Choy Lay Fut training is really long.....

All these different punches and kicks! Just finished learning the first 9 kicks. Started to kick the bags finally. You start with practicing kicking the air. That is 2,700 kicks. Then you do it all over again with kicking the bag. The dynamics of kicking the air to learn position, posture, rooting or grounding and just to get used to lifting your legs when all I've ever lifted was a toe to tap with whatever song was playing or the gas or brake pedal in my work truck. Jeesum! I hurt. I only did 300 front snap kicks on the bag today. So 3,000 kicks. Oh Joy!! I've learned that I'm left footed I guess. When I kicked with my left leg there was no problem but when I used my right leg there was no power, no ease of movement, and no strength. Kung Fu is teaching me how imbalanced I am. Not just this body. My life. I thought I was doing good. I am. Better than when I was 30 for sure. Just that I haven't "arrived" yet. It is the "yet" that keeps me going in my life. Will I ever "arrive"? Probably not. But not because I didn't try. The process of learning Kung Fu is making my weak parts stronger. The Type 1 insulin dependence is still a learning process. I keep starting at 150-ish and 15 minutes after any length of workout and I'm flying in the 200's. I've been doing research and have found out that Kung Fu (and any combat martial art for that matter) is a "anerobic" activity and unlike aerobic activity which lower blood suger, anerobic activites raise blood sugar but you get a drop in blood sugars long after the training. This information from "The Diabetic Athlete" by Sheri Colberg, Phd has been very helpful to me. Gotta go get some rest. Next class is Wednesday! More Kicks on Bags!

My Type 1 Diabetes Story || 10 YEAR DIAVERSARY STORYTIME!

I was 30 when I was diagnosed Type 1. So mad that we are 99 years since insulin was first used to treat humans for Type 1. In 1912 they used insulin and checked blood sugars(via ketones) to treat Type 1. Fast forward 99 years...We use insulin and check blood sugar instead of urine sugar. We have really fancy devices and delievery systems today. BUT WE ARE NO CLOSER TO A CURE TODAY THAN WE WERE 99 YEARS AGO!!! A Covid vaccine in 9 months. AIDS is now treated with 1 pill a day and there is a shot that can be given once per month in clinical trials but for those of us with Type 1 there has been NO CHANGE since this treatment was started.

Cobra Kai | Miyagi-lates with Sensei Cassey Ho | Netflix

What?!? TWO Cobra Kai workout videos? Awesome!

Cobra Kai | Cobra Kai Bo Workout with Sensei Billy Blanks | Netflix

Had to share this. And I'm feeling lazy today.

Kung Fu Blood Sugar Highs

So another week started and finished. The long range punches aggrivated my right shoulders hooked acromium. It impedes on the shoulder tendons and when you are practicing 1,800 punches you can easily reactivate an old injury. So when I use my right shoulder for full swings I need to do fewer reps for a longer timeframe to build up the muscle memory that we are trying to develop. Wish I was doing this in my 20's but this 50 year old body is making this process interesting, in the bad, not fun, kind of way. I had to do the same thing training for my marathons. It seems the process of everything that I want to do is to overcome all the obstacles that keep me from doing them. Marathons and Kung Fu have fallen in the same pattern of developing a problem, finding a solution or work around, then do it again. Sifu and Simu have been demonstrating alternative positions and more variety to help. They have been doing this on the fly, so to speak, and I've been very impressed with them, their patience and their experienced knowledge. There are 12 different punches and there are 9 different kicks in Choy Lai Fut Kung Fu. I've learned four of the kicks over the last two days. My hip flexors are now broken and I've discovered little, teeny, tiny muscles in my legs that I never knew existed. I've done Boot Camp, I've done soccer, cross country and marathon drills to find and strengthen "the tiny muscles in the leg that always lead to injury so we will beat them up and make them strong so you don't get injured." Well, I've never used these muscles in any of the above workouts so I don't think anyone out side of Kung Fu knows about these muscles. At all. Like they have never been used by me before. Like ever! I've found stretching and walking are really the best way to get these muscles back to normal. I takes awhile but it does work. I've noticed my blood sugars go UP during Kung Fu. Not down. It does drop hours afterwards but this spike was completely unexpected. I tried more basal but I am on multiple daily injections so this is troublesome to figure out. I've been pretty good overnight but on most Kung Fu nights I go high for a long time. Last night (after class) I took a little too much Fiasp so at midnight I was at 45. Not fun. It has been a really long time since that happened. The non training night before I was around 100 to 130 all night. I'm MDI and finger sticking this because I cannot afford a consistent CGM system. The Libre is horrible. I don't know about the Libre 2 but the 10 day and 14 day versions of the Libre 1 are crap. Besides, if and when we get to sparring again, the sensors will get in the way. Just another day in a COVID paradise. Be safe out there! Stay healthy and be healthy!

