Well, they did it. The Riding on Insulin team finished the Ironman Wisconsin in style. A few didn’t make the time cutoffs, but we aren’t a bunch that give up easily. I suspect most of them will try again. I watched my friends race through the tracker all day. They were booking it, and every time I updated, they were another 20 miles into the route. When they started the run portion, I felt giddy for them. I know in my sprint tris, that’s the point where I think I might actually make it.
And Jeff… he not only became an Ironman Sunday, but he did it in spectacular fashion. At the day’s end, I sat in front of my computer and watched the live finish line feed. Every ROI jersey that passed under that archway gave me goosebumps. And when I heard the names of my friends…
Jeff Mather, YOU are an Ironman!
Matt Schmitz, YOU are an Ironman!
Mike Chadwick, YOU are an Ironman!
Dan Hayward, YOU are an Ironman!
Michelle Alswager, YOU are an Ironman!
Tears. So many tears, every single time I watched one of them cross. They were tears of joy, but more than that, they were tears of hope.
Four of those friends live with type 1 diabetes, just like me. Four of those friends trained not only for the physical effort, but also for the diabetes management. Figuring out, testing and and managing a plan for diabetes management in a race like this is excruciatingly time-consuming and frustrating, but they did it. And they did it successfully.
The other one of those friends doesn’t live with type 1 diabetes, but she lost a son to it far too soon. She coordinated this team of 40 T1D athletes and 30 support athletes, and she’s doing it again next year. She is a champion in every sense of the word, and she’s an advocate because this disease took something she loved.
I have so much hope after watching Sunday. I have hope that T1D will empower me, not hold me back. I have hope that with the right kind of training and dedication, I can do something like this. I have hope that the list of “nevers” my doctor gave me at my diagnosis 22 years ago no longer apply to me. I have hope to be an Ironman one day.
In my previous post, I shared my goal of completing a half-Ironman next year. Partially because of this ROI team, but also because I want to show someone else the hope this team has shown me—the hope my friends have shown me.
To my friends who have accomplished this amazing feat, thank you. Thank you for doing it, thank you for sharing it, thank you for helping us believe in something bigger than ourselves and bigger than any diagnosis. You really ARE an Ironman!