Strawberry Margaritas

When you make something that turns out really good, it's best to write it down so that you can make it again later! This is one of those that I want to be able to go back to later!

This is my version of this recipe from allrecipies, along with some of my own notes.

Strawberry Margaritas

1/2 can of Limeade frozen concentrate (6 oz)
6 oz Tequilla
3 oz Triple Sec
Strawberries (to taste, roughly half a container)
Ice

Blend everything in a blender!

The lime taste is very strong, so can use either lemonade, or a combination of both lemonade and limeade.

The alcohol ratio is adjustable too, I think I used a little more triple sec. They type of alcohol may vary some too, I will be trying this with rum and lemonade for a daiquiri version.

Summer can't come soon enough so that we can enjoy these at the campground around a fire!

New Direction

It's been a few years since I've posted on here and I think it's time to do a general, everyday type of thing!  Since my post about my life-changing Ride to Cure, I have gotten engaged and life has taken on a whole new meaning!  Our journey with my oldest and her Type 1 Diabetes because we have much better control over it.  Diabetes no longer controls us, we control it! 

Real life consists of finding the balance between work, family, money, and the kids' activities. Some days it's not so balanced, but we manage to get by.  I will be posting about crocheting, Girl Scouts, food, crafts, sewing, and some everyday ramblings about raising two kids and two step kids in a blended family!

Ride of a Lifetime!

My very first, and definitely not my last, JDRF Ride to Cure was this past weekend!  I felt so many different emotions throughout the whole extended weekend that I have no idea where to start... and yes, this will be long winded!

I'll start with the fundraising - I had to raise $3,000 to be able to participate.  I had hoped that this would be easier than it was, but I struggled and was afraid that I wasn't going to make it. After talking and reading from others whom have done these rides, they say that the fundraising is the easy part, and I don't think that I agree with that! I had met a lady on a ride very early in the spring and come to find out that she was riding with our group on occasion and was very interested in doing a National ride next year!  Long story short, she made a very generous contribution to help me reach my goal!  I had no idea how to thank her for what she did, especially when I thought she was just going to pass around the link for my donation page and help get me get donations.  I decided to express to her how much this meant to me by telling her what JDRF meant to me and why I support them so much!  Ask anyone who has been diagnosed with T1D or had a child diagnosed and they will tell you how alone in the world they suddenly feel.  JDRF was my life-saver and brought me a little bit of sanity!  I also believe in their research in areas of Prevention, Curing, and Improving lives with Type 1!  This ladies response was very emotional as well and I am looking forward to riding with her next year, because she is wonderful!  She told me that she wanted to help remove the pressure of the fundraising so that I could concentrate on training and "My donation is small in comparison to what you accomplish everyday with and for your daughter."!  After she made this donation, I received a few more here and there, so to pay it forward, I put money towards other riders to help them meet their goal!

Training:  Last year was my first year of cycling, I was more worried about learning the etiquette and rules of the road, finding a comfortable seat and shorts!  The furthest I rode last year was 65 miles and the last 15 of that was a struggle.  This year I concentrated on training and listening to my body.  I struggled with dehydration and endurance, doing many 50 mile rides and I either felt great afterwards or completely exhausted!  I paid attention to what I ate and drank before and during the ride to see if that made a difference.  Every ride was a new experiment. On July 4th, I did a ride with some team mates and those 60 miles were a struggle at the end, on the verge of dehydration. Afterwards, I had a few 50 mile rides and I felt fine.  The week before Wisconsin, we had a team ride of 50 miles and again I struggled with dehydration.  At a week out I was scared to death that I would bomb on this ride.  With all the miles and training I've put in, even though it wouldn't matter to anyone else, I would feel let down with myself that I didn't do 100 miles.
Dan, Kelly, and a few others that I've been riding with this summer have been telling me that if I can do 60-65 miles, to do another 40 is purely mental for this ride.  I told Coach Dan that I'm hoping the adrenaline from the start line will fuel me for the first 30 miles and the last 20 will be easy because I know that the finish line is around the corner!  The climb of the bluff half way through would be a different story and I told him "I know that for those 10-15 miles, I will be cursing him and wanting to crawl into a ditch and die, but once I get through it, I'll be fine!"  As you can see from the elevation above, the bluff is an intimidating climb! It is a loop and I knew that the worse case scenario is that I could just head back to LaCrosse and skip the loop if I wasn't feeling up to it.

GranDad's Bluff - 2.5 Mile Climb... Our Training Ride on Friday!

The Ride:  The only thing that I will say about the drive up there is that 12 hours with about 3 hours in a heavy down pour were NOT fun!  A few days before leaving, Coach Julie sent out an email saying that our team was going to do a training ride on Friday up GrandDad's Bluff and that it was higher and harder than the bluff on the ride.  Thursday night I was talking to Dan and few others about climbing it and a few of them were trying to talk me out of it.  Later I told Dan that I wanted to try it - I knew that if I could do it on Friday that it would let me know what I was in for on Saturday and hopefully ease my mind.  And I was right!  Our training ride on Friday was 9.8 miles and took an hour.  BUT... I felt very confident going into the ride on Saturday!  It was 2.5 miles of an uphill climb.  It was hard and I just took everyone's advice of putting my bike in the granny gear and just spin my way up!  I found that if I concentrated on calming my breathing, that it made the exertion more bearable!  I'm glad I was determined to make this climb, it was a spectacular view from the top!

During dinner on Friday, they said that we had between 410-425 and we raised $1,020,000!!!  It was also very encouraging to hear that other families deal with the same issues that I do with Ellee.  Through out the whole summer, the girls kept wanting to ride with me.  It was heart breaking to tell them that they couldn't, but also knowing that in 6 years Ellee will be eligible for her first ride! I loved hearing how others handle their sugar on rides so that I can prepare myself for when she starts riding!

Keep in mind as you read this that it was an out and back trip.  They had 3 rest stops set up and when I speak of the number of a stop, it's from the way out.

