I’M DOING IT!
I’ve signed up and it’s going to happen!
Okay. So maybe some back story is in order…
Last time (yes I know, that was a while ago) I was talking about how T1 can really suck the life out of, well, life. All the constant worrying makes it really hard to just relax and enjoy a carefree moment. Now I have spent a lot of my T1 years trying to deal with this fact by not really dealing with it and instead just ignoring it and kind of crossing my fingers. I quickly learned, 12 years quick mind, that this isn’t the way to go with T1. It is a disease that if nothing else, WILL be noticed whether you like it or not. SO instead of fighting it, I am going to not only accept it BUT I’m going to bike across the friggin country with it!
I joined up with this pretty amazing program set up by The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults called the 4k for Cancer (Check out my personal page here: http://4kforcancer.org/profiles/walt-drennan/ ). It organizes cross country cycling tours for 18 to 20 somethings so that they can raise money and spread the word about all the great things that the Ulman Fund does. The Fund provides support, education, and academic scholarship programs for young adults you have or have had cancer. I’ll by cycling with a team of 30 or so others and we’ll all be biking, raising monies, and spreading the word about the Ulman Fund. As far as causes go it’s a pretty great one. AND an awesome way of promoting awareness and raising some cash!
I’m really excited about this whole thing for 2 real big reasons:
- I’m going to be biking for 70 days straight, across the country, with a bunch of crazy kids that are as nuts as I am for doing something like this! I’ve actually done a similar trip like this before. I’ve mentioned it and even have a few pictures from the trip down below. That time it was with a group called Bike&Build and we raised money for affordable housing projects like Habitat for Humanity (what can say, I like making money for good causes). It was a truly amazing experience where I not only got to do a whole hell of a lot but I learned a lot about myself AND my T1. Which brings me to real big reason number 2…
- Now last time I was in the tail end of my T1 denial. SO, unlike last time I intend on sharing my experience with the T1s of the world that are looking for great epic adventures but aren’t too sure about how well THEIR T1 monsters will take the news. It took me biking across the country to realize that my T1 wasn’t going anywhere and if I was going to have any fun at all I would have to accept that and manage it. SO this time around I’ll be FaceBooking, blogging, tweeting, and all the other social media things that have and will be invented during my time with the 4k for Cancer.
The first time I signed up for a trip I was plagued by T1 demons from the start. They were actually what kept me from signing up for Bike&Build for 2 years. It’s one thing to be worried about myself, (whether or not I was going to pass out on my bike, how close I was going to be to a hospital if anything were to go wrong, if I could even bike 20 miles straight without passing out let alone 75 miles a day for 2 months) but add to that the other 29 people that could get hurt or worse yet (at least in my mind it was) see me as dead weight and not deal with the “T1 kid”.
Well of course I signed up. Who doesn’t want to to something epic and crazy like that? But I was still uneasy about the whole thing. So I called the people at B&B HQ and asked if they had ever had a T1 do a trip. Turns out they did. Just one guy. At the time B&B was 9 years old and had had over 1500 participants. And just one T1 in the whole bunch. While that didn’t comfort me, when I spoke to Chris (the one T1 guy to do a cross country B&B trip before me) I felt better. Not so much because of what he said. I mean he gave great advice and tips about how to deal with good old T1 while on the bike and I was grateful for that. BUT what really put me at ease was the fact that I just knew a fellow T1 that DID IT. That made it through to the end with no major complications.
SO in my effort to pass it forward T1 style I’d like to share my 4k for Cancer story with all of you. Maybe some of you are thinking about doing something epic but aren’t sure if you should. Let me just say DO IT. Don’t think about it. Just DO IT! Now I don’t mean to say that you should just forget about your T1 and hope for the best. It’s something that you shouldn’t let run your life but it is also something that you should prepare for. We’ve got so many tools and resources now that taking on these kinds of challenges is SOOOOO much easier. So be smart and have fun! It’s YOUR life, not your T1s. Don’t let it take anymore from you than it has to.
Anyway so that’s what I’ve got going on for the next year or so. I’ll be keeping y’all updated on how things are going for me (training, fund raising, T1ing). If any of you T1 folk are looking for epic adventures to have I could point you toward a couple that I know about. If any of you have any questions along the way please feel free to ask in the comments. AND if you have any advice on fun and interesting ways of training for an 85 mile a day 70 day tour COMMENT THEM! Also, like I said above, part of the ride involves fund raising so I could use some helpful tips and suggestions on how to best raise some money for a great cause. If any of you are fund raising gurus send your ideas to the comments! If you’d like to donate yourself visit the link up top and see how you can do so on the online and through snail mail.
Stay epic T1 people!!!!
Why yes, yes I do 