Why Am I Doing This?
On December 9, 2011 my father passed away due in large part to complications from type 2 diabetes. Three years later, there’s still no pill or procedure that could have cured him.
Once diagnosed you have two choices:
- Ignore it and do nothing.
- Learn to live with the disease and take steps to minimize its effects.
I’d like to say my father did everything he could to control the disease, but the truth is more often than not he chose to ignore it and the consequences of his choices eventually took him well before his time.
After his death I promised myself I’d get in better shape and do what I could to minimize my own risk of developing diabetes. So I started eating better and exercising regularly, two simple things that can have a huge impact. For me, exercise meant running and running meant having goals to reach. I’d run 5Ks before, so I decided to train work toward events longer than the 5Ks I’d done previously.
In 2013 I ran my first 10K, 10-miler, and first (and second) half marathon. Last year I was supposed to run my first marathon, the Clarence DeMar Marathon in Keene, NH in honor of my father but an injury sidelined me. Unfortunately, that same injury kept me from reaching a personal milestone of running 1,000 miles in a year.
“Never give up, never surrender!”
– Commander Peter Quincy Taggart
In 2015 I’m going after both goals again. I’ll be running the September 27, 2015 Clarence DeMar marathon and chipping away at my mileage goal during training and other races. But this year I’ll be using those miles to raise money as a member of Team Diabetes. Who knows, maybe 2015 is the year we get closer to finding a cure.
Now that you know the story, will you be a part of it and support me as I run to stop diabetes?
Have more questions? Maybe I have answers for you.