They sent us out in 4 waves of about 100 rides and we staged it so that we were at the start of the second wave.  As I sat there anxiously waiting for them to release us with our police escort through the few blocks of down town and across the bridge over the Mississippi River, all I could think about the extra worry that a T1 rider had to go through.  What was it going to be like when I am finally able to proudly ride with Ellee, then Dani by my side?!  This is going to be my furthest ride ever and the worry of getting dehydrated was weighing on me heavily.  Normally I eat a bagel the morning before I ride and I was only able to eat half of one because my stomach felt like it was in knots.  So much to think about! What struck me the most was that 3 years ago, right after Ellee was diagnosed, I had read about these rides.  I knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to do one of these, and if I did it, I was going to try for the full 100, but realistically I knew it would be many years before I was ready for one.  I made myself put this on my list of things to do and gave myself a time frame of 5-10 years.  Here I was... 3 years later, not 5-10!  The girls love my bike, seeing me in my riding clothes, and I think have even come to grow on the volunteering at rides...and that made me wish that they were there with me to share this moment with me!  This is one of my greatest accomplishments in my life and I didn't have anyone to share it with.  It was bittersweet, just like living with T1D - there are others going through the same thing you are, but at the same time you can't help but feel all alone.

It was very chilly and the fog over the Mississippi was beautiful! They finally released us and we were off!  About 8 miles in, the group I was riding with started to slowly pass me, I panicked thinking that I can't run out of energy this early on!  The best advice is to just go at a pace you are comfortable with, even if you are constantly getting passed, so that is what I did.  When we made it to the first rest stop, about 14 miles in, I was surprised to see that I made it in about an hour! A lot of team members were telling me about ShotBlocks and trying to get me to try GU.  I had packed some to try, but at the rest stop, they had another brand and I decided to try them.  Some one had mentioned if you do the SB, use take one or two at each rest stop, so I decided that was going to be my game plan for the day. I had lost the other SW Ohio team members that I was riding with, so when I was ready, I headed back out.

The second leg went fast also - I was two hours in, had 30 miles done, and surprisingly felt great!  The group was thinning out so I had fewer people passing me, but I was also coming up to few people.  I was traveling at a pace of 16-18, which is a good bit faster than my usual average of 13-14. I even managed to get in with a pace line averaging around 20 mpg and kept up for a little while! It felt right, so I stayed with a faster pace.  Any time I passed some one or was passed, we had a brief conversation - either where are you from, how are you feeling, or a comment about the weather.  I came to realize the numbers they gave us to pin on our jerseys were a blessing!  They had our names and our JDRF Chapter so you could call some one by name or even talk about where they were from!  Even better was when you came up to some one who was struggling a little bit, you could encourage them a little bit more by calling them by name!  I think my adrenaline rush came from knowing that we were all out there for the same reasons!

The game plan for the bluff was that when I reached the second rest stop, I would text Coach Dan to let him know where I was to see if he was around the bluff to ride up it with me.  He knew that since I am from NW Ohio, hills are NOT my specialty and he wanted to be able to encourage me on this leg because it was either going to make or break me!  At the second stop I had text him saying that I was getting ready to head out and that I was averaging an hour between stops.  When I got to the third stop, right before the bluff, I had a message from him that he was riding up with another group and that I should go ahead and head up when I was ready if he wasn't back yet. I checked my computer and I had to do a double take... I had made it to the rest stop in 40 minutes!!!  That means I was doing 20mph average! That gave me such a boost of confidence and since I didn't know what he was planning, but I was anxious to give this hill a shot and wanted to get gioing!  I got in with other SW Ohio teammates, along with Coach Julie, and 3 others from another chapter (with one of them being another coach).  We all took off and I happened to be the first person out, so I took the lead!  It was a few miles out to the start of the climb and by that time, the 3 others and I had gotten ahead of the other SW team members. About the time I started to tucker out from a faster pace, I saw a red jersey coming down the hill so I hollered out "Is that my Dan?!?!"  It sure was, and he swung around to ride with me!  As the other three passed, the other Coach told me that I did a great job leading the pace line!  Who knows if he meant it, but for some one who feels like they had a crummy training season it was a tremendous ego booster!

At this point, I was so glad I made the climb the day before because it made that moment feel like a walk in the park!  When I felt myself lose steam, I just concentrated on spinning and calming my breathing. Taking deep breathes to help lower my heart rate and calm my mind.  On past rides, doing hills after 30-40 miles had killed me, my legs were jello and I had zero energy by that point.  This ride was different and I was on cloud 9!  I felt so good that when I hit the top of the main climb, I didn't stop like many others to suck down a GU or ShotBlock!  My theory when riding has been "If I am feeling good, I'm going to going with it for as long as I can!"  Once at the time, we had rolling hills before we started our winding decent down.  Once we hit that decent, it was just Dan and I. At one point he looks over at me and says "You are being awfully quiet, are you okay?"  I just smiled at him.  "I'm just enjoying this moment.  There is nothing better than enjoying a decent decent because you know that you've earned it after putting all the effort into the climb!"  We haven't experienced it yet, but I imagine it's the same feeling a parent gets when they get a really good A1C result from the doctor!

Dan and I left that far rest stop and discussed that since we had good tailwind and such a fast trip out, that more than likely the trip back will be slower.  We had till 5pm to make it back and at that point I believe it was only Noon!  As a coach, Dan was obligated to stop and help anyone, especially if it was to change a tire.  Between the second and first stop some one had a flat, so he had to stop and I went on, knowing that he'd probably catch back up to me in no time!

I caught up with Vicky, Emily, & Mo at the first stop.  Mo's sugar was dropping fast so they were hanging out to make sure she was going back up before heading back out.  Dan and I had a few conversations about how much it would mean to him to be able to cross the finish line with a few different people that he's been working with all season, especially his step daughter, Emily, who just started riding.  Knowing this, I talked them into waiting till Dan got there so that we could all ride back together!  Coach Julie and a few other SW Ohio Team Members ended up catching up with us and we all crossed the finish line together!   My final stats of the ride... 101 miles in 7 hours 15 mins!!!

