Mari

Tonight I got a voice mail message from Yoli, the Team WILD Triathlon Team Head Coach. I talked to Nicole, our Cycling Coach. I got an email from Matt, our Endocrinologist and another one from Celeste, our Swim Coach. I saw Marcey, our Nutritionist and Diabetes Educator, at a party last week. (She helped me count carbs for the party food I ate!) Having contact with our staff, I realized how incredible it is for the team to have such an amazing group of experts to help us prepare for the 70.3 triathlon that we will do in one year from now.

I was thinking about why I made such an effort to gather the best of the best to support our goals and the women on the team. It’s because we deserve the best. Being an athlete with diabetes is no simple undertaking, in fact, it’s downright challenging. Yet, to be an athlete with diabetes makes an incredible difference in overall health and well-being. I know for me, the year I decided to be an athlete was the year my A1c dropped into the normal range and it was the year I started to feel really good in my body for the first time since being diagnosed at age 16. The pump didn’t do it, neither did all the intense effort I put into my diabetes management. It was endurance athletics that made all the difference.

I have said before and I will likely say again, I am not going to set any records or win any prizes for my athletic abilities. But what I’ve discovered and what I am driven to share, is that winning prizes isn’t why I do it. I do it because I feel GOOD! And getting out there, with friends and with family to run, swim and bike makes life FUN! Feeling good, having fun and all the while improving my diabetes control and keeping my heart healthy is amazing. That’s why I do it. And that’s why I started this team. It’s time to inspire women to get off the couch, to get active, to talk about the role of exercise in maintaining excellent health and to demonstrate that it’s possible to do this all the while with the challenge of diabetes. In the few months that I have been a part of the Team WILD organization, I have been again and again moved to tears for the joy of finding women who care, women who exercise, women who dare to share their deepest fears and deepest hopes and joys. This is how we together will change the face of diabetes. And for those of you not on the triathlon team, please watch us, please exercise with us, please let us know how we can be sure to include you in the future. It is for all of us that we do this, and thus, we need you.