I very rarely let myself get frustrated or upset dealing with life as a Type 1 Diabetic. I just don’t do it. Being Type 1 sucks. Plain and simple. But, I have it and it’s just part of my life… every single second of my life, so I just don’t let it bother me.
However, there are those moments…
Earlier in the day I needed to change my infusion set. When I put in the new set in hurt like the dickens. I let in go for a few minutes, but just couldn’t stand it and decided to pull it out and switch back to the old site. (NOTE: It’s a good idea to leave the old site in for a while to let any remaining insulin soak in and if something goes wrong inserting the new site, it’s easy to go back.) So, last night before my snack I decided to go ahead and insert a new site since the old one had been in for more than 3 days. Inserted the new site, got together my snack, bolused and headed downstairs to watch the World Series. Moments later – NO DELIVERY. Awesome. Back upstairs to rip out the new site and try again. I got a new set together and, as I like to describe it, launched the needle into my body… blood. F. Rather than wait for another NO DELIVERY to certainly come, I pulled it out and replaced it with yet another infusion set.
3 (yes, THREE) infusion sets later I said to my wife – “all this just to have a f*****g snack”.
Last year at the 2008 Gumbo Flats Pumpkin Run in Chesterfield, MO I ran 6.2 miles for just the second time ever. Since then I have run almost 1,400 miles including a marathon. Things have changed.
2008’s run took me 57:48. This year’s Gumbo Flats Pumpkin Run was done in 53:41. Coming off the marathon just a few weeks ago, I didn’t want to go crazy, but I definitely wanted to beat my 10K PR of 57:12.
I had a race plan and followed it perfectly. Here are the splits…
- 9:29
- 9:13
- 8:49
- 8:28
- 7:42
- 7:45
- 2:18 for the final .2
I could’ve pushed the first few miles harder, but I wanted to take it pretty easy and negative split the race to make sure I broke 57:00 without risking injury. I felt great and could not have been more happy with this 10K just 2 weeks after running 26.2.
My neighbor (Dustan), my father-in-law (Matt) and my brother-in-law (Drew) also ran the race. I always give credit to Dustan for getting me interested in running and triathlons and Matt ran the Chicago Marathon with me, but the cool thing was seeing Drew run his first 10K in 56:09. NICE!
Again, this year, the post-race spread was awesome. Two years in a row – far and away the best post-race scene I’ve experienced. I was lucky enough to grab the last box of Chick-fil-a mini chicken biscuits. Possibly, the best post run snack available. Well, maybe not better than a bratwurst, but still pretty good.
Somebody was cool enough to post a video from mile 2.1 on the Chicago Marathon.
After a few days of pain and suffering, I’m happy to say that all is well and I’m comfortably back running.
Last Monday and Tuesday following the Chicago Marathon, I was pretty sore. I stayed home from work on Monday, but went back in on Tuesday. Going down steps was probably the worst I had to deal with. I did managed to put together my daughter’s new bed that we picked up from IKEA and actually moving around felt good.
Wednesday morning I went to the “Y” for a swim. I took it pretty easy and only did about 750 yards.
Thursday afternoon I went for my first run. Did 2 very easy miles and felt great. Friday I pushed it a little further and did 4 and followed that up with 6 on Sunday. This week, I’m trying to get back to a more normal training week. I had a good solid 5.25 mile run yesterday morning and plan to do some intervals tomorrow.
I’ve signed up for a 10K (the 2009 Gumbo Flats 10K in Chesterfield, MO) this coming Saturday, a 5K on November 14th in my home town, and plan to do the Alton Great River Road 10 Miler on November 28th. Keeping some things on the calendar will definitely help keep me going. I went from thinking about taking the upcoming 10k easy to maybe even pushing it a bit to break my 10K PR of 57:12.
I did experience a good case of the post marathon blues. The combination of being done with the marathon and a solid week of clouds and rain made for an odd feeling week. The best I felt was after my first run on Thursday. Getting back out there was wonderful. I felt great and was ready to push on with post marathon life!