I don't know how to sum up this ride.  I was a little disappointed in a few ways, but in other ways, I was completely blown away!  Saturday night we met as a team and everyone took a turn telling of a memory that they are taking away from this weekend.  I think Krista summed it up best when she said "You never forget your T1 diagnosis date, it will forever be one of the worst days in your life... but this - you will always remember this ride as one of the best moments in your life!"  I couldn't agree more!  Our D-Day was April 21, 2009, but August 18, 2012 was one of the greatest accomplishments in my life!  And truth be told, there will be a date in 2018 that I be even more memorable for me, and that is when Ellee gets to do her first national ride!

It's hard to believe that I was able to do this great of a distance in 3 1/2 years after diagnosis when I originally thought it would take me every bit of 5 years to be able to do this!  If there is one thing that I learned from this experience, it's that the spirit of finding a cure makes you forget about any pain or discomfort you may be feeling... Or maybe it was just all the cowbells as you hear people cheering you on EVERY mile of the way!  =)

I'm definitely looking forward to the inaugural ride in Nashville next year!!!

Interval Training

Coach Dan has been nice enough to check in on me the last few weeks to see how my training is going.  I know the coaches have talked to each other about making sure I am ready for this ride.  Since I am so much further North than them, it's been hard to join in some of the group training rides.  God bless Coach Dan that he offered to come up my way to ride with me one night this week to see how I'm doing.

We've talked interval training.  I'm not happy with my overall average speed and was hoping that if I tried intervals that it would help improve my speed.  We were both able to take off work a little early and decided to meet about half way in Jackson Center to ride.  We both like to have head wind first, but we really didn't have a choice because riding North was the best option for us.  Heading out, we had a little warm up, then started out with a 1 minute sprint with a 2 minute rest.  After the second set he took pity on me and adjusted our times to 30 second sprint with a 2 minute rest. I've decided that I'm not a fan of intervals, but I need to buckle down and do them!

We went about 12 miles out and started coming back, but the head wind hit us and was horrible!  It's funny to see your speed go from 20-26 mph clear down to struggling to maintain 10 mph! On our way back we saw a love seat that was dumped right beside a wheat field and since we are both photographers, we had to laugh and joke about what a great picture that would be!  Well, what the heck... let's stop!!! How can you resist a photo op like this?!

Coach Dan was pretty impressed with the area.  It is definitely different from the urban area of Cinci and Dayton, and a nice little change of pace!  We are hoping to get others up this way for a ride some time soon so that I can show off my neck of the woods!  I can't thank Dan enough for taking the time to make the trek up here!  It really goes to show that these JDRF coaches care about the riders and are willing to make sure they are prepared for these rides!

Inline Skating

I think the best way to lose weight and tone muscle has got to be inline skating!  When I made my mind up a few years ago to try a half or full inline marathon, I practiced and worked on my technique, and I lost quite a bit of weight!  I finally got to the point where I like how I looked and I felt great!  After all the biking I've been doing the past few months, I'm not seeing any changes in my weight or even the muscle tone in my legs.  A few years go, just after a month or two of skating, my thighs and calves were more defined than they had been in years!

A year ago June I participated in my second Half Inline Marathon up in the Cleveland area.  The first one I did was in Columbus in August of 2009 and while my time was good, I was the second to last person to finish and it was a struggle.  But I was proud of myself and if anyone asked how I did, I told them the truth... I finished first in my age group!  That's the best part about being the only woman in your age group to compete!  ;o)  With the Columbia Station race, I improved so much (and they had a higher participation).  Instead of hanging back and letting all the faster skaters go like I did in Columbus, I jumped right up there and hung out at the front of the pack for as long as I could!

There was a lady who had passed me and stayed ahead for a majority of the time.  When I got to the last leg and headed towards the finish line, I made up my mind to catch up and try to beat her. At the very end was a hill that we had to climb, then a 20' flat stretch to the finish line.  As I came up beside her at the bottom of the hill I told her that we are almost done, let's finish!!!  We both struggled up that hill and at the top tried to gain any little bit we could to get ahead of the other!  I pulled up ahead of her in the last 5' to beat her!  I checked the stats to see that I took 3rd place in Women's overall and 1st place in my age group!  By no means am I the best skater or ready to compete with the big boys and girls, but I love the challenge of it!  


I've started watching my weight again and getting disappointed that with as much cycling as I've been doing, I'm not seeing any changes in my body, my weight especially. I took my bike in to have it checked out after my chain incident and to have the rear wheel squared back up. Saturday was the start of my first week of the summer of the girls being at their dad's house so I decided to break the skates out to take my mind off my depression.  Sunday I went out and had all intentions of keeping it casual, but I couldn't resist taking advantage of the head wind and testing to see how low I could get and for how long!  I finished 5.1 miles in 25.5 minutes, which is about where I was last year!  Excited about this, I went back out on Tuesday and when I realized that there was very little wind, I did a second lap for a total of 10.1 miles in 50.5 minutes!  On Wednesday the wind had picked back up, so I did a lap and a half for a total of 6.8 miles.


My ride in Wisconsin is 2 months away and after this week I've decided that I need to do more cross training with inline skating!  

Ride Cincinnati

The JDRF Team is not just about training for our National rides, they are also about helping out the community.  An email went out to the team about needing volunteers to either lead or sweep a ride for this event and what could I do but dive in head first again?! To play it safe, the coordinator set me up to sweep the 26 mile ride.  At this point I mention that over the past year or two the Dayton and Cincinnati area combined into one team and not everyone goes to every event. So at each event I go to, I'm constantly meeting new people!

A little about this ride: It is a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research and this year they raised over $265,00!!!  RideCincinnati.Org

The day of the event, I had to be at the location and ready to ride by 8:15 to leave at 8:30. Not knowing where I was going or what to do, I was there way early.  Jan and I made our way to the starting point which was the top of the Purple People Bridge on the Ohio River.  We found other team members and waited for everything to get under way!  As sweeps, we were to watch other rides, if they pulled off to the side of the road, make sure they are okay and if they need help, we call the SAG or bike mechanic if we can't help.

