Beginning Taper

The Philadelphia Marathon is 3 weeks from yesterday. I'm ready, bring it!

I have some very exciting news to announce. I am a proud new member of Team Type 1, as I type there are 10 courageous Type 1 Diabetics on there way across the country. They started in Oceanside, CA on Thursday October 27th, and they hope to end on November 14th WORLD DIABETES DAY in New York City. That is 10 men 3,000 miles in less than 3 weeks! What we do is raise awareness for Diabetes, and show that with proper care and treatment, there are No Limitations. I'm very excited about what lies ahead.

I did participate in a 5k on October 22nd, and there is a reason I am just now mentioning it. It was ugly. The race was supposed to start at 8am, I met a friend down by the start at 7am to start our warmup. We did a couple of slow miles, and a couple of striders. Then we went back to the car to drop our warmup clothes. When we got back (at about 7:54) there was no one at the start line. We asked a few people who looked like race officials if we were at the start line, they laughed and said you missed the start. I was not happy, but we went anyways. My performance was terrible, hard to even know an official "chip" time because they only chip timed the finish, not the start. So, my official time was 24:xx. So I ran an almost 1 minute per mile pace SLOWER than my Half Marathon PR the week prior. I will get this 20 minute mark, and I hope to get it before 2012 comes.

On another note, I have my quarterly appointment with my Specialist. As always, I'm very excited to see Doc Parilo and his wonderful staff. I'm expecting a sub 6 A1C because this whole diabetes thing has gotten so much easier with all of the miles I'm logging.

Keep Running!

Race Report

In preparation for the Philadelphia Marathon I raced in the Columbus Half Marathon this past weekend. Coming into the weekend my Half PR was 1:35:28, my goal was anything better than this, but I kind of had 1:32:30 as a number I'd like to hit.

I got up at 4:30am to get "ready" for the race. I ate my pre-race PB&J, then drove down to the Arena District at around 6am to park the car near the finish. The start is very close to the Columbus Convention Center which is very convenient. I was able to stay warm in the Hyatt until about 7am. I then checked my BG 120 and ate my pre-race protein bar, and promptly started my warmup of approximately 1.5 miles.

I arrived in my corral at about 7:20 for perfect timing. I was able to get a couple of quick strides in, in front of the corral. Soon after the start I was a bit surprised to see a 3:05 pacer, but then quickly realized that is the new BQ time necessary for men younger than 35 years old. Mile 1 was 7:09, Mile 2 was 7:01, and the pace didn't feel comfortable, at this point was staying a little ahead of the pacer but felt too much pressure of the pacer and pack being on my butt. So around mile 3 I decided to fall behind them. Mile 3 was 7:03. It was somewhere around Mile 4 (7:15 ) that I started to settle into the pace. Mile 5 was 6:59, 6 @ 6:49, 7 was 7:14, 8 @ 7:01, 9 @ 6:49, I kept reminding myself to stay in the mile and not think about the end, but I was feeling pretty confident. Mile 10 was a little labored hence the 7:10 time, but I knew it would pass and at mile 11 I decided I'd push the pace. Which I did and clocked a 6:50. I was a little surprised by my mile12 pace 7:03 ( I thought it would be faster), and 13 was 6:53. I saw the clock was counting down to 1:32 and went into an all out sprint. The last tenth was about 31 seconds. I finished in 1:31:47 and I felt great at the finish.

If you would have told me a 2 years ago that I had this time in me, I'd have called you crazy. Now I'm thinking I have a sub 1:30 in me.

My BG when I got back to the car was 120, perfect!

I can't wait to run in the Beat the Pumpkin 5k in Cincinnati this Saturday. This is when I go for my first sub 20 5k. I now have the confidence that I can break through that mark.

Keep Running!

Running...The Perfect Drug!

It oftentimes annoys me when people find out I have Diabetes, and they say: "My uncle has diabetes". Then I ask a couple of questions, and come to find out that they're Type 2. I then explain the difference, but usually add in: "Type 2's have a choice, if they eat right and exercise, they can almost eliminate the disease, I don't, my pancreas no longer produces insulin". Now I know there are cases where they can exercise till the cows come home and eat right, and they still have the complications.

Type 2's aren't the only ones that can benefit from exercise. RIght now, I'm in the thick of marathon training. On Saturday, I had my best ever long run. 24 miles 3 hrs. 17 minutes, 27 seconds. The structure to this run was 30 minutes easy, 10 x (1 minute (about 7 minute pace) followed by 5 minutes easy), this was immediately followed by 5 x ( 1 mile pickups (about 7:20 pace) followed by 5 minutes easy). The run ended with about 45 minutes easy (around 8:15 pace). After finishing this run and feeling great, I was reflecting about how "easy" my diabetes has been recently. It's almost as if the more miles I run, the easier it is to control my BG's. I see my specialist every 3 months, and right now I'm about midway between appointments. A few weeks ago I purchased one of the At Home A1C kits, I thought it would be a good time to check. The result, 5.8, and this is with VERY FEW highs and lows.

Now I realize, there are certain cases where Type 1's or 2's can eat right, exercise, and it's still almost impossible. In most cases, I think that exercise and eating better can send you on your way to exceptional A1C's!

I'm hopeful that these great workouts of late will translate to some PR's in the coming weeks. The ultimate goal is the Marathon, and I've finally picked one. I'll be running the Philadelphia Marathon on November 20th. Leading up to this I'll also be running a couple of key races. The Columbus Half Marathon on October 16th, and the Beat the Pumpkin 5k in Cincinnati on October 22nd.

I don't want to end this post without giving a shoutout to Marcus Grimm, and the rest of the Team Type 1 athletes that will be running in the Chicago Marathon. I look forward to meeting these fine men and women soon. They are doing some amazing things!