The Cure for Horse Stance

I was complaining about horse stance on January 4th. The first Kung Fu day of the new year. My Sifu said, "I hear you complaining about horse stance, but all that tells me is that you need to do more horse stance." How much of that is true in my life? I complain about what I'm going through. I'm never focused outside of me and where I am and what I'm doing (or NOT doing). I never am looking at the future. The future benefits or goals of where I am today and where I want to be going. This is true in my life. Both physically and spiritually. Yes. We must focus on what we are doing now. But if what I am doing now has no eternal benefit, why am I doing it? In sanskrit there is a word, Anarthas. It is from two words, "Artha" meaning "of value" and "An" meaning "not". So in my christian background "besetting sins" are a problem but in the Vedic tradition, "besetting sins" are of "no value". This sift in understanding makes leaving "besetting sins" behind easier because I am spending more time doing things of eternal value and future benefit and, gradually, less time and "taste" for those things, habits, etc, that are of no value to my lasting nature and future. Is "horse stance" of value? I guess it depends on the situation. To Sifu it is of value. If I'm in a physical fight it is of value. If I'm in a spiritual fight, the tenseness of the holding of a stance or a position. The pause. The breath before the next action when tempted. This "stance" can be just the thing to let the temptation pass and lead to that one small block, stop or hit or punch that can lead to one small step forward to the victory of leaving my old self and the old me behind and moving into my new future. Or not. This could all be crap that I'm dreaming up. But I like how this horse stance works. More Horse Stance. Less Complaining. Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

Off Day Stuff.

So I practiced, practiced, practiced yesterday. I practiced my punches. I got a one hour break for lunch yesterday and went to a tennis/soccer park in Newberry. I was going to go out and practice my stances but I didn't want to embarrass my Sifu. So I practiced my punches in the cab of my work truck. If I slide the seat back far enough, when I punch, my fist goes through the steering wheel without too much "aiming". The straight punch was fine but I did catch my thumb with the vertical punch a couple of times. I can block with my non punching hand and punch at the same time. It took a lot of concentration and focus. I have to do it "karate style" however. I haven't got the "flowing" thing down yet but with a steering wheel that "flowing" probably wouldn't have happened regardless. "Sigh". It's funny looking at the people doing sideways glances of me "punching" my steering wheel that were passing by in the park. I can't imagine what I looked like to them. The cops didn't show up so I couldn't have appeared too deranged. Working out in the cab of a truck isn't the best option. I did work on clenching and relaxing the "core" muscles but I certainly didn't work up a sweat at any point yesterday. My wife has surgury today. In a COVID world that means I will sit in my car waiting for the all clear to come and get her when she is all done. I've always been with her and this just makes me more anxious. I know it's for everyones safety. I just want to be with her in the hospital. It's a minor procedure that has happened before (this will be her 5th and final surgery) but I'm still nervous. I downloaded the movie The Grandmaster to keep me distracted. We do have a lot of streaming services we subscribe to but I wasn't able to find it so I paid $10 and bought it. Ip Man was a fascinating person. Maybe I will practice my stances later today. Have a good day everyone!

My third day but, in Kung Fu time, it was only day 2.

