Team WILD: Women Inspiring Life with Diabetes was founded by Mari Ruddy, a member of CWW for 5 years. Mari has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 29 years and is also a five year breast cancer survivor. Team WILD, a sister organization to CWW, exists to inspire health and fitness in women with diabetes. Team WILD athletes have Type 1, Type 2 or pre-diabetes or are the training partner of someone with diabetes, live throughout North America, and span a wide range of ages and fitness levels. Team WILD uses conference calling, web based training logs, and blogging to train and educate team members.
The athletes work closely with expert sports and medical coaches to train for specific events, from 5Ks to Ironman distances. Yoli Casas, Head Coach of CWW, is the Head Coach of Team WILD. Marcey Robinson, MS, RD, BC-ADM, a local Denver Sports Dietician, Diabetes Educator and Exercise Physiologist, is the Head of Diabetes Education for WILD.
Team WILD had 20 women complete the Austin 70.3 Longhorn Triathlon on October 25, 2009. This inaugural race was the first time in history such a large team of women with diabetes competed as a team in a formal race event. Under the expert guidance of Yoli, Marcey and the other coaches, every member of the team met or exceeded her goals!
For 2010, there will be three WILD teams: WILD 101 for women completely new or newly returning to exercise who will train for a 5K walk/run, a Sprint/International Triathlon Team for women new to triathlon or who want to improve their ability in these distance events, and finally a 70.3/Iron Triathlon Team for women who are ready for the challenge of a longer distance triathlon.
The inclusiveness, collaboration, compassion, and female focus of the Team WILD community make it unique and powerful. Through Team WILD, women with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes reject the old-fashioned notion that insulin dependence or insulin resistance is a life-inhibitor; and “Type 3s” – those who have loved ones with diabetes – express their invaluable support, understanding, and empathy, without which our community could not thrive.
We are “women who get it!” And we embrace fun and motion as keys to happy, healthy lives. Through our expert coaching, expert diabetes education and a team of like-minded peers on each team, we seek to inspire the same in others around the world.
For more information on Team WILD visit: www.teamwild.org.
Dream big, and be WILD!
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