When endurance athlete and world traveler Erik Douds was 16, he remembers kids at school repeatedly saying, “Douds, you are so skinny.” He shrugged it off; after all, he had always been skinny. Having actually lost 15 pounds in two weeks, a telltale sign of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), Erik was diagnosed with the disease.

He vividly recalls getting the news from his doctor. “In one instant my life completely changed,” Erik said. “After all, it’s a disease that you have to manage the rest of your life. But I decided that I could be bitter in fighting it or find the opportunities and embrace it and try to overcome the obstacles.” From that moment on, he has not let T1D hold him back.

Erik drew strength and inspiration from his grandfather, who was diagnosed with Type One in 1940 and lived to be 82. “He was diagnosed at a time where the doctors told him he would not live long,” Erik proudly explained, “I had this role model that said no matter what people tell you, you can live a full life.”

Now, 10 years later, at 25, T1D has not stopped Erik from competing in numerous endurance sports events around the world including a marathon in Copenhagen, Denmark and hiking the Te Araroa trail in New Zealand. In fact, this past spring, he completed a sprint triathlon (a three-part race involving bicycling, swimming and running) in Havana, Cuba, shortly after the U.S. eased travel restrictions to the country.

Beginning with shorter 5K races, Erik gradually learned how to successfully race marathons and triathlons while managing his T1D. He stressed that part of being an athlete with T1D is always being prepared for different scenarios. “You have to put in the hours, do the workouts, train properly and eat properly, and you have to prepare mentally and physically,” he said.

Erik acknowledged that racing with Type One is definitely an added challenge. “There are days where my blood sugar is steady, but then there are days after my workout for no real reason, at least to my knowledge, it goes up to a 300,” he said. “I try to be dynamic and expect challenging circumstances and adjust to it.” He noted the similarities between his racing and T1D, adding, “it’s what I think racing is, adjusting to all the different situations that arise throughout the course.”

Erik initially became involved with Breakthrough T1D during his first triathlon in New York City where he was part of the Breakthrough T1D team, and this past March he spoke at the Breakthrough T1D Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Chapter’s TypeOneNation Summit. He encouraged children and teens with T1D to follow their dreams and not let their disease beat them. The message that he wanted to give is that like him, they can manage their T1D and not allow it to set them back.

“I’ve done certain steps to get over those T1D fears and then being able to explain that to other people I think helps inspire them,” Erik said. “Whether it’s a high school student who’s just getting into racing and asking ‘how do I train for my first marathon or is this even a possibility?’” Notably, Erik was recently chosen to be a Diabetes Sports Project (DSP) champion. DSP is comprised of athletes with diabetes who promote their achievements through participation in community events, including Breakthrough T1D conferences, to educate and inspire others.

Galvanizing on his accomplishments as an endurance athlete and world traveler, last year, on World Diabetes Day, Erik launched Diabetes Abroad, an online travel blog whose mission is to inspire people in the diabetes community to explore the world by providing resources to help them do it successfully. Erik wants people living with diabetes to know that their diagnosis doesn’t need to stop them from travelling, but there are precautions to take.

“What makes us different from other travelers is that our situation can escalate quickly,” Erik said. “I want to try to prevent those situations by having more conversations and learning from each other.” He added: “People with T1D are some of the most resilient people in terms of what they deal with every single day as individuals and as a community.”

Follow Erik’s current adventure, cycling 4,523 miles across America with a team of athletes with T1D, on his blog.