16 December 2020 I finally met Sifu today. He is very open and engaging. He was working 3 groups. 1 large intermediate to advanced group (about 8), 1 lady learning Qi-Gon and the newbie group of One! So we redid the stances. He checked my positions, my hips get in my way and my feet needed to be repositioned a little but the stances were much easier today and holding them was easier as well! Then I did 8 "up and back" with the stances. I watched him work with the intermediate students. Then I remembered the 1000 staff hits that I only did 100 of on my Day Zero back on the 9th. So I grabbed the heavily padded staff and threaded it through the angled hole behind your back that you get when your fists are at your waist and did the hip rotation, hit the punching bag with the ends of the staff 600 times. Sifu came and started me on two of the close punches. In Kung Fu you have many strike options, close punching is for 2 to 2 1/2 feet away. There are 6 different close punches. We worked on straight and vertical punches which refer to your hand position at the striking point. The really hard thing for me to learn is the whirling motion. At the time that one hand is striking, your non striking hand is in a blocking position by your chest. When someone who is trained is doing this, they move, water-like, the striking hand forward and the non striking hand blocking then both hands change position, like a waltz and the blocking hand now strikes and the striking hand now blocks. He made it look so simple and easy. I'm like rubbing my belly and patting my head at the same time trying to get the rhythm for 250 straight punches and 250 vertical punches in before the end of class. To Sifu and Simu's credit they are available until closing but I'm the one with the time constraint. I really am glad I went tonight. Christmas is coming so my dojo work is finished until January 2021 so I will practice, practice, practice and hope to become more fluid like and less three stooges like in the next few weeks. Everyone Have a Happy Holiday. May your Zoom gatherings be glitch free. May your food be real. May your family and friends continue to be so! See you on the other side!!

Kung Fu start up.

On December 9, 2020 I did my first Kung Fu class. The Simu (female instructor - say "See Moo") asked many questions that didn't make sense at the time. The first question was, "Do you want to start on Day 0 or did you want to start on Day 1?" I asked what the difference was and she said that Day 1 is the start of Kung Fu training. So I said, "Day 0 please." Today, December 15, 2020 was Day 1 of Kung Fu training. I'm certain that the monks that created this martial art are turning over in the graves and are truly dissapointed in the physical state this 53 year old body is in. With intense struggle and failure I did finish Day 1. This is the learning of the stances day. I know nothing of any martial art training. I told Simu on my first day that my mind is a blank slate and to write on it. She did today. I have run 3 marathons. Hiked mountains. Dealt with what I thought was pain before but this was very different. Holding low and high stances for 5 minutes each doesn't sound hard but until you try it, you have no idea. While holding each stance I am being given a run down of the how and whys of this stance. I kept breaking, falling, losing balance. Just making a mess of it. She kept me going. Gave pointers on holding, tilting pelvis, imagine your foot is a sandbag. She truly gave a lot of help to distract me from my pain and uncomfortableness. To try and help me hold each stance. My left knee injury was not helping. I over extended my knee joint a few months back. When we did the stances "backwards" and the weight was shifted to the right leg the positions became way easier to hold and maintain. We covered 7 stances: Horse, Front Cross, Crane, Arch, Cat, Rear Cross, and Horse again. Then we did the stances front and back seven times. Simu then taught the greeting and awaiting instruction motions and positions. Some "spin blocks" for inside and outside attacks with my arms in horse stance. I really need to strengthen up. I believe this will help my recovery in my legs. This balanced training and working out I hope will help me get better. Running in this body of mine is not the best thing. Here's hoping to a better 2021. Good night COVID!!

Hey! With all that has been going on I thought a quick update would be in order! I am NOT doing a half Iron distance Tri this year, 2013. I will be running the Savannah Rock and Roll Marathon with my brother, Eric Dunn! I AM volunteering at the Ironman Panama City, Florida triathlon in October this year so I can get a slot in the 2014 Ironman. I've registered for the marathon and have submitted the volunteer forms so this year is all set. I'm thinking of working on a diabetes and exercise booklet/class something or other to help others. I think it will be a good direction for me. We moved to Florida at the start of May so we are changing a lot of things in our lives, maybe this will be for the best!?! Only time will tell. Best Wishes to you all!!!

