store - just to name a few. But documentaries are expensive!

What we would like to do is make sure everyone who comes out on race day to support the team gets a free tshirt to wear - what's the point? A free tshirt? Well, no, actually. The point is, we want everyone out there racing to feel at home. We want them to feel the diabetic love. We want the film crew to be able to "spot" our fans for the documentary. We want our tshirts to show up all over the official Ironman video too of course!

Steve Ahn has been working with a supportive fan in the Boone, NC area who is trying to get us 500 tshirts! Imagine the course dotted with little Triabetes Iron-fans everywhere. Let's make it happen!

PS googling "giving" comes up with a lot of unsavory pictures of birthing....don't go there!

2 months to Ironman...do the math....

So you all know by now that I worship the ground that Lifescan walks on. Our biggest sponsor, the nicest people, the most supportive top reps as well as local reps.... they make the best meter around with the ultra-mini and my son still thinks the pink meter is "the new black." He's not afraid of his masculinity.

So it's time to gear up for the big race, 2 months and 9 days away....I have twelve diabetic athletes that are overexerting and rockin' the house. So what does this mean.

LOTS OF TESTING AND TESTING AND TESTING.

Now, you may ask, "Michelle, I thought many of the athletes are on an insulin pump therapy with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM)?" Right you are, and thanks for paying attention! But you see, the meter is still the tried and true method to really put it to the test, so the triabetes athletes mount these ultra-minis right to their bikes!!! They put one in each transition bag and special needs bag during the race (that makes THREE additional meters just for race day), and they test sometimes upwards of 20 times per day.

So I fire off an email to Lifescan and say, "gosh, is there any way I can get the dream amount of meters and test strips for these athletes through their season?" I got a "you betcha, girlfriend!!!" (Ok, he didn't say it exactly like that, but close!)

So do the math.

I have 12 athletes needing enough strips and meters to get them through September 7, 2008 which is in addition to what they are already ALLOWED to get from their insurance (cheapskates).

I am requesting 10,500 test strips and 31 more meters.

I have to quote a few of the athletes responses:

"do they realize that we may be checking BG's like 15 or more times a day? they are okay with this?"

"Wow. To test whenever I need to......... that is a cool feeling. I'll take 1050 and a few meters, please!"

THANK YOU LIFESCAN! Did I mention Johnson & Johnson? Did I mention One Touch Ultra-Mini?

A little of TT1, a little of Triabetes, a lotta JDRF

WOW! I'm SO excited for the upcoming JDRF gala on May 2nd. I've worked my tail off with an amazing gala committee to raise as much money as humanly possible for diabetes research. If you don't know, JDRF has a mission to raise money for research. It's amazing. Check it out at http://www.jdrf.org/ if you haven't before!

That evening, we will be honoring Bob and Carol Gorsuch. Now, Bob rode for JDRF in Whitefish, Montana during the Ride to Cure Diabetes with his daughter, Amy, and grandson, Prentice. They were very excited to get to meet my friend Phil, founder and superstar of Team Type 1. I'm so excited that Phil has accepted the honor to be my date and superstar guest speaker for the event. Phil has an amazing story that starts at 7 months old and a great mom who told him he could do great things despite his diabetes. Just one week before our gala, he will be racing (PRO!) in the Tour de Georgia. I can't wait to watch.

So onto my next exciting news. John Moore and Brian Foster from Triabetes are flying in as guests of Nella Citino and Ray Ibsen, our wonderful documentary artists at Andiamo Productions. I'm hoping to also get together Joe Brady, Aaron Perry and Larry Smith for an amazing Saturday morning bike ride on the Ironman course they will soon be racing for real! WOOHOO! I am really looking forward to getting out there and actually being part of the documentary we all envisioned.

How about some icing on the cake? Lifescan is going to be there loud and proud and purchased a gala table. Lifescan is not only a HUGE sponsor of JDRF, but a out of this world sponsor for the Triabetes project. I hope they look around the room and see all the beauty that is there with donors...corporate...families....the kid who raised $153 at a bake sale...they are all there.....

So let's get this straight. I will spend Friday with all of the people who donate to JDRF that I know and love, mix in a little TT1 love from my good friend, Phil Southerland, and add a dash of superstars from Triabetes. A pinch of Lifescan title sponsorship and what are we making?

Oh....that's right. A cure.

Goodnight everyone! I have to go to bed early because I biked to work and I need to do it again tomorrow!

Lifescan is my new best friend

Do you have one of these bad boys? Jesse does. He has silver, pink, lime, and black. His favorite is pink. (It's the new 'black', says he).





A shout out to our local Lifescan rep, Scott Short. Just days after I started working at the Executive Director of our local JDRF chapter (and I was still staring at the walls wondering exactly what it was I was doing there), he stepped in and introduced himself. We had lunch. Over that lunch, as we got to know each other, I told Scott about my vision of a getting a bunch of people with type 1 together to do the Ironman Wisconsin. The word "documentary" was said. We spun our ideas.





Fruition: And so it appears through a lot of great people with great vision, a partnership is born. Charles Renfroe and the team at Lifescan, you rock! Thanks for seeing what a great "product" we are...and we are indeed.





Many the diabetic Ironman athlete inquires: how the heck am I going to test my blood sugar on a bike during the event?





My guys (and girls) are happy to show you how - and with this TINY meter glued on to your handlebars (made of sleek carbon of course), you got it made....





I don't need to post a million comments about Diabetes Training Camp - go to http://www.triabetes.org/ and read the athlete's blogs - they are AMAZING.... but you HAVE to check out this photo of our own Johnny Moore sporting the sexiest tshirt on earth while standing on the Great Wall in CHINA!



Where do you wear YOUR Triabetes Tshirt? You don't have one yet???? Dude, GET ONE and send me photos of you wearing it. Want one? Shoot me an email at curejesse@gmail.com.

Biking 40 miles tomorrow.........see ya on the road!