One of the things that I love the most about Nike+ is the wide variety of people the product appeals to. Everyone has their own unique reasons for picking up a Nike+ sport kit, and sometimes those reasons are truly compelling. Such is the story of Courtney Benefiel of RidetoRemedy.com. Courtney was an athletic 11-year-old when she was diagnosed with diabetes.

“I had just finished the 4th grade when I got diabetes. In the 5th grade it was a struggle to participate in P.E. class once a week. When middle school and high school rolled around and other kids my age where complaining because they had to take P.E. I was crying because I couldn’t.”

While Courtney’s diabetes kept her from sports for many years, her dream of skydiving prompted her to take charge of her disease and take the necessary steps to be athletic once again.

“A year ago (May 2006), I decided that I was going to take care of my diabetes because I wanted to go skydiving and couldn’t do so without proper care of this hideous disease. With that goal obtained, my next goal was getting on the insulin pump . . . Being on the insulin pump gave me the power to be athletic and with that power I set out to prove that I have control.”

Courtney then began riding in the Tour de Cure, “a series of fund-raising cycling events held in 40 states nationwide to benefit the American Diabetes Association.”

As so often happens when one picks up a sport, one sport leads to another, and Courtney has decided to participate in an upcoming triathlon. What did she pick up to help her train for the triathlon’s 13.1 mile run? A Nike+ sport kit, in her words, a Nike+ “thingamajig:”

“I went and bought running shoes that I wasn’t completely confident in so that I can begin running, because you can’t very well do a Triathlon without running. A day after I bought the shoes, I decided that I needed the cool Nike + iPod aka NikePlus thingamajig so that I could track my progress, because in reality, I’m too lazy to figure out how far I’ve run if I’m not on a treadmill, and keeping track of my progress is important to me.”

Congratulations to Courtney for coming so far in her personal journey. I speak for the 400mToGo team in wishing her the best of luck in her fight against diabetes and in her training for the upcoming IronMan 70.3.

You can follow Courtney’s progress at RidetoRemedy.com.