What Can You Accomplish in 8 Hours?

8 hours. 480 minutes. 28,800 seconds. What can you accomplish?

On July 7th, 2011, I'm going to find out.

Here's what I'm hoping to do:

1.) Visit all 10 of the State Representatives in Lancaster and Lebanon County at their offices. If they won't meet w/ me, at least meet with their staff.

2.) Introduce them to a healthy Type 1 diabetic athlete.

3.) Obtain their support for HB 1338, a bill designed to give school children more options for controlling diabetes in the classroom. Full text here.

4.) Travel from office to office to office by bike. 83.3 miles. You can see the map here.

There's so much that could go wrong. I could have a bad blood sugar day, and leave the legislators with the idea that diabetes is impossible to control. I could flat out or ride too slowly and throw the entire itinerary hopelessly out of whack. I could speak inarticulately and be unable to convey the importance of the bill or why I'm doing something so radical to get their support.

That's what could happen.

On the other hand:
I could manage to gather the support of 10 important legislators for an equally important bill. I could leave them with the idea that a diabetic - properly controlled - can accomplish anything. Hell, I could even have fun. And if I can do all of that, it might even make you wonder, "What could you do?"

So on July 7th, I'm going to find out.

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