Andrew was giving me the scoop on their Ironkidz expedition. The rafting trip had its ups and downs, but Andrews blood glucose readings looked spot on. Andrew was coming off a couple of days of rafting with the Ironkidz and gave all the "Triabetics" that last big boost of confidence we needed before Ironman.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Pre-race and Post Raft
Andrew was giving me the scoop on their Ironkidz expedition. The rafting trip had its ups and downs, but Andrews blood glucose readings looked spot on. Andrew was coming off a couple of days of rafting with the Ironkidz and gave all the "Triabetics" that last big boost of confidence we needed before Ironman.
A really long day was all worth the opportunity to cross the finish line with my training buddy Andrew!
Next to my wedding, the moments leading up to this picture were the biggest moments of my life. Steve Ahn, my neighbor from back in Boone, NC, and I ran our final steps together crossing the finish line at exactly the same time and following the lead of the "Ironkidz." The year of training, lack of sleep, and stress associated with the days leading up to the race all seemed very irrellevant as we watched the future of diabetes advocacy lead us over the finish line of Ironman Wisconsin!
Friday, May 9, 2008
RWH
I rarely post, so it might be a little arrogant of me to think somone is reading this. One training note, I swam 3000 yesterday and feel great today. Good sign.
What is RWH. This is probably the most influential statement I have ever read. It is "Return With Honor." I first read it 7 years ago. I was training for the Disney Marathon with Team Diabetes up in Boston. I was in a crazy reading period, reading every inspirational book I could get my hands on. Luckly, I found "To the Edge" by Kirk Johnson. The book literally influenced where my life has gone. It is not one of those self help books or anything deep like that. To the Edge is about a normal guy. I relate a lot of the story to what I have witnessed in Dave. Someone that just said, "I am going to do it" and does it.
The book is about a guy that detested sports. Actually he detested all egotistical, chest beating, self driven accomplishments associated with so much of athletics today. The book gave me perspective as to what is important in doing the events that I like to do. It is not about what you do for you, but what you do with what you have done.
Kirk Johnson is a New York Times writer. He had a life changing event happen when his brother took his own life. Kirk's brother and sister were both runners, but Kirk had never gotten the itch. I don't know if he got the itch, or if he just needed a way to deal with his loss.
Kirk was writing a story for the Times about a woman named Lisa Smith (Ultramarathoning legend). He was writing a story about a crazy event called Badwater. A "race" from Badwater (lowest point in the continental U.S. -282 ft)) to the top of Mt. Whitney (highest point in the continental U.S. (14,505 ft). It is in the middle of the summer. Temperatures are typically in the 120-130's. According to 12 time finisher Scott Weber, it is a "Sufferfest."
Kirk got inspired and one day just said, "yeah, I am going to do it." After deciding, he decided to start running, for the first time. He ran the NYC marathon. He then ran the Bethel Moonlight Boogie.
Sidenote: After reading his book, I celebrated my 30th birthday following in his footsteps. I started running on June 16, 2007 at 6 pm, turned 30 at midnight, and finished the 50 miler a few hours later. If you read his description in the book there is nothing described as accurately as what he has done. Dark, lonely, decelate. Plenty of time to think, suffer, and ask why am I doing this.
After completing the Boogie, the next month Kirk finished Badwater, 135 miles, nonstop, time limit is 60 hours. Often called the world's hardest footrace.
I was inspired by Kirk and went out to Badwater a couple of times to pace Scott Weber. Daunting, humbling, and hot describe the sleepless event. However, seeing Scott throw up, cramp, cry, yell at me, and put his arm around me as we crossed the finish line drove me to want to do it more. Scott and crew were falling asleep during a pit stop on the second night of the race. I hit Scott on the back and said, "get up, we need to go climb that mountain." Scott later said to me, "you saved my race." That made me think, hmm, it takes a team to accomplish great things.
Kirk does an amazing job of describing the event. The book really isn't about the event though. It is about his journey, his healing, and his change in thought. Initially, as he trained he repeated to himself "What would Ulrich do?" Marshall Ulrich is probably one of the world's greatest endurance athletes.
