P.R. (I love saying those 2 letters!)

I ran in the 31st 15K HEART MINI MARATHON today.  This is the 4th consecutive year I've run this event, and my 4th consecutive PR.  Today I ran in 1:11:16.  Some day I would like to break 1 hour, but that is a few years away, just as my Boston Qualifier is a year or 2 away.  

I've been experiencing much better BG levels recently too.  I've been watching my diet a little closer, and as I've always know, diet is the key!

Frustration with Infusion Sets & Glucose Sensors

My love / hate relationship with all of this new Diabetes technology.   I absolutely love how much easier the Pump and CGMS have made my life with Diabetes.  There is no doubt because of this wonderful company, I will live a longer, happier, healthier life.   I do have some issues though.  

#1. I'm a pretty lean person and I don't have a whole lot of spots where I can put the infusion set, and / or CGMS.  I usually resort to my abdomen, and my back near the "love handles".  This leads me to 

#2. I think I'm starting to develop some scar tissue in some of these areas which leads to poor absorption.

#3. I realize the Sensor is very "new" technology and the people I talk to at Medtronic refer to it as the "model T" of sensor technology.  In 2 years these sensors will probably be amazingly different than now.  My problem is that I started a new sensor yesterday, I was very stable when I calibrated, and everything seemed to be fine.  Well, about 3 hours later, my CGMS reading was about 134, and my finger-stick was 255.  This usually doesn't happen with the sensors, but when these rare occurrences happen, it is VERY frustrating.  I think it makes it worse that I pay $35 per sensor.  

#4. Doing the Basal testing SUCKS! It's even worse for us runners.  If I want to do testing, I have to take a day off. I'm in dire need of doing testing, but it's sooo hard to get it in.  

Ok, I think I'm done venting, if anyone has any recommendations.  Please let me know. 

Six Word Memoir

I have been "tagged" by Jamie over at the Diabetic Runner, to come up with a Six Word Memoir that best describes me and my life.  Here are the rules. 

1. Write your own six word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you'd like.

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible, so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

4. Tag at least five more blogs with links. 

5. And don't forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.  

After much deliberation and thinking on an 8 mile run, here is what I came up with:

Passionate Diabetic-Runner, Scared Dream Chaser.

Pump Support Group Meetings

My friends make fun of me when I say I'm going to a Pump Support Group Meeting, they say "is that like AA?"  If you're a Diabetic, whether you're on the pump or not, I would HIGHLY recommend going to one.  I go to the meetings in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Sidney, Ohio.  You can learn a lot at these, and it really is interesting talking to other Diabetics about how they deal with certain situations.  

As for last nights meeting, Medtronic spoke about their CGMS.  Since I've been on it for 18 months it's not that exciting to me anymore.   Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I was hoping to hear about a smaller, less invasive sensor, or a new feature.  Unfortunately no new news.  The coolest thing I heard last night was more an insurance issue.  The Doctor who runs the group is getting almost all of his patients CGMS covered by insurance.  I'm still paying out of pocket, so this is great!

DREADMILL (I stole this from Steve Runner)

Well, it's raining HARD, word is, cats and dogs are coming down tomorrow.  I've never really talked to other people about this, but running on the Dreadmill is HARD.  I can normally run a 6 mile run around 8 minute miles or faster.  I really struggled to keep it around 8:30's.  On a positive note regarding the Dreadmill.  They're doing some pretty cool things with those machines.  I'm sure many companies are doing this, but it's the first I've seen.  The treadmill has a USB port in it, and when your workout is over, you just push the button about the USB and save the workout to the USB drive.  I will then use this information to log my workout on Buckeye Outdoors. 

Check back tomorrow, I'm going to a Pump Support Group meeting, and they're talking about the Continuous Glucose Monitor.  Hopefully I'll have some neat new stuff to report.  

Diabetic Runner

If you're reading my blog, you're probably a diabetic and a runner.  You may have stumbled upon my website from a link from the original Diabetic Runner Jamie.  He is a new friend of mine in this new and exciting world I'm joining.  I absolutely love reading about other Diabetics stories, and also hearing about other Runners stories.  When you put the two of them together, I can read all night.  

I only have one body, I have Diabetes, there is nothing I can do about this.  I have to live with it.  Running is just one thing that makes life with Diabetes easier.  If I didn't have Diabetes, I don't think I would be running.  For this I am Thankful!

New Shoes

So I'm a shoe / apparel whore.  Being a runner and a diabetic, shoes are VERY important.  I have found a shoe the Adidas Adistar Control 5 that works very well for me.  I have been on a mission to find another shoe to rotate in with the Adistar Control.  I can think of about 10 different shoes that I have tried, and I think I've finally found the answer.  Tonight I ran in the Nike Air Equalon +2, the ride was very cushioned, and my feet felt great.  I have noticed after just a few miles in the other shoes a discomfort in different areas of my feet.  One thing I did notice in the Air Equalon was a tightness in my groin and achilles after the run.  I did extra stretching after the run, but this is something I'll have to monitor before I decide to keep these shoes or not.  

Along with me being a shoe / apparel whore, I'm kind of the same with technology.  What I'm getting at is I'm a very big fan of the Medtronic Continuous Glucose Monitor and the Garmin 305.  The CGM assists me so much on my runs, but make no mistake about it, you still have to check your blood sugars with a finger-stick because it is not exact.  My blood sugar to start the run was 114, with that I took 3 shot bloks.  After 4.5 miles I checked my blood sugar and it was 121, I then took 3 more shot bloks and set out for another 4.5.  About 2 miles in I looked down at the CGM (138) so I took 3 more bloks.  When I finished I did a fingerstick and ckecked out at 118.  

If anyone has any ideas on the sore achilles and groin please help.  As for now I'm chalking it up to soreness from the cold weather.  

Icey Rain

Well, I thought I was going to get a run in today.  Mother Nature definitely did not.  It started raining at about 9am this morning, and from that point on it got colder and colder.  The end result is a lot of branches down all over town, and ice all over the place.  

There aren't too many times that the weather will keep me inside, but today it was just too cold and too wet.  I decided to do a quick weight workout and then got on the elliptical and watched my disappointing Buckeyes, who are now in overtime.

I started a new Blood Glucose sensor today, and there is a little bit of pain at the site, but not near as bad as last week when I had to remove the sensor.  As I stated yesterday, I'm ready to start watching more closely what I'm eating, as I'm having too many unexplained highs.  If anyone has any tips on how to make this blog better, please advise.  

Back from Vacation

Ok, so we got back from our ski trip on Thursday the 28th.  I ran 8 miles that night and felt pretty good.  My plan was to take  Friday off, and run 12 on Saturday.  Well, that didn't go as planned.  I felt like crap after 5.5 miles, and Amanda picked me up.  I decided to run on Sunday, and it didn't go much better, though I did get 10 miles in.

After the vacation, I have decided that I'm going to think longer and harder about what I eat.  I've been having WAY too many highs for my liking.  In order to cut down on these, I feel like I have to start watching what I eat. On days where my blood sugars are way out of whack, I eat a lot more carbs.  I'm going to see how it goes by cutting down on my carbohydrates.  I would like to keep my exercise up, especially on the elliptical, I feel like it is really good for my blood sugars.  

I'm going to try to post on a daily basis, even though I'm not happy with the format of this blog.