Now, where is that list with all the things I’d like to do in my life?
Oh, here it is…
Run a marathon.
CHECK!
On Sunday I ran the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I finished in 4:34:07 and placed 19,615th out of 33,608 finishers. While I just missed my goal of finishing sub-4:30, I’m very happy with my time and I would consider all of my goals met.
- Finish. – YEAH!
- Control my Blood Glucose – YEAH!
- Have fun – YEAH!
- No walking – YEAH!
- Finish under 4:30 – close-e-frickin-nough!!!!!
5:00 AM
After a restless night, the alarms goes off in a VERY small room of the Hotel Felix in Chicago, IL. My father-in-law, who was sleeping on a mattress we just happened to buy at IKEA on the way up, is already showering and getting ready to go. (SIDE NOTE: He took a bus to Chicago, practically slept on the floor, and still beat me by about 8 minutes). We do a last minute check of everything and we’re out the door around 5:30 to catch the EL to Grant Park.
7:42 AM
I started running back in August of last year and have been preparing physically and mentally to run the Chicago Marathon. Everything I have thought about and trained for has come to this – I’m off for a little 26.2 mile run. The official race start time was a 7:30 AM. We were in the Open Corral somewhere between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups. I had heard that it might take 20 or 30 minutes to get to the start given the huge number of runners, but it only took us 12 minutes. It wasn’t bad at all. I was dreading the slow shuffle, but it really wasn’t a problem.
The temperature at the start was around 37 degrees with very light wind. After shedding many layers before the start I was down to shorts, a singlet, arm warmers, and light cotton gloves. Most of the race would be in the 40s. PERFECT running weather. Not the best spectating weather however. Just ask my wife.
9:54 AM
At the half way point. My half split was 2:13:41. The first half of the race was a blast. The crowd support was amazing and so much fun. The time just flew by. The were a few stretches where the crowd was light, but for the most part there were people the entire way. It really was awesome.
10:04 AM
Around the 14 mile mark, I comment to Matt (my father-in-law) that my legs could feel better. They just never really loosened up and felt comfortable. I was ok, just not great. Over the next few miles, the crowd seemed to die down a little and at around the 16 mile mark, Matt decided to push ahead a bit and I dropped back into a 10:30-ish pace to try and conserve some energy.
21 Miles (Time starts to get a bit fuzzy 
)
I start to feel some cramping in my quads, but I was able to push on without stopping. I’m glad that I did. Had I stopped to stretch, I would’ve probably been in a world of hurt. At this point, I’m in unknown territory. I ran 2 20 milers in training, so every step after 20 miles was the farthest I had ever run. My wife had planned to see me again at mile 23 and that’s all I could think about. She saw us at miles 3 and 12 and then took a train down to 23. She missed Matt go by ahead of me, which I forgot to mention when I saw her (WHOOOPS!!), but was there for some much needed support and encouragement. I had just gone 3 miles farther than I had even gone and had 3 more to go.
22 Miles
As I pass the “Nike Keep On Going… Energizer… Guy with a Microphone Zone” or whatever it was called, I hear “and here comes the 4:30 pace group”. Uh-oh. They caught me. No biggy. I had realized many miles before that sub-4:30 was out of the question, so it didn’t really bother me. I would finish just a few yards behind them.
12:15 PM
I crossed the finish line of my 1st marathon. I was so glad to reach the finish that the emotions I had expected didn’t come.
12:17 PM
I grab my Chicago Marathon medal. The emotions came.
12:18 PM
The cramps came.
I S.L.O.W.L.Y made my way through the finish area and got my bag from the gear check tent. My quads were really cramping up, but I was moving. The worst part was my left arm. I couldn’t straighten it out or raise it more than about an inch without serious pain. It was AWFUL. I made my way over to where I had planned to meet Matt and my wife. The time until they showed up was lonely. I felt terrible and could barely move without cramps taking over. It was not pretty. I wasn’t able to eat anything (I think I managed 1.5 small pretzels), but had Matt go and find my something to drink. He came back with an orange juice, which was perfect.