Back to "Return With Honor." Kirk's brother had a sign posted in his garage, just outside his door so he passed it everytime he left his house. Kirk's mantra changed as trained. He left the idea of chasing after someone else (Ulrich), and began to see the power of a normal guy, his brother. Return with honor gained meaning as he struggled with his training in saunas by himself. He gained an increased vision of what was important to him. It ended up not so much about acheiving the goal, but finding himself.
After I read the book I went on to run the Disney Marathon. I came through the halfway point at around 78 minutes. I felt great and the training I had put in was paying off. At mile 15 I began getting excrutiating pain in my right knee. As I ran, my left IT band began hurting as well. It came to the point where I couldn't really bend my knees. I looked down at one point and saw "RWH" written on both of my shoes and pushed on. Crossed the finish line at 3:00:23.
I couldn't run for about 5 months after. Went to PT, saw Dr's, considered surgery. Eventually the pain stopped when I got orthodics.
This was my first official marathon. I had qualified for Boston. I had run Boston as a bandit multiple times before, but running Boston, officially, was really important to me. That same year I took a job at the ADA, heading the Team Diabetes Marathon program in New England. I had the great opportunity to work with Bill Rogers to get official numbers for participants to raise money for diabetes. We had a team of 8. Brian Foster was one of them.
I ran 24 miles of the course 3 weeks prior to the race as a warm up. I ran it with my friend Frank Nelson (his son had been diagnosed with diabetes 8 months earlier). We did it in 2:20 ish. This was perfect, I was going to definately run a PR, and hoped to break 2:40 (Frank's best Boston time).
Three miles into the marathon I coughed. When I looked at my hand it was red. I continued to cough blood for the next 23 miles. Finished at 4:43, two hours longer than I had hoped. When I finished I was rushed to the hospital and spent four days there. Pulmonary Edema, the x-rays of my lungs looked like I had smoked for 50 years. They were filled with blood. My dad flew up to Boston from NC. He asked me, "why didn't you stop?" Not really thinking about it, I said, "because there were 7 other people running this race for me, and I wasn't going to let them down." I will admit, I also couldn't fathom the idea of not finishing something I started. Read on because if you stop now it will make sound like a martyr, and that is not the point.
I hadn't really thought about that race for a long time. My finishing was stupid, selfish, and something I shouldn't have done. From that point on my mindset with regard to racing changed. Thinking about it recently, I think I have a better understanding of Return With Honor.
Return With Honor. To me, that means coming home better than I was when I left. It means doing the right thing, it means looking at the big picture. What am I doing in life that is actually making a difference to someone other than me. This perspective has been an integral compenent to the way I live. My accomplishments really don't mean anything, unless it means something to someone else. The someone else for me is every Type 1, Type 2, and everyone close to them that deals with the repercussions of diabetes. This means Maureen, who took off work to take me to six eye surgeries for retinopathy and who has to deal with the mood swings associated with blood sugar swings. This means my parents who still ask me, "do you have sugar," when I am going out for a run. This means the Steve Ahns, Dave Shacks, Triabetes crew, newly diagnosed, people dying from complications. Return With Honor to me means not only coming home having better than when I left, but using my life to help make the lives of people with diabetes better. This is clearly not something that can be done by one person. However, this is something that can be done be a cohesive, driven group of people with the vision of "changing the way people approach diabetes." Triabetes represents a chance for me, for the Triabetics, for their families, and for the world to realize something needs to be done. Anything can be done, we just need to do it, and we have the opportunity to do so. We can help people see the possibilities, we can help give hope, we can help advocate, educate, and push push push for a cure. My goal is to make sure that no one else goes blind, loses a limb, has a heart attack, has a stroke, throws up from a high blood sugar, crashes a car from a low blood sugar. I do realize that this is too big a goal for one person. My results driven attitude can come accross as abrasive and a little crazed, but I want change, I want results, and I want a cure. Triabetes has been a place I have found a cohesive vision and goal. We can influence people, look at Dave Shack. He will be a dad for many more years than he would have been had he not gotten involved. We all have the ability to show people, normal people can do great things. Not great things in terms of finishing an Ironman, but using the power of inspiration, the reach of the documentary, the honorable vision Nate and Peter have established with Insulindependence. We can make a difference. We can reach out to the advocates of the future. "WE" can Return With Honor."