So it has been awhile since I've posted anything. I've been training for triathlons and that does seem to take quite a bit of time. I also have been mulling over alot of different things of late. I'm in the triathlon off season so I have more time now. I am building my base and preparing for another training season starting in May. In October of 2013 I will have completed one Half Ironman Triathlon and 14 days after that I will be running a Marathon with my brother to help him get that off his bucket list. In Novermber of 2013 I will try and register for Ironman Florida in 2014. This will be an expensive year for me! I also started a new page on Facebook which will be taking up the rest of my "free" time. ThingsMyDoctorDidntTellMeAboutMyDiabetes on Facebook is an advice, tips, motivation page that I am setting up. I'm hoping to help diabetics directly with what to do to get their lives back under control and live their lives again! I will be extremely direct and I will NOT pull punches so it may not work but this soft voiced non offensive crap does not work for me with my diabetes. I am not a doctor but I do have life experience so I think I can help others with the day to day stuff. My doctor told me he has had to let patients go because if they are not compliant with his treatment then he is open to lawsuits if the patient feels that their own lack of follow through on his treatment plan make their future complications his fault! I believe that coaching is what we all need at some point in our lives. Some one who has been on that same road before to help us get up and get going in a better direction, in some cases, any direction. It's the starting that is the hardest part. Breaking things down into little steps and then helping others begin....awesome. Anyways, it's past midnight on a work night so I will sign off for now! See you out on the course!

So I completed my first triathlon on the 14th of October. The swim was cancelled due to very bad surf conditions (over 7 feet) and rip currents. So it became a Duathlon instead. We stood in the rain for a half hour before the start of the race. The winds we over 20 mph coming into shore so that meant that the bike back to the transition area would be right into a vicious head wind (my bike was blown side to side by the wind!). Yup we started very wet and lots of sand and dirt covered us at the end of the bicycle portion. The weather started to improve shortly after we started and it turned out ok after all. I road my best bike ever and my run was just too slow by about a minute and a half but I went too fast on the bike! I finished 64th overall, 6th in my division, with a time of 1:20:52. If we had the swim I would have finished under my goal time of 2 hours! The winner finished in just under 58 minutes to put my performance in perspective. All in all it was a great event. You can’t control the weather but everything else was really good. I can’t wait till next year to do a full triathlon in the spring and next October to do a half ironman triathlon in Florida.

Hit a deer Friday night.

Hit a Deer with my car Friday night on the way home. The car is now gone. I miss it. Not the deer, the car. The deer was an 8 point buck. The bullet was a 97 VW Cabrio. The deer was launched several feet in the air by my car and died almost immediately. As a Vegetarian, I feel awful about this. The deer are in rut, that’s a guy’s way of saying “in heat” that sounds more manly, course, and unbridled. The buck probably didn’t even see me, he was just following his sense of smell with his blood all up in a boil and the next thing he knew he was dead.

Too much like me in some ways. I loose myself in passions, be they real or imagined. Sometimes it is easier to give in to desires, lusts, flights of fancy than to fight and stand still when everything inside is screaming to do something! I’ve let outward events determine my inward feelings, thoughts and motives and these, in turn, affect my actions. I’ve let my mind imagine situations and events inwardly that have caused me to follow the same chain of action and caused me to react and do things that were not right for those around me or for myself.

It’s a shame that it takes so long for me to learn self- control. It’s not a subject taught in schools, colleges or universities. It is taught through examples and role models. It is taught through our experiences of life. It is learned the hard way not the easy way. Self-control keeps us from having “melt downs” when life doesn’t go the way we want it. Self-control keeps us from not allowing thoughts and feelings move us to act “out of passion.” Self-control helps us to keep doing the things that are right for those around us and ourselves.

