Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Awakening the Sleeping Runner Racing Ragnar!

This unfolding in my life feels worthy of a post! On Friday, February 22 I took a leap of faith and signed up to run a relay race called Ragnar (http://www.ragnarrelay.com) with eleven other Type 1 Diabetics who are connected through Insulindependence. The following day marked my 6-month anniversary with T1D and I wanted to give some dignity and honor to it. Although there hasn't been any giddyness or an infactuation stage with this particular relationship; it has changed me already in profound ways. I've become much more mindful of what I am choosing to eat which has cultivated discipline, better planning and organization. This has spilled over into my administrative tasks for Ambriel and the way I structure my day in regards to time management. It's all good stuff! This endeavor has allowed for my HS track coach and I to be more regularly in touch because he is "virtual" training me from MI. It's working tremendously as I trust him to help me get over the "out of shape hump" as well as I feel accountable to him. I report my workouts on Sunday, how I feel, if I have any potential injuries/soreness, heart rates and Blood Glucose levels. We are both getting an education as managing my BG's has probably been more challenging than the fundraising or running itself. I'm reminded of the amazing value that role models and mentors have in our lives. Coach and his Wife Lori built into me starting in Junior high and discovered that I had talent that could be utilized in high school. Coach took us to many victories and school records. It's enlivening to go back to JHS and see my name that remains on the record board. I reflect today on how many fears they helped me to push through, especially in my hurdling. I'm a lefty and had this idea that my lead leg had to be my left leg as well. The key was when I arrived at the hurdle I needed to lift whichever leg was there as quickly as possible (300 hurdles). They instilled in me courage, faith in myself and God, harnessed my strengths in ways that pushed me to many personal PR's and prepared me to run Division 1 in college. We all need role models & mentors on this pilgrimage as children and as adults and they are two that I will always remember as key figures during my teen years. An abundance of gratitude to Bill & Lori! Today is two weeks and two days into training and I am feeling stronger and more determined each day. The sleeping runner has absolutely been awakened! Hooray!