Bat­tling dia­betes, one con­ti­nent at a time

Bob Scheidt is an ultra-distance adven­turer, moti­va­tional speaker and inspi­ra­tion to those liv­ing with dia­betes. He has had type-1 dia­betes for nearly 40 years but hasn't let that slow him down.

In the late 1990s, Bob trav­eled 3,400 miles on foot from Seat­tle to Atlantic City as part of the Walk Across Amer­ica for Dia­betes as a Min­iMed-spon­sored ath­lete. Decid­ing that walk­ing west to east across the coun­try wasn't enough, he then tra­versed the perime­ter of the U.S. on foot and bicy­cle in the early 2000s as part of the Adven­ture on the Rim of Amer­ica. Both jour­neys raised money for the Amer­i­can Dia­betes Asso­ci­a­tion and Juve­nile Dia­betes Research Foun­da­tion and helped build aware­ness about dia­betes and the link between exer­cise and dia­betes management.

Bob has spo­ken at high school com­mence­ment cer­e­monies, hos­pi­tals, schools, dia­betes camps, vol­un­teer orga­ni­za­tions, and even Native Amer­i­can pow­wows. He was also the keynote speaker at the 2009 Dia­betes Exer­cise and Sports Asso­ci­a­tion (DESA) annual con­fer­ence in Boston. Prior to embark­ing on long-distance walk­ing, he ran 20 marathons and 30 ultra-marathons in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

For his next adven­ture, Bob will con­quer his sec­ond con­ti­nent: Europe. Back in 1997, Bob was given the name He-Who-Walks-Across-Continents by the Black­feet Indian Tribe in Mon­tana. The time has come for him to live up to that name.