The last time I hit a deer, I called Karen, crying, upset about hitting and possibly killing that deer (I never did find the body of that one so I do not know for certain.) Upset about the insurance not being able to do anything to help. I worried that my wife would never trust me with her car again. I worried about the money to fix the car and since I used that vehicle for work, I worried what customers would think of me in a busted up Ford Escape!

Then a “miracle” happened!

At my first customer stop, on my first day back from vacation, a neighbor across the street backed into the front of the Escape in the exact same spot that the deer had broken! Now, the insurance company could help, I wouldn’t have to worry about what others thought about me. I didn’t have to worry about finding the money for the repair. I did have to worry about when Karen would ever trust me with her Escape again!

Me: Honey, I’ve got good news and bad news.

Karen: What happened now?

Me: I’ve been in another accident.

Karen: What!?!

Me: The neighbor across the street backed into the Escape.

Karen: What!?!

Me: The good news is that they hit the same spot that I hit the deer with!

Karen: What!?!

That was all of 3 years ago. This time around the difference was that I didn’t let the external event move me. I was upset but I was self-controlled NOT controlled. What a different experience!

That is all I’ve got this week.

PS.

No I didn’t run. The tendons in my right foot are still swollen but getting better. I’ve got the company truck to drive so I can work without issues. I will hit the gym today to start exercising again. I will do some strength training and I really believe I will be able to run next weekend. They say it can take up to 6 weeks to recover fully from a marathon and right now is just passed the 2 week mark so I believe this is normal.

Recovery Time

It’s been a week since I completed the Marathon.

My right leg is still sore. The tendons on the top of my right foot are still swollen. My right knee feels hinky from my IT band which I use a foam roller on the floor 2 or 3 times a day to get relief. Lots of Advil.

I can’t run again until the tendons on my foot calm down. Hopefully by next weekend I can run again.

I find myself missing running now. I need that cardio fix soon. Maybe this week I will use the circuit weights at the gym to help. I need my knee to stop hurting so I can work on my quads and flexors and abductors.

I have come up with a 3 year plan to get to Boston. I was very naive to even attempt a Boston qualifying time with less than a year worth of training. My goal this year will to be to train as injury free as possible. To work with my body rather than push it ahead of where it is now, today. So, in theory, which is a small town near Port Wentworth, Georgia, I should be able to beat 5:21:15 next November. So my goal next year is to run the entire marathon which will beat my time this year, since I walked about 6 miles total. The year after that will be to run a marathon in under 4 hours and the year after that to qualify for Boston.

Note to self. No more Brooks shoes. I really think they are fine for me for very short runs but definitely do not work for me for long runs. I guess I will go back to New Balance.

My Blood sugar control was very good after the Marathon! I did not have any severe lows for 48 hours. I took about 10% less insulin with meals. The week after has been really good. A couple of high readings related to drinks with extra carbs and no insulin taken for the drinks. Other than that things have been good.

They say after a Marathon that your body needs to rest. They suggest 1 day per mile run. The day after my Marathon my walk was more like the Dance of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz than a walk! I was very concerned if this was normal and then I saw all the YouTube videos about the day after a marathon and felt that all was right with my world.

Here’s to recovery time and working with my body!

I finished my first marathon!

I finished my first marathon yesterday after having done enough training for a half marathon only. My mistake was thinking I could do the whole thing. By mile 13 I really was rethinking my decision and since it was an uphill run on the Truman at that point I thought oh well, let’s get on with it. I have a love hate thing with hills, either big or small, I’m not bothered by them and enjoy them but I also loathe them as well. Nothing personal, they just get in the way, that’s all.

For the diabetic bean counters out there:

Woke up at 2 am with a Blood Glucose Reading (BSG) of 173. Ate my half bagel with cream cheese and banana and ½ cup of juice and 2 cups of decaf coffee with a little French vanilla cream in them. Took 27 units of Lantus insulin. This was the only insulin I took until well after the marathon.
Just before the race I took 23 g. carbs of a granola bar and 1 banana. I wanted to be in the 200’s for the start of the race. I used the facilities 2 times before getting in my corral. The Brooks VIP one that I had a pass for was out of order and I was not happy! My BSG was 281 before the race.

