Lee Langill
April 10, 2010
My name is Lee Langill. I am 44 years old, and have had type 1 diabetes for the last 32 years. I live in Chicago and am a stay-at-home mom to a wonderful 6 year old boy named Aaron. I also have a daughter Mallory who died 2 years ago at age 7 from Cystic Fibrosis. My husband and I have been married for almost 20 years (June 3rd is our 20th anniversary).
Right after my daughter was born, I was swimming laps in the pool one day, and said to myself, “I’d like to do a triathlon within the next 10 years.” My husband and I were swimming a mile 3 mornings a week, so I knew I had that part covered. I just had to learn how to run – I figured anyone could ride a bike.
Over the next 7+ years, I slowly worked my way toward that goal, but without much success. I spent a lot of time living in hospitals when my daughter was an inpatient, and even more time taking care of her at home. Whenever I did get a chance to exercise, however, it was a great source of stress relief.
After Mallory died, I knew I needed some kind of outlet, and I heard about a Lazy Man Triathlon at a local YMCA. This is where you do an Ironman Triathlon in terms of length, but you have 6 weeks to complete it. I finished in 5 weeks and felt a little sense of victory. We moved the next year, and started going to a new YMCA. I told the fitness director there about the Lazy Man Triathlon, and she thought it was a great idea. When she announced she wanted to organize one, I signed up again.
When I learned that Team WILD had a training/coaching component for women who wanted to do a sprint distance triathlon, I was really excited. As I talked the idea over with my husband and my friends, I realized that it had been 10 years since I had first voiced my desire to complete a triathlon. What perfect timing, I thought, and I signed up.
I am so excited about all the support and encouragement I am able to get from Team WILD. Just knowing there are other women who have some of the same goals I do, and are trying to accomplish them is encouraging. They are an amazing source of information and support!
I had to call on their knowledge just the other day, when I needed a new swimsuit. I had gone swimming with my husband and son last week, and had felt pretty good about the workout I was able to do, considering I hadn’t been in the pool for about a year. That good feeling quickly vanished though when the man that was swimming a couple of laps away told my husband that I needed to buy a new swimsuit.
I was immediately suspicious, and wondered why this man was looking at me so closely from 2 lanes away. When I got into the locker room later, however, my suspicion turned into embarrassment, and horror. He was right! My suit was indeed very, very thin in places. I threw my suit in the garbage, came home and asked Team WILD where I could find long suits. They answered within the hour; I placed my order, and received my new suit today. Now I’m ready to hit the pool again (although I won’t be going swimming on a Friday afternoon at 2pm again any time soon)!
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