A little horn tootin'

I tend to talk a lot about how great Team Trakkers is (because, well, we are...) but this post is going to toot someone else's horn.  Don't worry... it's deserved. 

First, as many of you know, my husband Tom is a Type 1 diabetic (I'm sorry... a person with diabetes).  Anyhoo... to spare you all the history which I'm sure I've posted a time or two, here's a brief recap:

• He was diagnosed at age 28 - no family history
• At the time he was training for his 8th or 9th marathon and just getting into tri's
• SOOOO many people were quick to tell him that he couldn't work out anymore because of his diagnosis (doctors included)
• He decided to do an Ironman
• And has since completed 4
• He learned quickly that Type 1 Diabetes isn't a death sentence at all!
• He is also a member of Team Type 1 - which consists of 100 athletes who live and race with diabetes... you know, because they can't do things. 
• The team consists of a pro team (you might have heard of them racing in races with the likes of ... oh ... all the big name teams (Lance included)), a development team, an elite team, a women's team, a triathlon team and just this year, a running team
• The elite team has won a little race called Race Across America 4 times and currently have the world record for fastest time (5 days, 9 hours and 5 minutes) and speed across the country for an eight man team (my hubby raced two of those years, including the record year - toot toot)
• Not only are they competitive in their chosen sport, they spent a combined 700 days last year speaking to diabetics, doctors and medical professionals on behalf of their diabetes related sponsors.
• These athletes are for real and all amazing people with amazing stories.

So that's the first horn toot.  Team Type 1 is amazing and if you get a chance to ever meet or race with any of them, they will knock your socks off!

Tom's the manager for the triathlon and run team.  The run team is new this year and made up of 15 amazing runners (their average marathon time is like a 3:06.  One of them came in 4th at the Atlanta marathon.  A few of them have won or placed at multiple ultras and when they talk about the races they usually skim over miles 20-60 which always amazes me).  Anyway since they have these great runners, Tom and the team founder decided, "why not challenge them a little and have them run across the country instead of sending the bikers out this year".  Who in their right mind would volunteer for this?

Well, starting in October, they have 10 Type 1 diabetic runners who will start a relay trek from Oceanside California and end approximately 3,000 miles later in NYC on World Diabetes Day.  They think it'll take around 15 days (people... that's averaging 8:15's or something crazy like that and averaging like 20 miles a day).  This isn't a formal race.  They are simply running to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes and promote the thing that they all believe...

Diabetes doesn't have to be a limiter and that you can do anything you want with the disease.

So that's my second horn toot.

Since Tom's working on the logistics, we were beyond thrilled when Megan at BuildASign contacted us to see if we wanted to make something free of charge at their website.  We jumped at the opportunity and I have to thank Megan from the bottom of my heart.  She and the whole gang at BuildASign are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  We decided to make 24x24 car magnets for Team Type 1 to use on their trek across the country.  Megan graciously threw in two 12x12 car magnets for them to use as well.  They arrived on Friday and turned out incredible. 

So thank you Megan and BuildASign!  And if any of you need any personalized products made, you can't go wrong with these guys!  Quality products and great people to work with! That's my third horn toot.

And don't worry Team Trakkers, Team Type 1 is great, but they ain't got nothing on us! :)  Oh... and they are racing the REV3 series so their might be a little show down between us.  They will bring their A game for sure, but we aren't a team to mess with. 

Nothing like husband and wife gunning for each other!