Read the book!
What is RWH. This is probably the most influential statement I have ever read. It is "Return With Honor." I first read it 7 years ago. I was training for the Disney Marathon with Team Diabetes up in Boston. I was in a crazy reading period, reading every inspirational book I could get my hands on. Luckly, I found "To the Edge" by Kirk Johnson. The book literally influenced where my life has gone. It is not one of those self help books or anything deep like that. To the Edge is about a normal guy. I relate a lot of the story to what I have witnessed in Dave. Someone that just said, "I am going to do it" and does it.
The book is about a guy that detested sports. Actually he detested all egotistical, chest beating, self driven accomplishments associated with so much of athletics today. The book gave me perspective as to what is important in doing the events that I like to do. It is not about what you do for you, but what you do with what you have done.
Kirk Johnson is a New York Times writer. He had a life changing event happen when his brother took his own life. Kirk's brother and sister were both runners, but Kirk had never gotten the itch. I don't know if he got the itch, or if he just needed a way to deal with his loss.
Kirk was writing a story for the Times about a woman named Lisa Smith (Ultramarathoning legend). He was writing a story about a crazy event called Badwater. A "race" from Badwater (lowest point in the continental U.S. -282 ft)) to the top of Mt. Whitney (highest point in the continental U.S. (14,505 ft). It is in the middle of the summer. Temperatures are typically in the 120-130's. According to 12 time finisher Scott Weber, it is a "Sufferfest."
Kirk got inspired and one day just said, "yeah, I am going to do it." After deciding, he decided to start running, for the first time. He ran the NYC marathon. He then ran the Bethel Moonlight Boogie.
Sidenote: After reading his book, I celebrated my 30th birthday following in his footsteps. I started running on June 16, 2007 at 6 pm, turned 30 at midnight, and finished the 50 miler a few hours later. If you read his description in the book there is nothing described as accurately as what he has done. Dark, lonely, decelate. Plenty of time to think, suffer, and ask why am I doing this.
After completing the Boogie, the next month Kirk finished Badwater, 135 miles, nonstop, time limit is 60 hours. Often called the world's hardest footrace.
I was inspired by Kirk and went out to Badwater a couple of times to pace Scott Weber. Daunting, humbling, and hot describe the sleepless event. However, seeing Scott throw up, cramp, cry, yell at me, and put his arm around me as we crossed the finish line drove me to want to do it more. Scott and crew were falling asleep during a pit stop on the second night of the race. I hit Scott on the back and said, "get up, we need to go climb that mountain." Scott later said to me, "you saved my race." That made me think, hmm, it takes a team to accomplish great things.
Kirk does an amazing job of describing the event. The book really isn't about the event though. It is about his journey, his healing, and his change in thought. Initially, as he trained he repeated to himself "What would Ulrich do?" Marshall Ulrich is probably one of the world's greatest endurance athletes.
Back to "Return With Honor." Kirk's brother had a sign posted in his garage, just outside his door so he passed it everytime he left his house. Kirk's mantra changed as trained. He left the idea of chasing after someone else (Ulrich), and began to see the power of a normal guy, his brother. Return with honor gained meaning as he struggled with his training in saunas by himself. He gained an increased vision of what was important to him. It ended up not so much about acheiving the goal, but finding himself.
After I read the book I went on to run the Disney Marathon. I came through the halfway point at around 78 minutes. I felt great and the training I had put in was paying off. At mile 15 I began getting excrutiating pain in my right knee. As I ran, my left IT band began hurting as well. It came to the point where I couldn't really bend my knees. I looked down at one point and saw "RWH" written on both of my shoes and pushed on. Crossed the finish line at 3:00:23.