I met Jason, who was diagnosed at 19 with Type 1, and because he was sweeping the 18 mile ride, we rode together and chatted about our experiences with Diabetes and how we got into cycling!

I went up ahead of Jason and around mile 6 or 7, coming down a hill and around a curve, I see some cyclist off to the side changing a tire.  I stopped to see if they needed any help, but they were getting it so I just hung around to make sure everything was okay once they got it back on.  The ladies who stopped to help and changed the tire, left after they got it inflated.  The younger gal and her boyfriend then tried to get the tire back on the bike.  I only had to watch for 10 seconds to see that they were going to struggle with this and I was very thankful for Coach Scott's maintenance class the month before!  Stepping in to help them out, we flipped the bike upside down and I showed them how to lift the chain, drop the tire down, then seat the chain.  The gal was telling that she had just bought this bike the day before and didn't expect to have a flat so soon, and who could blame her?!

Jason caught back up with me, so we continued on.  The route for this ride was very nice! The pavement in a few spots was sketchy, I didn't care for riding through the town as soon as we got into Kentucky, but it was a combination of rolling hills!  There weren't any that were too steep and the traffic wasn't too bad!  On a ride like this we did see inconsiderate drivers, but there were also inconsiderate cyclist.  It was enough to make you shake your head.  With cyclist like that it's no wonder drivers complain about them on the road.  On the other hand, with drivers who don't bother to move over to the legally required 3 foot, it's scary for any cyclist to see a vehicle with in inches of them.  Thankfully there were no accidents and hopefully everyone became a little more aware.

Instead of turning around at the 9 mile mark, Jason went down to the 13 mile rest stop with since he hasn't had a chance to get out on the bike much this year.  There he introduced me to many more of the JDRF team members who were returning from their longer rides!

Over all I really enjoyed this ride!  Even if we don't volunteer for it next year, I will still ride in it!

First Metric of the Season!

There is a guy I use to work with out at Meijers that I would run into every so often and he would talk about running or biking.  I some how talked him into meet me in Troy for the Strawberry Festival bike ride!  This will be my first Metric of the season and I was nervous about my stomach, but knew that if worse came to worse, I could SAG it back or take short cuts!

I met Ben and Brian down there, signed in, and headed out!  Listening to these guys talk about running full marathons and knowing that Ben has ran an Ultra (50 miles) I was worried that I'd slow them down.

One of the reasons I like biking, and even skating, is because it's my me time!  But I also enjoy riding with others, especially when they are better than me because I have to push myself.  And today was no exception!  I had never met Brian before but really enjoyed listen to them talk about running and tri's because that is something that I know I will never be able to do!  I didn't feel like I was slowing them down too much, and there were even some times when I was out ahead of them.

On the ride out, we could tell we had the head wind.  I prefer to have head wind going out, tail wind coming back, so this was perfect!  The roads were good, mostly flat with a few rolling hills.  Around 50 miles in, we went down a hill and it leveled out for as far as you could see below.  Stupid me made the mistake of saying "at least we didn't have to go up it!"  After all, I did read the sign that said trucks and buses prohibited and couldn't figure out why, that hill wasn't that bad!  To quote the ride director after we got back: "If you go down a hill and it was flat all around it... chances are you will have to climb a hill at some point!" When we entered the wooded area and came up to a road that did 90 degree turn to the right and steep, we knew we were in trouble!  What can you do but hunker down and go!  I bet I didn't even make it up 10 foot before I realized I needed to get into an easier gear.  There is that split second when you hear a noise and you know that things are not good!  I heard the chain shift, then a clank, and suddenly my feet were spinning around with no force.  The chain had popped off and the foot I got unclipped from the pedal was not the foot in the direction my bike wanted to lean!  It was inevitable that I was going down!  Luckily I wasn't hurt too bad and my bike was fine.  Brian and Ben stopped and started to come over to help, but by the time they got back down I was cussing up a storm and pulled the chain back on!  Yes, I am that type of woman who likes to be able to fix stuff herself because you never know when something like that will happen.  =)

At the top of the hill was the second rest stop and it was well welcomed to these exhausted legs!  It was at the neatest place - Burkner Nature Center.  I will be taking the girls back down there to hike and to see all the animals they have in their care!

The tail wind to help push us the last 15 miles back was wonderful!  We weren't sure if we had to check in or not, so we walked up there as they were cleaning up.  The ride director stopped and chatted with us for a little while, asked for feed back and shared stories!  He was very down to earth and we thought had done a great job with the ride!  He was even kind enough to take a picture for us!

Square to Square

I'm finding out that being part of the JDRF Cycling Team isn't all about going out and riding to prepare for the National events, it's also about volunteering!  The Square to Square ride is put on by a great couple, I don't think they charge anything for it, but any donations that are received go to the volunteers to help fund their National rides!  I signed up to help clean up afterwards because I had no idea what to expect and thought this would be the easiest thing to do with out being in the way!

Before going down, I was told that this goes through a few of the town squares of the areas that make up Cincinnati.  What is Cinci landscape known for?!  Yes... HILLS!  And I was warned ahead of time that we would be riding through urban areas.  I'm not thrilled with either!  Give me country roads any day!  Wanting to be a part of the team and see what all they do, I dove right in, head first!  I have to admit that I was thoroughly impressed!  We rode through beautiful areas, such as around Xavier College, and not so great areas, but over all, it was a great ride! Heading back from the rest stop in Kentucky, I rode with Coach Dan and M (who is around 20 and has been Type 1 for about 15 years).  Once we got across the river and started up the steep streets around the Reds' Stadium, she struggled and we called for a ride for her.  That or she was tired of me asking a million questions about how riding effects her sugar and how she manages it! I couldn't help it, Ellee wants to ride with me so bad and I'm nervous!  Any little tips to help for when she starts riding, the better!