My wife, after her crazy journey trying to keep up with us, made it to our meeting point and handed me a card. She had signed it along with our 2 kids. Inside the card was the one other thing I had dreamed of… a 26.2 sticker. She had no idea I wanted one, but was thoughtful enough to think I would and got it. The emotions came again. 
Oh yeah, Type 1 Diabetes…
I had a great control day. My normal basal rates in the morning are .8 units between 6 and 10 and then down to .7 between 10 and 2. I lowered my basal to .4 at 6 AM and then to .35 at 7 AM and left it there until 12 when I went up to .60. Here are the numbers…
11:08 pm Sat night – 92. I ate 1 fruit snack packet to keep from going low over night.
5:05 AM Sun morning – 84. Nice wake up number.
5:20 AM – Ate package of PB crackers and took .6 units of insulin.
6:46 AM – 86. Ate just over half of a fruit snack packet. Didn’t want to over do it a go high.
8:40 AM – 172. I ate another package of PB crackers just before the start, so I was doing fine here.
9:37 AM – 190. Again not bad. Just held pat at this point. No insulin or carbs yet.
10:09 AM – 152. Started taking GUs just prior to this. I needed the nutrition, so I was doing PERFECT here.
10:54 AM – 123.
11:23 AM – 144.
12:25 PM – Took 2 units of insulin at the finish to prevent a spike. Had a few pretzels and some OJ.
12:30 PM – 124.
The rest of the day was fine. No lows at all. I did go a bit high after dinner, but that was ok. Overall, I couldn’t have been happier with my control. I did eat 4 or 5 GUs during the run and I would also note that early on I was alternating between Gatorade and water at each aid station, but switched to just Gatorade nearer the end. In hindsight given the cramps, I should’ve taken more water. I think I was pretty dehydrated at the end.
I did have a close call the night before the race. I was starting to run low on insulin in my pump, so I decided I would change my infusion set before dinner instead of waiting until later and risk a problem. I left the old site in and put in the new one and went off to the marathon Expo and then dinner. Dinner comes – time to bolus – NO DELIVERY. Nice. The exact issue I wanted to avoid happened. (For the record… the problem site was a small “gusher”.) I switched back to the old site, bolused for dinner and then put in a new site when we got back to the hotel. I decided to go with the old site for the race and kept the new one for a backup. A good plan with a close call.
I’m still dealing with the post-race emotions. Sometimes I forgot what I just did and I don’t think it has totally sunk in yet. It’ll come. I ran TWENTY-SIX POINT TWO miles. 26.2.
Bite me Type 1 Diabetes.
I have gone over my goals before and I’m giving more serious thought to which pace group I will be starting with.
My “I’ll be happy” finish time is around 4:30.
My “I’ll be thrilled” finish time is between 4:15 and 4:30.
I have been planning to start with the 4:15 pace group. Those are 9:44 miles, which is right in my wheel house. But after reading advice that is it better to start with the “I’ll be happy” group and look to pick up the pace after 20 miles, I have got to thinking more about this.
My thinking has been to start with the 9:44 group, which will give some padding for the time I’ll need to stop and test. I’m also planning to stop at the water stations to drink instead of drinking on the run.
Ugh. Maybe it is better to go with the 4:30 group (10:18 pace) and just plan to have to play a bit of catch-up after testing and stopping to drink. At a 10:18 pace, that won’t be hard for me to do.
Hmmm……
Tue – 5.01, 9:43 pace
Wed – 10.05, 9:05 pace including 6 x 1 mile repeats
Thu – 5.03, 9:55 pace
Sun – 7.00, 10:13 pace
Total for the week – 27.08.