I couldn't run for about 5 months after. Went to PT, saw Dr's, considered surgery. Eventually the pain stopped when I got orthodics.
This was my first official marathon. I had qualified for Boston. I had run Boston as a bandit multiple times before, but running Boston, officially, was really important to me. That same year I took a job at the ADA, heading the Team Diabetes Marathon program in New England. I had the great opportunity to work with Bill Rogers to get official numbers for participants to raise money for diabetes. We had a team of 8. Brian Foster was one of them.
I ran 24 miles of the course 3 weeks prior to the race as a warm up. I ran it with my friend Frank Nelson (his son had been diagnosed with diabetes 8 months earlier). We did it in 2:20 ish. This was perfect, I was going to definately run a PR, and hoped to break 2:40 (Frank's best Boston time).
Three miles into the marathon I coughed. When I looked at my hand it was red. I continued to cough blood for the next 23 miles. Finished at 4:43, two hours longer than I had hoped. When I finished I was rushed to the hospital and spent four days there. Pulmonary Edema, the x-rays of my lungs looked like I had smoked for 50 years. They were filled with blood. My dad flew up to Boston from NC. He asked me, "why didn't you stop?" Not really thinking about it, I said, "because there were 7 other people running this race for me, and I wasn't going to let them down." I will admit, I also couldn't fathom the idea of not finishing something I started. Read on because if you stop now it will make sound like a martyr, and that is not the point.
I hadn't really thought about that race for a long time. My finishing was stupid, selfish, and something I shouldn't have done. From that point on my mindset with regard to racing changed. Thinking about it recently, I think I have a better understanding of Return With Honor.
Return With Honor. To me, that means coming home better than I was when I left. It means doing the right thing, it means looking at the big picture. What am I doing in life that is actually making a difference to someone other than me. This perspective has been an integral compenent to the way I live. My accomplishments really don't mean anything, unless it means something to someone else. The someone else for me is every Type 1, Type 2, and everyone close to them that deals with the repercussions of diabetes. This means Maureen, who took off work to take me to six eye surgeries for retinopathy and who has to deal with the mood swings associated with blood sugar swings. This means my parents who still ask me, "do you have sugar," when I am going out for a run. This means the Steve Ahns, Dave Shacks, Triabetes crew, newly diagnosed, people dying from complications. Return With Honor to me means not only coming home having better than when I left, but using my life to help make the lives of people with diabetes better. This is clearly not something that can be done by one person. However, this is something that can be done be a cohesive, driven group of people with the vision of "changing the way people approach diabetes." Triabetes represents a chance for me, for the Triabetics, for their families, and for the world to realize something needs to be done. Anything can be done, we just need to do it, and we have the opportunity to do so. We can help people see the possibilities, we can help give hope, we can help advocate, educate, and push push push for a cure. My goal is to make sure that no one else goes blind, loses a limb, has a heart attack, has a stroke, throws up from a high blood sugar, crashes a car from a low blood sugar. I do realize that this is too big a goal for one person. My results driven attitude can come accross as abrasive and a little crazed, but I want change, I want results, and I want a cure. Triabetes has been a place I have found a cohesive vision and goal. We can influence people, look at Dave Shack. He will be a dad for many more years than he would have been had he not gotten involved. We all have the ability to show people, normal people can do great things. Not great things in terms of finishing an Ironman, but using the power of inspiration, the reach of the documentary, the honorable vision Nate and Peter have established with Insulindependence. We can make a difference. We can reach out to the advocates of the future. "WE" can Return With Honor."
Read the book!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Back
Done with school and ready to train. I got a 52 mile ride in, a swim, and mowed the lawn in a 20 lb. weight vest. It feels good to be able to train. I rode up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, climed 5500 feet and burnt 4800 calories, I am starving. Can't wait for tomorrow.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Back from China
Training in China was a challenge to say the least. I don't know how they are going to have the olympics there, I am still coughing from the air. Here are a couple of pictures from the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
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