Team Type 1 Coming Out My Ears

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting yet another tt1'er, Bob Schrank out of the Chicago area. I was invited to a dinner hosted by Sanofi Aventis to listen to Bob speak about his diabetes management, etc. The room was filled with diabetes educators.

Memorable phrases from the evening:

Michelle: "My son wears a CGM"
Three educators: "What's a CGM"
Michelle: "???????? Really???????"

Bob, when asked about other pro racers saying it's an unfair advantage that they use insulin: "my pancreas red-lined, what's your excuse?"

My favorite quote from Bob that instantly became my tagline was when he said: "I didn't join Team Type 1 for cycling. I was already a cyclist."

I love what he said because it reminds me of so much of what we all do, those of us invested in the "d" world. We use the amazing skills we already have to spread the message and do good things, to get us closer to a cure.

I'm not sure what my amazing skill is but I'm pretty sure it involves pot pies or something.

PS Check out Bob's new blog as he embarks on RAAM 2008:
http://gobobgobobgo.blogspot.com/

Back in Step....I can't win, but I can finish

I started a vacation today. My first since I started working at JDRF almost 3 years ago. I can't help it - I feel like when I go to a conference or a ride or whatever...it's FUN. It FEELS like a vacation when I'm with people who share my mission in life, you know?

So today, I get up (late, happily) and go for a swim. Ok, it was a short swim, but so what? I swam.

I bike downtown to meet Brian Cholewa for lunch at a happy little Mexican cart (sans donkey) on the capitol square in my sweet sassy tt1 gear (I couldn't help myself I look GOOD in it dang it). I then bike into a horrible head wind smiling my head off.

It's my day off. I run into no less than 6 people affiliated with diabetes.

I stop for coffee and invite Bob Gorsuch to coffee but alas, he is actually out being a "CEO" or something...sheesh! I finish my biking, lace up and run 5ish miles to see if my butt still jiggles when I run. Yep. It does. But at least I DID IT. Game on.

The photo is my 06 Ironman finish. My friend sent it to me today. I love it. Forgot it. But it came back quickly. 1 mile to go. It's cold, raining, and my friend is wearing a flippin' winter coat! I know I look hot in my survival gear and scream, "get this stuff off me!" I want to look hot for my finish line moment. LOL

Wow. What a moment. And everyone is going to experience it soon....

Have a great night!

Michelle

Gala Success - What a Night!

Ok, so Friday, May 2nd, the "When You Wish Upon A Star Gala took place in Madison, Wisconsin. Lots of committee members made it happen. I know there are amazing photos yet to come that I will blog about, but for now, here are a few.... I'm starting with my favorite.

Phil Southerland of Team Type 1 and I were joking about him flying in to be my date. Phil and I have been friends since what I call the "old" days (a.k.a. he wasn't even out of college, Team Type 1 was something still in his imagination, and I was just fresh out of my chubby PTA mom days in Carmel, California). What started off as a joke, became reality with Phil flying in as my honorable date. We are lucky that he does a class-act job as being a key-note speaker as well! Lucky us!

I was a little shy about his documentary company holding a camera to us as we were both frantically trying to get dresses and tuxes on (I do not know how to tie a bow tie - thank you you tube!). I raced to the VIP reception, he watched the bow-tie video 7 times, and the evening was on. Could I ask for a better date? Nah.

Enter the reception and skip past Triabetes athlete and wife extraordinaire, John and Maureen Moore. Ok, so John picks on me that I don't recognize him, but hey! I've never seen him dressed up like that! All is forgiven and we have an amazing ballroom-filled evening.

SOLD OUT.

GORGEOUS.

I stood at the door briefly just to listen to people as they entered the ballroom. I giggled everytime I heard a gasp.

The evening is filled with silent and live auction. Phil tells the story of growing up with diabetes. He takes the time to speak to lots of the kids of the evening. My inbox has proven that Mr. Southerland made quite an impression in Madison, Wisconsin.

I'm proud to say our evening raised a whopping $360K at last count - a good $90K over our goal! Good company, good friends. I will post a photo album once our professional photographer puts the photos together.

Enjoy!

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.

Training for Ironman Can Be Dangerous

So I get an email from my friend, Peter, founder and prez of http://www.insulindependence.org/ and Triabetic extraordinaire yesterday morning. It starts out rather mundane. You see, like most of us, he "accidentally" didn't hear his alarm and missed his open water swim with his training group in San Diego. He was disappointed, but hey, he knew he was usually the last swimmer in the group, not so much the front of the pack, he'd go to the pool instead. Then he hears the news that someone he recently met, Dave Martin, was attacked and killed while swimming at the back of the training pack - by a Great White Shark. Peter was pretty shaken up, obviously, and considering some pool swims instead of ocean swims for awhile.

At least during Ironman Wisconsin, the only thing Peter has to fear is boat fuel, some kicks to the head by the guy in front of him, and maybe a small mouth bass skimming his leg.

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?

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!