Triabetic John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a type 1 diabetic, diagnosed in his mid 20's. He started doing triathlons because of his diabetes. He just completed Ironman Louisville, 2009! I listened to an audio clip of him telling about his beginning trainings for Sprint Tri's, to Half Ironman and then to a Full. He has done several Full Iroman distances and loves the challenge. He has an amazing zest for living life to it's fullest despite obstacles. This is adversity at it's finest.

Thank you Amy for forwarding the website - always thinking of me and Bets!

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Leaves of Bluegrass---Ironman Louisville 2009
by John Kennedy

These bodies, these shapes, this variance of lean
and long surround me in a dance along this mighty body of water
waiting, heart pounding, mind racing
and suddenly the line unfurls no more.

The dance commences with a leap,
I am in this mud with them, my choice,
to play along the banks, in the felled trees,
swimming, slashing, breathinglosing sight of the line.

A canoe, a realization, a new direction
lost time on a long day, you spot the orange signpost
and you breathe, and twist, and crank the arms
Realigned at last.

More signposts, and now a turn
but large obstacles remain around you,
not trees, but human flesh, and motion stops,
and the line becomes uneven again.

You kick the legs more, no neoprene assist today
and they scream back in knotted pain
"You will suffer in this mud my friend"
No, I am not disappointed. There, I said it.

Under a bridge and then another,
and then a turn left to the shore
Up the steps and out of the Ohio, fully baptized
I leave behind a lifeline and friend.

I scamper to the tents of bodies
and then -- realization -- a replacement part
left behind, I retrace my path back to my friend
to retrieve a pancreas on a string.

Back to the endurance circus
I unfurl and refurl into a new costume
Shoes clipped on, Triabetes Man emerges
from the Big Top to mount a two-wheeled horse.

The crowd dissolves into background noise
Fully extended, metamorphosed insect-like
across this aluminum, self propelled revolution
You find her, Elusive Cadence, ahhh…

As the kilometers drift, the grades shift upward
Oh you beautiful, neglected small cogs
You and I will become intimate today
A healthy tension binds us - climbing, grinding, overcoming.

Thirty six miles and a goodie bag
A smile exchanged for another thirty six
of sustenance, the crowd erupts with any
reciprocation delivered.

I am alive, I remind my passengers
In this sweet Kentucky air, I am raw with life
A horse, another hill, a woman by the road
Whispering yet I hear her.

Flickers of existence, of lives lived and long gone
All around, in everything, it is my oxygen
An old man cutting grass, stops and
takes a moment to share one with me.

Bananas and smiles and devils
Waiting peak-side as congratulatory gifts
A connection through a water bottle
then another descent into the quiet.

A last loop ties the bind and I leave it
This humanity of hills that gave more
than it took, and I lay across my frame
as a cityscape emerges in the foreground.

One hundred-ten and now two more
A trickle becomes a torrent of humanity
The circus is back in town as Triabetes Man
dismounts into the tent one final time.

Left behind, again, another lifeline
So tight our bind had become, I left
a part of me affixed to my horse
Lost time, yet there is none without it

Retrieved, I reattach and reemerge
from the tent, transformed into runner
My final dance will be a slow burn
I will miss nothing. I will feel everything.

Over the Ohio instead of in it,
The Lady nods knowingly, one mile minus 26
The endorphin kick discarded like a gel
I am alone in the multitude

Two miles then 4; a pattern unfolds
Tents packed with smiles bearing sugar and carbs
like giant buoys to run and cling to
I will not forsake them.

Oh the slow cadence of this dance
Deliberate and not, contrived but real
The body informs the mind
tho a prod delivers little payoff.

The darkness of my soul, revealed
at mile markers not halfway home
Just keep moving, the mind instructs
But the body shrugs its own answer.

Ten miles in and a turnaround
Back into town, the loop winds out again
And suddenly, Patience makes an appearance
with a push from the crowd.

Oh Patience, what wonderful fruits you bear!
You fluster me with that deliberate tone
And Pace may have abandoned me, but not you
You waited, as always.

A look around and the suffering fruit is ripe
A man bent over, lungs heaving out life
A hamstring torn, a calf tightened into a fist
A face contorted. A door shuts.

The body delivers its truth uncensored
A volcano of agony and ecstasy
Rising from muscle and tendon to nerve
Then quiet. The mind empties. The path narrows.

Pace reunites with ten kilometers to go I breathe,
I turnover the legs, I exhale
At mile 24, I'm racing Dusk
A curtain pulls down in a whisper.

A final turn and Lady Louisville greets me
Oh what I sacrificed to see her
Oh what sweet sweat, the hours spent
In voluntary confinement, absent.

Yet here we were all along
Tethered and bound together
In everything, in everyone
In suffering and exaltation

In this beautiful, imperfect body
In this organ on a string
In this muddy river
In the roadside whispers

In the multitude of flesh
In this finishing line
In this flicker of existence
In these leaves of bluegrass

Here we were all along
Living, and laughing, and dancing