At about 7:44 am I crossed the starting line and that was it! I planned on taking 1 packet of GU every 3 miles. I actually took my first GU at mile 6. My BSG was 168 at that time. After this I started taking GU every 3 miles. I took only water throughout the Marathon. I saw Karen at mile 8 and was feeling really good!

Mile 12 my left knee, which had given no problems to me at all throughout my training started to ache. My BSG was 192 and I started walking for the first time.
By mile 16 both knees were aching. I was walking more. I met a bigger guy who was having quad muscle problems and said he was a type 2 diabetic. He thought his problem was glucose related so I gave him 2 packs of my GU. We then walked around the corner of the course and found a water station with a table full of salt packets. I took 3 along with 3 waters and soon was running again. I’m certain the other runner made it to the finish.

Mile 18. Muscles stiffening up everywhere! My right hip, my knees, my quads, my hamstrings! Just keep moving! Don’t stop! Check my BSG 184. Another GU. More walking, then a limping kind of stride that makes Quasimodo look like an Olympic sprinter, then more walking. I met a man from the Savannah Striders on the Truman on ramp saying “Go striders!!” I talk was walking along and telling him how much my knees hurt when these 2 girls run by saying “at least they won’t hurt more.” I thought, “Hell, she’s right.” And I trotted along for about another mile.

Mile 21 my BSG is at 93. So I took 2 GU’s and at the next water station had half of a Cyto-max drink. Kept run/walk till mile 22 which became my wall.
Mile 22. Here I am 4.2 miles from the finish line! I took another GU and some water from my Camelbak belt. I hurt, badly, my muscles in my leg are cramping and it seems that no amount of stretching will ease them. There is a head wind all along the Truman Parkway. I want to cry. The band playing at mile 22, Lorenzo, are absolute bad asses! I rally for a little bit, knowing that walking only will make the pain last longer but running will end the pain sooner. I go back to walking and running till mile 23. The medical tent is right there. I walk past. On the other side of the Truman Parkway are the Ambulances. I keep walking. At first the runners started occasionally stopping at stretching calf and hamstrings and quads around mile 12, maybe 1 here another there. By mile 16, there are more. By mile 21 we are dropping like flies! I’ve seen muscles spasming in legs before but nothing like this! I vow not to look at my legs till the race is over.

Mile 23, there is a girl walking with her left foot angled away from her body. Something is very sore with her foot. I catch up to her while walking. We walk the next 2 miles together. She is from South Carolina and just ran a marathon in California 2 weeks ago and her left foot feels like a knife is stabbing into the bottom of her foot each time she steps on it! We comment on the funny signs we see. The encouragement we get from strangers. She is upset and frustrated, she was on pace for a 3:40 marathon and now she isn’t. She thinks maybe this happened so she will be more compassionate for other injured runners. She used the think that they should “suck it up.” Not anymore. She feels her body is betraying her. I can relate. I don’t know what to say. I agree with compassion and that it is a good thing. We talk about a few other things. She tells me in a few months she is going to China with a friend to run a marathon on the Great Wall of China! I am amazed by this. I tell her that I hope her foot will be fully recovered by then and wish her well. My strides feel better and I want to run across the finish line so I start to hobble again.

Somewhere between mile 25 and 26 I start running again. The rusting iron in my legs is heavy, every stride hurts when I touch the ground. I keep moving. I have to sprint because I can’t lift my legs just a little bit, it is an all or nothing proposition. I finally cross the finish line! I cry like a baby. I did it. Finally I finished something I started. It wasn’t pretty. But I finished.

My time was 5:21:15

Almost to the Starting Line!!!