From just North of the Ohio River, it's just Coach Dan and I.  This is great because he will be on the Wisconsin ride, and any cycling tips from as many different coaches, the better!  We some how missed one of our turns and kept saying that it's got to be right around this bend in the road!  Half way up the second hill I stopped him.  These are long, fairly steep hills and this second one looked like it went on forever!  I talked Coach Dan into stopping and checking the GPS to find a route back instead continuing to playing the guessing game!  We figured out where we went wrong, called another coach to let them know that we were off track and thought we had it figured out.  As we got closer to the finish, we mutually agreed that if we ever got directions for another ride where every other thing was "at the White Castle, turn..." that we would pack our bikes up and leave!  We ended up riding 36.2 miles and so far it's the story I'll be sharing years from now at team events!

Unfortunately since it took us so long to get back, they had everything pretty much packed up.  To make up for the shotty directions... they handed us ice cream as soon as we got off our bikes!!!  Wow, do they know me or what?!  That right there made up for every emotion that ran through my head when we were lost!!!

I told Coach Dan that if he wanted to test me on my climbing skills, all he had to do was say so, he didn't have to "accidently miss the turn"!  Again, I can't say enough about how impressed I am with this Team!  Everyone is great and I love talking to the others to find out why they ride!  Some have T1 themselves, for some it's their kids, and surprisingly a majority of them didn't have a connection but do this because some one asked them to!

Long Over Due

Wow! I am horrible about keeping up on this!!!  I guess it's that time of year when the weather is so nice that you'd rather be outside than messing around on a computer!  Let's see what I can remember to do a recap of my most memorable training rides so far!

First Ride of the season... and I know this will never happen again... St Patty's Day Eve!!! Yes, the middle of  MARCH!!!  We had unseasonable warm weather and it was hard not to get out on the bike and enjoy it!  Almost 27 miles right off of the gate and it felt GREAT to be back out on the bike!

The second ride was a different story!  I knew that we couldn't get lucky enough (we are in NW Ohio after all!) for the warm weather to stick around.  Kelli and I decided that since we will be rooming together when we go to Wisconsin for our ride, that we should start riding together!  We met up in Xenia and headed South on the Little Miami Trail.  And when I say it was cold, I mean it was cold!  We had rain the day before, and if it was 50 degrees the whole weekend, it was a cold 50 degrees!  I was underdressed because as cold blooded as I am, I never would have thought that I'd be out in that kind of weather.  After that ride, I have decided to stick with the warmer temps!  Our feet were so numb after we got done because of the way bike shoes vent!  That was 28.5 miles and for at least 15 of it I was miserable!

In the beginning of May, we had a training ride as part of the Young's Dairy Ride.  This is a great ride that Young's put on where you have an opportunity to ride from Youngstown clear up to Ohio Northern University in Ada for a whopping 83 miles! And you can even bike your way back the next day!  The money raised from this ride go to 4 different charities, with JDRF being on of them!  This training ride was also my first ride with other members of the SW Ohio JDRF Cycling Team!  I was stoked!  And 44.7 miles later I was exhausted!   But I did it and felt so good because that was a great accomplishment for being my third ride of the season! The hills right off the bat really got to me, but I managed through them and was glad the ride back was flat! I also got to meet other members of the team, and every single one of them are wonderful people!  On the way back from the last stop I got to ride with Coach Scott for a little bit and he gave some great pointers!

A few weeks later I participated in the Kenton Buggy Ride.  And that was 43.7 miles of pain! My exercise induced vomiting reared its ugly head and I worried that this would plague me for the whole season if this is how it's going to start out.  I signed up to do the Metric Century (which turns out to be around 60 miles).  14 miles in at the first rest stop and can feel my stomach turning and my legs are getting weaker.  I found from the previous ride that the bagels I ate at the stops didn't bother me.  Since eating bread helped, I had some delicious Amish cinnamon bread!  But I also made the mistake of eating some strawberries too.  Feeling so sluggish early on, I decided to skip a loop which knocked about 14 miles off of the 60.  I went the rest of the route and even took a short cut to take off a few extra miles.  I think my body knows me and decided that it will hold on until I am absolutely done.  I no sooner made it back to the parking lot and my stomach let me have it! I made a mental note to talk to the JDRF coaches and see what they think will help me with this problem.

Kelli and I were able to talk Coach Scott into doing a bike maintenance class for some of us newbies!  It was very early the morning after my Kenton ride and an hour and a half down to Centerville where it was being held!  The class was great and I took away two great pieces of advice... a simple way to get the back tire off & on and how to wash and grease your bike! I was sore from the day before and really didn't feel like riding afterwards, but Coach talked me into doing an easy recovery ride.  It was an easy 16.5 miles through some neat areas!  And being Dayton, it wouldn't be a ride without hills!  I was told by a few of the older guys that they were impressed with my climbing skills for 1) being from a Northern, flatter area and 2) for being a fairly new ride!  I'll take that as a compliment!

Registration!

I wanted to register for the JDRF Ride to Cure right away, as soon as registrations opened, but I wasn't able to.  And I'm weird in the way that certain things I like to plan for certain dates so that I can remember them.  As Ellee's birthday and her diagnosis anniversary drew near, I thought about it.  I wanted to register on her anniversary date!  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter... but for me, it's sentimental!  

Three years ago we went from a care free life of raising two healthy kids to facing the fact that Ellee would have to have multiple daily injections for the rest of her life.  The part that tears my guts apart is the thought that there is no cure for this.  But the more research I've done on the disease and with the JDRF, I now have hope that one day there WILL be a cure!  It won't be a pretty cure, transplants of any kind never are, but it's a sliver of hope in this grim outlook.

The only way to truly cure this is to some how replace the cells that make insulin, so it's not like treatments for most other diseases.  The possibilities are there, though.  Organ transplants have always been an option, but not always as successful.  A month after Ellee was diagnosed I read about Islet Cell Transplants and I was delighted!  Instead of a whole organ, they were just injecting the cells that make insulin!  I like this idea better for many reasons!  I then found a lady's blog who lives up in Toledo that had this and so far, so good!  I was even more delighted to find out my cousin's husband is actively working on this project!

