I’m working on the keynote address for the Tour de Cure VIP dinner which is tomorrow evening, August 19, 2011. It’s the fifth one I’ve done this year and it’s the fourth year I’ve spoken at the Tour Colorado dinner. As you know, the Tour de Cure is a fundraising event for the American Diabetes Association, an organization I am grateful exists. The Association, as they prefer to call themselves, rather than the ADA, helped me and my family from the start of our diabetes journey. We went to diabetes family camp even before I had diabetes, when it was just my dad, and we were working as a family to make sense of it all. I went to Camp Needlepoint in Minnesota for 3 years after I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 16. And I’ve walked and ridden my bike in countless ADA events.
Mike, Mari and Bob, Red Rider Year One!
Because the VIP dinner is for people who raise over $1000.00, many of the same people will be in attendance at the dinner, so I can’t just keep saying the same thing every year. Thus, I’ve got a new talk I’m rolling out.
I thought I’d give a few highlights here to help solidify the talk in my head and give a preview for those wondering what goes into a talk. I’m last on the agenda and I like it that way! Here are the three main points I’m going to make and illustrate:
1. Be An Athlete – motivation to take care of ourselves stems best from positive motivation. There’s emerging some good evidence that a positive mindset creates more success and happiness in life. Thinking of oneself as an athlete FIRST is tremendous incentive to take care of ones body: nutrition, sleep, glucose levels, stress, and athletic training (also known as the dreaded exercise) take on new meaning when one is an athlete. It’s a fun, exciting and positive way to engage with life.
If you happen to have diabetes, then have diabetes SECOND after you are an athlete. It’s something you just weave into the equation. If you’re not sure if this works, just try it for a week or better a month and see what happens in your brain. You just might be surprised. At this point, I’m going to recognize the 17 athletes of Team WILD and the people in the room riding 100 miles and 100K at the Tour on Saturday.
The Athletes of Team WILD!
2. Get Your Team Together – All high performance athletes have a team: athletic coaches, medical advisors, mental skills coaches, athletes they train with, you get it. I will introduce a few members of my team at the dinner. The five people I plan to introduce are also part of Team WILD and Team Red and the Red Riders. My mission in life is to build the very best team and then share that team with the world.
3. GO BIG! In life, there is just no point in showing up less than what you have to offer. That’s why I believe exercise with diabetes is one thing, and athlete with diabetes is a whole other thing! For this piece of the talk, I’m going to tell the story of one particular athlete and I’m going to give her, her very first Red Rider jersey. This athletes journey is particularly representative of the positive result the Red Rider Recognition Program is having in the world of diabetes and fitness!
Another person who really goes BIG is Mike Carter, an athlete with diabetes who is the Red Rider Chair in Colorado and the co-captain of Team Red Colorado. Team Red Colorado is nearing our goal of raising $100,000.000 to Stop Diabetes! In fact, if you would like to help Team Red reach this awesome goal, please click here to be directed to our fundraising page.
Check out this video to see just how BIG Mike went!
If you are a Red Rider and you are reading this blog entry, please leave a comment here and tell me which ride you did and what it meant to you to wear the Red Rider jersey! Thanks. GO RED RIDER!
To wear the red jersey on my first ride and the only woman to train for the Montana 100 mile Tour de Cure was amazing. The reason I rode was my cousin who has now lost 2 1/2 toes to this disease and I challenged him to ride. He couldn’t ride this year so I made it my goal to raise enough to wear the red jersey, go to the VIP dinner, and finish that 100 miles ride. Well, I did the first two, but got ran off the road by a semi truck. I still would up riding 57 miles and I am very proud of what I have done. I brought the red rider t shirt home to my cousin and he was in tears by the support and love I told him about in being part of the Tour de Cure. I told him about meeting Mari and what an amazing person she is and how he has to ride with me next year, and the year after that until he too, gets to meet Mari and catch her fever to be all you can be.