I pinpointed this weeks hard run, the 10 miler with 6 x 1 mile repeats, early on as one of the tougher runs in my training plan. I’m pleased to say after all of the miles I’ve put in so far, this run was a breeze. Nothing like whipping out a fast 10 miler on a weekday morning before work! I did deal with a little more soreness in my right calf after that run, but that has pretty much gone away since then. Sunday’s long run of 7 felt exactly the way it should – I was ready to go MUCH further.
Race week coming up!
Tues – 4.01, 10:04 pace
Wed – 8.79, 9:18 pace with 5 x 1mi repeats
Fri – 7.02, 9:27 with a faster 2nd half
Sat – 4.26, 9:56 pace
Sun – 12.01, 9:46 pace
Total miles for the week – 36.08. Nothing too exciting to report on my first taper week. Although at 36 miles, there didn’t feel like much tapering was going on. I did fight with a little nagging pain in my upper right calf. It felt like a cramp and I can pinpoint exactly were it is. It came back for a while on my LSD, but worked itself out and feels fine now.
I can say that my complete obsession continues and I can not wait for Oct. 11th. I’m consumed with reading anything and everything about the Chicago Marathon and even took the time to watch “The Spirit of the Marathon” off of Hulu.com. This movie is centered around the 2005 Chicago Marathon and is a great movie with a lot of good story lines. It also gave me a good view of the craziness that is 40,000 people starting a marathon. Absolutely incredible. Have I mentioned that I can’t wait?
Mon – 7.04, 9:42 pace
Wed – 7.54, 9:16 pace including 4 x 1 mile intervals
Thu – 6.00, 9:21 Faster 2nd Half
Fri – 4.00, 9:21 pace
Sun – 20.01, 10:03 pace – total time 3:20:57
Total miles for the week – 44.59.
This was a big week for me. It included my second 20-miler and totaled 44.59 miles for the most I’ve run in one week. This was also a big week, since I would be pushing my left leg, so I was anxious to see how it would react. The good news is, I had no pain at all during the week (including today after the 20-miler). Yeah!
My 2
0-miler went well considering an old friend showed up again (see here and here).
The first 6 miles saw just a little bit of drizzle, but the following 2.5 – 3 saw a downpour. Fortunately, it let up after that and didn’t start up again until around mile 19.5. I was back at my car around the 5 mile mark and considered dropping off my iPod Shuffle, but thought for sure the rain had stopped. Boy was I wrong and after my Shuffle stopped working, I really wished I had left it in the car (Good news again – I tried the whole “put it in rice to dry out trick” and it appears to be working again). So, I spent well over half of my 20 miles in silence, which was actually perfectly fine. I somehow survived just listening to my brain work overtime.
I had a very good BG run also. I tested around 170 when I got up (5:15 AM… ouch). Was at 157 at 4.5 miles, 147 at 9 miles and at 115 at 14 miles. After testing at 170 in the morning, I gave myself a small correction bolus of probably half the normal amount and ate a packet of peanut butter crackers about 10 minutes before I started. During the run I had a few Triberry GUs (can’t remember exactly how many) and a combination of Gatorade, G2 and water spread out along my route.
Normally my basal is like this…
- 12 – 10 AM: .8 units
- 10 – 2 PM: .7 units
- 2 – 7:30 PM: .5 units
- 7:30 – 12 PM: .8 units
For my morning runs I use a basal pattern. What seems to be working…
- 12 – 4 AM: .8 units
- 4 – 5 AM: .4 units
- 5 – 6 AM: .35 units – My run started at 6 AM.
- 6 – 9 AM: .75 units
The keys are lowering my basal 2 hours prior to the start of my run (Notice the .05 unit change at 1 hour before? Some serious tweaking going on there.) and then going back to a more normal level about 30 minutes before the finish to prevent a big spike at the end.
Testing every 4 to 5 miles works well. After the initial test, which is the one that can be the crazy one, I can feel pretty comfortable about what will happen over the next 50 minutes or so and I can make decisions on when to eat a GU and/or have Gatorade.
Folks… it’s time to Taper! 19 days to go.
Boy, it’s getting serious now…