12 Days left!!! Getting closer to the starting line! Spent this saturday trying to get a schedule for race day going. Got up at 3:30am and got myself ready in a hurry by 4:30am which is when I plan on leaving to get to the parking area. I woke up with a Blood Sugar Reading of 52. I ate 1/2 a bagel with peanut butter and 1 cup of juice. I took 27 units of lantus insulin. This was all the insulin I took until I ate after my run of 6.2 miles. I stretched for about 20 minutes. I got ready to run at 7:30 and was stiff by then. I need to remember to stretch closer to the start time. My BSG was 188 at the start. I ran 3.1 miles then my BSG was 168. Took 1 GU. Then ran my last 3.1 miles. My BSG was 182 at the end of my run.

I'm so very nervous and excited too! I hope I can stay well and healthly for the next 13 days! Till next time...keep running!

The Final Long Training Run

Since I posted last this is what has happened...I fell of a ladder and badly cut my left calf, bruised my left knee and thigh and rib cage!!! I had to take a week off completely! Ugh! I started running to break in a pair of Adidas Snova's. Great shoes! It turns out that I'm a "over pronator" and I've needed a "stabilizing" sneaker for years. Anyways, started running in the Adidas and got a hot spot on the arch of my left foot. Other than that, they felt great. My knees felt good and everything. I changed my socks, applied sport glide, tried moleskin and band aids and I still got a blister. The shoes had to go back after 18 miles of running. I put on my old New Balance and hit the gym for this final long training day.

On this day, 20 mile runs are the norm. I missed 11 weeks total of a 20 week training plan so guess what I had to do to ensure I could still run a marathon in 20 more days? I hit the gym. I can't run 20 miles but I could move continually for 4 hours to "simulate" a marathon for my body. So I used the elliptical machine for an hour, the cycling machine for an hour, and the elliptical machine for another hour. Then I ran the 5.4 miles from the gym back home. Total time was just under 4 hours.

As a type 1 diabetic who has never done anything like this before I had a real challenge. How to keep my blood sugars from falling too low? How many carbs do I need? How often? Will I know if my blood sugar is too low? What about testing? What if my blood sugars go too high? How will I bring them down? Do I take my insulin before or after this session? Do I take the same amounts or do I scale them back?

I have an appointment with an endocrinologist but it is in FEBRUARY!!! I have asked several doctors and called diabetes clinics but either they do not have the answer or can't speak with me since I'm not a patient!!! I have some strong feelings about this situation: where general advice given to a person who is 100% responsible for their self care, for their disease, for their treatment cannot be given out because of the law of land, however, I will run this marathon and if I die because someone who can give general advice that would have saved my life but didn't.... anyways getting off this soapbox now.

http://www.shericolberg.com/diabetic-athlete.asp

This is a book that gives general information for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics who wish to become better athletes, healthy people and understand their disease better. I glanced through this book and using her general advice was able to prepare for this exercise session and it only took 30 minutes of reading to get my answers!!

2:30 am Got up, let the dogs out, fed and watered them.

Fasting BSG 185 So I took 27 units of Lantis so I could process carbs all day.

Took 1.5 units Novalog and ate 45g of carbs (1/2 cup juice, 1/2 bagel w/cream cheese)

Went to the gym by 3:30am. Forgot gym key so went back home, got the key and back to gym at 3:55 did a BSG (Blood Sugar Glucose test) 175. Started on the Elliptical!!! After I started, every 30 min. I would stop, use the rest room, wash my hands, check my BSG and eat a GU (these are gel packs with sugar and electrolytes to keep endurance athletes from hitting the wall), continue for another 30 min. repeat, change equipment, and so on. Got it?

so here are my numbers:

4:25 BSG 83 (low but over 70 so acceptable)

5:00 BSG 105 (ok. Type 1 diabetics try to keep their BSG between 70-150)

5:30 BSG 141 ( I thought getting too high so I skipped the GU. 150 is the normal persons high)

6:00 BSG 57 (Skipping GU was not a good idea! Too low! No symptoms of Hypoglycemia. Ate GU)

6:30 BSG 96 (Better!)

7:00 BSG 86 (ok) Now I started on my 5.4 mile run!

7:30 BSG 108 (OK)

Finished at 7:57am. Bought 16oz of Bordens chocolate milk. Drank it without checking BSG, I know that was a bad idea, but at 8:30 by BSG was 135.