JDRF is vested in many aspects of T1D.  From possible cures, to improving insulin and treatments, to even prevention!  I like the idea of prevention - if this is something that isn't easily cured, then prevent it!  If I had to give one reason why some one who has no idea what Type 1 Diabetes is so why should they contribute to the JDRF, it is so that they may continue to never know!  I don't wish this disease upon anyone and would some day love to see reports where every year the number of diagnosis goes down, not up.

This is why I ride!  This is why I'm taking on the challenge of a 100 mile bicycle ride and raising a large amount of money to be able to participate!  Not only would I like to see Ellee be able to live care free again, but so that no other child should have to go through this!  

I am now registered and will be doing a 100 mile bicycle ride through "Three States, Two Bridges, and One Mighty River!"  I can't wait!!!

Registration is Now Open!

It's Here, It's Here!!!  The registration for JDRF's 2012 Ride to Cure is now open!  Now, the hard part... which ride to choose?!

Registration opened on January 30th, and to celebrate, the Dayton Cycling Team had a meet and greet that night and encouraged new riders to attend and for current members to bring some one new! Assuming that I'll get assigned one of their coaches anyways, I made it a point to attend.  I'm glad I did, to say that this is a great group of people is a complete understatement!  Everyone was so welcoming and had great stories to share!

I think the highlight of my evening was meeting the three "kids"!  A 17 year old boy (diagnosed around 16 months), an 18 year old boy (diagnosed at age 5), and a "girl" whom I believe is around 22 (diagnosed around 2 1/2)!  All three of them were diagnosed early on and have gone through all kinds of life changes with this disease and all three are very well-rounded, pleasant kids!  The one guy has done 3 (or 4) of these rides already and he's only a Junior in high school!  Both guys were talking about being councilors at the diabetes camp they have every year in Bellefontaine (which I am making it a priority to see that Ellee gets to go to that this year)!

There are days when I just want to sit down and cry because of T1.  There are nights when I don't want to get out of my warm bed to go check blood sugars or don't want to set a second alarm because she is high and I need to check again in a few hours to make sure she comes down.  But this is the reality of it.  Over and over, I am thankful that she was diagnosed with something that allowed us to bring her home, but at the same time, no kid should have to live with all the needles and finger sticks.  On Monday night, seeing these kids, who have gone through so much, have such positive attitudes is very encouraging!  These kids are the reason this is so important!  They are wonder role models for Ellee!  Which now-a-days it seems like positive role models are few and far between.  But I'm very thankful for an organization such as JDRF!

Knowing that I'm going to ride 100 miles doesn't sound all that intimidating right now... what does is deciding which of the 5 destination I'm going to choose!

Resolutions

Back in Middle School band, we played a piece called "Resolutions".  I loved it, but unfortunately don't remember who the composer was to look it up.  And it's the time of year where most people go crazy making over-the-top resolutions for the upcoming year that they don't have any intentions of carrying on for more than a few months.  I've learned my lesson on not to get over zealous with resolutions!

It's been a rough past few years, but I still have a lot to look forward to!

I love watching the girls grow up! Two girls who look so much alike but have completely different personalities!  And those personalities are as lively as can be! They aren't so little any more, Ellee is in 1st grade and is reading while Dani is in Preschool and learning to write.  And as with girls, the drama gene is starting to appear - this is the one thing I could definitely do without!!!  But then again, it just makes life all that much more interesting because you never know what is going to happen!

Learning to live with Type 1 Diabetes has been an interesting ride in itself, but Ellee makes it look easy.  April will mark our 3 year mark. Some days it feels like it was just yesterday that she was diagnosed and others if feels like it should be longer than 3 years.  We are now 3 months into pumping and while it has one major downfall, the benefits are priceless.  I'm looking forward to our Endo appointment in Feb so that we can see how much, if any, the pump helps control her A1C!

But, the high light of my year will be getting to ride in the JDRF's Wisconsin Ride to Cure!  Two years ago I bought a road bike for myself for my birthday with doing a JDRF ride in mind.  I knew I wouldn't be able to do any thing over 10 miles on my hybrid bike, so I took a leap.  I didn't get to ride it much that summer, but I did learn a lot about a whole different world: the world of cycling!  However, this past summer I started living in this world!  It's kind of like visiting a European country, falling in love, and wanting to move there!  I wish I lived closer to work so that I could park my car and ride my bike! But I will be the first to admit that I'm a fair-weather rider, so as soon as the temps drop and/or the wind picks up too much, the bike comes in the house in hopes that I get some time to get the rollers out!

This past year I put 375 miles on the bike and 115 miles on my inline skates!  I did my second half marathon inline skate and while I didn't finish in under an hour like I wanted to, I can't complain about my performance: 13.1 miles in 1:05, finished 3rd woman to finish and 1st of the women in my age group (out of 6-8)!  We drove the course right before the race and my heart sank as I saw the hills on the one stretch of road, and when I say that the finish line was an uphill battle, it literally was!  It felt like the last hill was a 45 degree climb with about 10' of flat road right in front of the finish line!   As for cycling, I'm still getting use to it, but along with lots of shorter rides. I did a 47 mile ride and felt awesome afterwards but another time did 65 miles and for the last 8 miles had this overwhelming feeling to throw up, and once I did, I felt human again (as weird as that is to say)!

While I may not make resolutions, I am making goals!  I want to spend more one on one time with the girls.  I want them to see that life is what you make of it, and while not everything is fun, with a little hard work, it is very enjoyable!  I also want to improve my cycling and skating skills, not only for my health, but for the girls' health!

Inspiration

The last 2011 JDRF Ride to Cure was the weekend before Thanksgiving, in Tuscon, AZ.  I love flipping through the pictures posted on Facebook.  You can see the people's faces of how amazing of an experience this is for them.  Reading about a parent's journey of riding for their children, or even reading about a marriage proposal at one of the rest stops!  It's an inspiration to see the sense of accomplishment in their faces, whether they have T1D or are riding because some one they love has it.  The smile on their faces as they cross the finish line tells a thousand stories, and you don't even have to know "their story".

