It feels like in the last month or two I've been talking to a lot of new people about my experience with the Team Diabetes program. So I thought it might be nice to give a little re-cap for the newbies on the blog and give some thoughts for the future.

Re-cap. In June 2005 my roommate came home and told me about this program that she heard about from a friend. Her mum has diabetes and she had just finished the Ottawa half-marathon. This is right up her alley, well maybe except for the fundraising. It was Team Diabetes.

The Canadian Diabetes Association has set up a program that "allows participants to take an expense-paid trip to a fabulous destination and raise money for a worthy cause." I mulled over the decision to join or not to join (that is the question?) for about a month. I had been one of those kids that was the number one fundraiser - door-to-door selling $500 of saran wrap or oranges etc. So the project felt like a challenge and I felt up to it. I met with a Team Diabetes representative a month later and committed to raising $6000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association, setting my eyes on a 10 km run in Reykjavik Iceland in August 2006!

Through ups and downs I raised the coin to qualify to be a part of the Iceland adventure. Over the year I held three events and sent out numerous letters and emails soliciting donations. I definitely learnt a lot throughout the process. Although there are the work related skills including letter-writing, media contacts, business networking and so on, I felt that the number one thing I learnt was the ability to talk to strangers. I have the double trouble in that I'm shy and I have a quiet voice. I don't even like to call for takeout, I'd rather someone else do that. So the fact that I learnt to talk to random people and business owners and comfortably ask for something is a big step!

So with my new skills in tow, I joined approximately 200 other athletes from various parts of Canada to participate in a 10 km run in Reykjavik Iceland. In total Team Diabetes participants in Reykjavik this year raised over one million dollars for research and advocacy! I found the whole experience very moving; many people I talked to told me about how diabetes had affected their lives or the lives of loved ones, I watched participants run/walk their first marathon - many starting at the charity start so as to make the 8 hour time cut-off and finally felt inspired by the many Icelandic locals cheering us on and yelling "go Canada!" from the sidelines. Almost makes you want to do this again...

Future. So with this accomplishment under my belt I have decided to continue to support the Canadian Diabetes Association by remaining apart of the Team Diabetes program. With the inspiration from some of the Team diabetes participants, I've challenged myself to participate in the FULL marathon event in Rome, Italy in 2008!
Furthermore, I hope that my experience will inspire others to get involved in their community or to do something new and challenging or travel to fabulous places.