Four The Diabetics
In just a mere 10 days I’ll be riding in my fourth Tour de Cure ride. I originally signed up at the beginning of November for this ride in Orlando, FL. It was only days after my Ft. Worth, TX ride that I committed to the FL ride. Sadly, as the holiday’s drew near, it became apparent that I most likely wasn’t going to be able to ride. I had to have a minor surgery and the healing time was going to put me at about the same date as the ride.
Luckily for me, I healed much quicker than expected (praise the Lord) and am able to ride. But amongst the thought that I wasn’t going to be riding, I never put together my ride page. I kindof have a theme going, and since I’m riding, I needed to write a blurb. The theme runs along the lines of what Janet Evonovich has done with her Stephanie Plum books where each book is numbered and they run in sequential order. It dawned on me today that I was doing the same thing with my rides.
So without further ado, here’s what I had to say:
Less than a year ago I made a change in my life that was going to impact that which had impacted my life at a young age. After 15 years of battling diabetes, the disease that had controlled and changed my life, I was going to control and change it. What began as a goal to ride in one ride to show that I was ready to be in control of my diabetes quickly expanded.
When I was finished with the Tour de Cure in Long Beach, CA, I knew that one ride wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to fulfill my craving of being an athlete, it wasn’t enough just to show once that I could take care of and control my diabetes, it wasn’t enough to bring a cure to the disease. It was only hours after my first ride that I decided that I would be riding in a Tour de Cure in every state.
The Orlando, FL Tour de Cure is my first Tour de Cure event for 2008, but it is my fourth ride in meeting my personal goal. Although my personal goals are secondary to the primary reason I ride - for the cure to diabetes - I consider them an important part of fighting this atrocious disease.
I ride for myself, for my family members with diabetes, for all my friends with diabetes, for those with diabetes that I don’t know, and for those that will be saved from the torment of diabetes when a cure is found. And I will continue to ride until that cure is found, whether it be before I’ve ridden in all 50 states or long afterwards.
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