I had to get on the computer this morning to send out an email.  I read a little while ago that JDRF would be finalizing the 2012 rides with in a few weeks.  I went to see if they were close to releasing them yet and found a link to this story:

Huntsville's Ross Armstrong does 111-mile Ride to Cure

Nate was working on the Christmas lights and I started to read the story aloud to him, without pre-reading it.  I made it through the first two paragraphs with no problems.  I started on the third and my voice started getting shaky.  Once I hit the word "needle" I had to stop to gain my composure.  Nate knows me better than I know myself because he didn't waste any time coming to me.  Needless to say, I didn't compose myself, instead as Nate wrapped his arms around me from behind, I lost it.  Like his daughter Mallory, my daughter Ellee had very little memory of what it was like to be carefree.  Even I have very little memory of what it was like for 4 years to be able to feed her without having to check her sugar first then to give her an injection of insulin afterwards.  

I know that very few parents understand how I feel when it comes to this ride.  When we tell people that we will be riding over 100 miles next summer, the mileage is what catches their attention, not the cause.  In my eyes, riding a bicycle 100 miles in one day is nothing compared to living a lifetime of daily care of T1D. But after each training session and after the day of our big ride, my life will resume.  Back to checking sugars before every meal, dosing for everything with carbs that she eats, changing out infusion sets, and analyzing sugar results to make sure her dosage is working.  

I ride because it is my hope that one day Ellee will be able to say "I vaguely remember what it was like to have to check my sugar and dose insulin after eating."  

A Few More

Click here to see Full Album!

Second View

A few more images from this wonderful session!

Senior Preview

I am so glad that I did this session! The weather was perfect, the location was perfect, and these guys were a blast!  It was by far the most fun I've had on a shoot, thank you so much!  

Enjoy the little preview and I will post more as I get them done!  

Best Wurst Ride

Nate and I knew from the first time we saw this ride that we just had to do it!  Being German, it's hard to pass up an opportunity to have good German food!

We have been working hard to ride as much as possible, and for as long of distances as possible, to work up our endurance for this ride. We've done 50 miles, 40 miles, and many rides 35 miles and less.  Very rarely do we get out on the bike and "just don't feel like riding".  Most of the time, we have found that once you get on the bike, the miles add up like they are nothing.  Your body feels like you've just started and you've already rode 10 or 15 miles.  And the hills!

Funny thing about hills... any one who has rode bikes as a kid or has rode a cheap mountain bike on the road will tell you how much they hate hills.  Where I live (and it's where I grew up), you could actually ride your bike in a circle, including down hills, and feel like you don't have to go up any hills!  Once Nate and I started riding, we rode up a few "smaller" hills.  The first few times, you feel like your struggling to get up there.  You are learning your gears and learning when to shift, how often to shift, and what gear to start out in.  But, after you starting getting any one of those things down, the hills start getting easier.  You learn what gear to shift into and at what point before starting the hill.  The next thing you know, you're at the top of the hill, and you didn't struggle at all!  Or, you made it just about clear to the top before you really "felt like" you were climbing!  You still have those "oh crap" moments when you approach a new hill and it looks like a monster, but when you get to the top, you feel like the hill was only half as tall as what it looked!

Back to the ride!
Over all, I really enjoyed it!  There were a few areas that I did not like, such as having to share a one lane gravel road with the runners (whom I'm going to guess were running a half marathon).  I won't get into the details of my disappointment with that leg, other than that is the reason why I *always* stay as far over to the right as possible, not matter what I am riding on, when I bike and skate, other than to pass. Had both groups practiced this, there wouldn't have been any issues!

Most of the roads were very nice, and most of the first 50 miles were flat!  We had to go up and over 30 a few different times, so there climbs here and there.  There were a few iffy roads, such as the one that ran past the junk yard.  We went through some neat areas, such as nice small towns and beautiful country roads!

On the map we had a small section that took us North, go over to the next road, and head South, then a straight stretch back to the fairgrounds.  Then the hills started.  They started out gradually and small.  Up one side, then down the other with a straight stretch before the next.  Then it got to the point where they were getting to be back to back.  Then the monsters started, and this time I mean Monsters!  Hills where you struggle to get up no matter how much you shifted!  Then when you got to the top, you tucked in and rode it down because you were too exhausted!  My average riding speed is around 13mph, and I think my fastest down one of these hills was around 28mph, and Nate's was 30+!

After riding 50 miles, you think to yourself that 15 more miles isn't that much.  But then when you start getting into these hills back to back, 15 miles starts to feel like an eternity!  After inline skating two half marathons, I've learned that as you get closer to the end, you push yourself harder because you know that it's almost over!  And try as I might, I just didn't have the energy to do this.  After 5 miles of these hills, I was starting to feel sick to my stomach and zero energy.  I knew that if I were to get sick, then I'd feel better afterwords, so a few times I got off the bike and into a ditch hoping that I could get this over with, but to no avail.  We rode a few more miles, usually up or down one or two sets of hills, then I'd have to stop and try to get sick.  Why is it that when you I *want* to get sick, you can't???  The last 3-5 miles I struggled and my speed started dropping into single digits and I kept shifting into easier gears.

We finally hit the straight stretch back to the fair ground!  While I still felt like I had to get sick, I had a glimmer of hope that it was almost over and I was trying to hold out as long as I could before I got off the bike.  My odometer read 65 miles as we came up to a jog in the road and the SAG wagon was sitting on the corner and he told us that there was about 2 miles left!  We stopped so that we could get a drink and I again tried to get sick.  Nothing again, and knowing that I couldn't go any slower, I told Nate to go on and I'll get a ride back in the SAG.  The guy came over and asked me a few questions and said it sounded like dehydration.  Needless to say, as soon as Nate rode off and I went to walk my bike over to the van, I lost it!  And I was right, all I needed to was to get it out of my system and I would be fine!  It was like an instant relief!  Although I felt like I could ride after that, I decided it best just to get a ride back. 

The total distance ended up being 68.5 miles and I had to explain to Nate that it's hard to map something out like that down to a nice, round (and exact) mileage!  I was amazed that on that 3 mile ride back how many people were stopped wanting to know how much further it was!  So glad we weren't the only ones struggling that last section! 

