New Year, New Life!

Every once in a while, you need to step back and reassess your life. Some things, despite your best effort, will never be the way you want them to be, no matter how hard you try! Everyone has a point where they finally learn that to be happy means cutting the ties that hold you back and move forward in a more positive light. Now that I've done that, it's time to focus on the positive stuff that I want to accomplish.

Back in high school, I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to participate in a unique event - "Bikes on the Beach" on the Outer Banks of North Carolina! It was a "Wider Opportunity" through the Girl Scouts where about 60 high school aged girls from around the country got to ride bicycles from the Southern end at Ocracoke up to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. The ride was about 60 miles broke up over about 5 days with camping and sight seeing!

This trip has been in the back of my mind for the past 10 years, especially when I bought my Trek last summer to help rehab my broken leg. This summer I had a chance to do a bike tour, and even though it was less than 20 miles, it definitely set me in motion to get a road bike and do longer distances! I love that I'm now able to skate 20-26 miles, but I want to push myself with longer distances and a different activity to work different muscles. I also now have a new mission...

Since my oldest was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 9 months ago, I've looked into different fundraisers that JDRF has. Even from the first time of looking into the Ride for a Cure, I knew that I wanted to do one, but down the road. 100 miles in one day was A LOT and very intimidating, so I put that on my future planner at about 5 years out. But now I'm starting to reconsider! For the past month I've been anxiously checking ride.jdrf.org for the 2010 rides to be listed! If I'm unable to raise the required amount of money to do it this summer, I will be doing it next year!

I've got two people to ride for... Ellee and Gavin (they are related, and if I have this right, they are 2nd cousins twice removed)! For the most part, me doing a century ride in their honor is not about raising money to cure this disease, it's about motivating them to do what every they put their mind to and not letting T1D get in their way! Ellee loves riding her bike and wants to learn to inline skate in the worst way! I have no doubts in my mind that she will be out skating marathons with me in 5 years, or out doing distance rides or even mountain biking with me in a few years! And I am just fine with this, because it will help her body naturally regulate her blood sugars!