After we got the bikes loaded up and clothes changed, we drove to "downtown" to where the festival was so that we could get some brats!  Brats didn't sound as good as I was hoping they would, but sauerkraut did! At one of the places that Nate ordered a brat from, the lady was nice enough to wrap up a little bit of sauerkraut in some tin foil for me! 

Instead of jumping on 309 or 30 and heading back to the lake, we headed down to Columbus to see Dad.  He was scheduled for Open Heart Surgery in a few days, so we stopped in to keep him company for a little bit! When we told he and Mom that we just got done riding 65 miles, they looked at us like we were crazy!  And for a while I was starting to think that maybe we were!

After that, I know that I have a long ways to go before I'm ready to do 100 miles for this JDRF ride.  And who knows, I may feel the same way after riding 100 miles on that ride, but I will do so with pride!  

And as a side note, I did hit 400 miles for the summer while on this ride! 

Dehydration

Nate and I have had many conversations after a ride about how amazed we are that the heat and humidity doesn't bother us once we start riding.  Heading home from work I have the A/C on to cut down on the humidity at the same time knowing that once I get home, I'm changing my clothes and going for a ride in this weather!  We both get lots of people telling us that they can't believe that we are going to go out and ride after working all day AND in this heat!

Truth be told, it's not bad once we get out there!  With the exception of when we're on a Rails to Trails path that will run through woods, we ride on the open road and there is usually always some kind of a breeze to help cool you down!  I have read that you are suppose to drink 4-6 oz every 15 mins, even if you aren't thirsty, to prevent dehydration.  I am *horrible* about drinking water!  Knowing this, I try to hydrate if I know that I'm going to skate or bike after work.  This was not the case on Sunday!

We went to a Relay for Life Cornhole Tournament in the afternoon and sweated our butts off, but we took 3rd place!  Because I had gotten a new seat for my bike and wasn't sure about it yet, I wanted to go for a short ride.  The more we got out, the more we decided to ride further.  After about 15 miles of what ended up being a 40 mile ride, I was feeling it.  My tell-tale sign that I'm dehydrated is a headache, and I had one that just wouldn't go away!  Even though we made it a point to get a drink at every stop sign we came to, both of us were wiped out! 

Being out of water and Gatorade, we stopped to refill the bottles at the bike path.  We had it planned out so that we way we went home would put us right at 50 miles, but I started feeling sick to my stomach when I got off the bike, so we agreed that we'd take the short, direct route instead.  I *hate* riding on 235 any more than I have to, but at this point I didn't care!

I've learned my lesson!  I am really enjoying being out on the bike and I don't want to do anything to ruin that feeling, I definitely don't want to feel like that on another ride again!

My Hopes

Not only is it physically demanding to ride 100 miles, but it requires a lot of fundraising - between $2,000 and $4,000!  The amount alone has put it off because I wasn't sure if I could raise that much money.  But I'm at the point now where I look at it as "Yes, it's a lot of money to raise, but that is $4k that will do a lot of research!" There are two areas that I would like to see them apply that money towards the research, development, and FDA approval of.

My hopes for the future of Type 1 Diabetes:
1). Prevention. If T1D is not triggered by genetics then it is caused by a virus that triggers the immune system to attack the beta cells.  It's hard to figure out what virus causes it because by the time T1D is diagnosed, the virus is long out of the system.  The best way to cure something is to prevent it.

2). Islet Cell Transplants.  There are many reasons why I am all for this transplant and to me, this is the greatest hope of a cure for current T1Ds.

First reason is because of promising successes that they've had so far such as this one! The cells can come from a variety of sources.  It use to be that they had to have two donated pancreases for one transplant, but now they are doing it as long as they can get enough viable cells from one!  They are working on the feasability of using cells from pigs!  Read more about the Spring Point Project here.

Second is that it seems like it wouldn't have such drastic consequences if there is rejection.  The body could easily dispel the cells, rather than having to have surgery to remove a whole organ.

At any rate, any progress is better than none!  And having heard of the progress that they have made with treatments over the past 50 years, I'm optimistic.  Above anything else, I hope that Ellee sees some kind of relief in her lifetime!

Diabetes Stress

After wearing the OmniPod for a few days, I am excited about the new style of pump, but I am not on board yet.  I love the tubless concept, but it is still bulky.  It was bulky on a 30 year old woman with a few extra pounds, and it is bulky on a 6 year old with 3% body fat.  But nevertheless, the path towards better diabetes control moves forwards and the next logical step is an insulin pump of some sort. After considering the options, Ellee's dad and I decided the Ping it is.  If you want to read more about the stress of trying to convince a 6 year old that a pump is a good idea, go to ElleeB.blogspot.com.

For anyone who has to deal with Type 1 Diabetes, they know that it's rough, especially when it's a young child who has it.  How do you explain to them why they have to get shots and test their sugar often?  It's even harder to answer the question of "Why do *I* have it and not anyone else?" 

As an adult, I've grown to know that while I may not like shots or blood draws, I know that they are important.  I've even realized that they are more tolerable if I don't watch.  I can donate blood and be still for a blood draw as long as I look away while they insert it.  How do you get a child to understand that? 

I've come to the realization that I am ready... I am ready to do a JDRF Ride to Cure!  Ever since Ellee was diagnosed and I found out about the JDRF Walks, I found the Ride to Cures and I knew that I *have* to do one.  No way was I to that level of riding and the fundraising requirements are steep, but I knew that one of these days, I *will* do one! 

Just like my realization and acceptance that an insulin pump is the next step in control, I am also at that same point with this Ride.  I rode 50 miles with my boyfriend on July 17th and I knew that if I could ride 50 miles in 4 hours, then with hard work and dedication, I can ride 100 miles!

My blog from now until the next year or so will be geared towards my preparation of this ride!  I may get a little too technical or boring, but bear with me!  100 miles in one day on a bicycle is a lot, even for seasoned riders, and having to raise between $2,000 - $4,000 is a lot of money to get in donations in this economy.  But that $4,000 puts us that much closer to a prevention in Type 1 Diabetes and hopefully a successful transplant to cure!