For the rest of the day, when I ate I reduced my insulin intake by a third. I hovered around 55-65 for a few hours after this session, nothing a veggie burger and fries at "The Green Truck" couldn't handle!

I went back to Fleet Feet of Savannah to trade in my blister shoes for a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11. They gave me a pass to the VIP Bathrooms at the starting line of the Marathon!!!! It is for Brooks shoe owners only so I should not have to wait 20 min in line to use a portapotty!! It's the little things sometimes!!!

Hopefully I can break in the new sneakers in the 17 running days I have left!

I am running to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. If you would like to help please goto this link:

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?px=6969504&pg=personal&fr_id=7090&et=cughbcNNTObunY62Ld06Mg&s_tafId=336989

Next post will be coming soon!

Well. I've had 3 weeks of running 5 days and cross training 1 day a week without further injuries! You have to celebrate the little victories. I am hoping to just cross the finish line on November 5th. With just over 30 days left to be prepared I guess we will just have to wait and see. I ran 28 miles this past week. This upcoming week I should run about 37 miles total. I've done everything I can to be prepared. The training did not go as planned at all but it did go. I won't qualify for Boston this year but there are 4 more planned Marathons for Savannah so maybe next year I can qualify.

Realistic goal setting sucks! 44 year olds who haven't run in 10 years should NOT set a goal of running a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon with less than 7 months to get prepared. I didn't know this back in May but I've learned it now. Most of my ideas look great on paper-it's the reality that screws them all up! Karen and I thought that the "Portable Water Pik" would be a great idea but the reality of the device's potential problems of water source and water over spray-while being able to overcome them-would make marketability a real issue (especially the water over spray part!).

Regardless, I will continue to run 5 days a week and crosstrain 1 day and rest 1 day. I will keep adding 1 mile per day per week until the week before. This week I'm running 6 miles per day. Next week 7 miles...so the 2 weeks before the marathon I'll be running 9 miles per day. I will taper for the week before with rest on 11/4 and running the Marathon on 11/5!

Anyways, this is my plan. We will see what happens on race day!

31 days after another injury...

September 5th...31 days later...finally run/walk again for the past week and today I ran a full 3 miles. Damn muscles...not the "big" ones that get all the attention like your glutes, abs, biceps, calf or thigh. It is the little muscles like the piniformis and hip abductors that cause me to have problems!!! Again, it is a lot like life. People can get the "big" things right. But it is the "little" things that trip us all up!

September 17th...I've been running every morning for the last 6 days!!! 3 miles daily until today, Saturday, I ran 4.266 this morning. A little pain in my left hip. I stretched my piniformis and the pain went away!! I'm looking forwards to resting tomorrow!

Looking back I ramped up the mileage to early for this old body of mine to take it. I have some patience but not enough to keep me from biting off more than I can chew.

48 days till Marathon day!!! Ok, I have no chance of qualifying for Boston (that will have to wait till next year) but I can take my time and enjoy running my first marathon this year.

For now I guess I will celebrate the end of a full week of running and look forward to Monday!!

When the Starting Line is the Finish Line.

I did 8 miles on my long day! When you look at your training plan and see what is about to come I wonder if I can do it. I worry about another injury. I wonder if I'm going to over do it and get another injury. Mostly, I worry about another injury...a lot!!!

I'm beginning to believe that the hardest part of a marathon is just making it to the starting line in good health. I'm thinking that running the marathon will be the easy part.

Of course I'm a newbie and don't know what I'm talking about but Hey, I'm just talking out loud here.

So what if I've bitten off more than I can chew? So what if I'm in hopelessly over my head? It's just like life. If I knew what was going on and what to do all the time I wouldn't need to read, call mom for advice, talk with others, or my personal favorite, figure it out as I go along. Sure it's not a great plan for success but at least I'm doing it. I am trying. I give up sometimes, get hurt sometimes, but I'm trying no matter what.

I think that is what makes the marathon such a great event. It's the trying. It's the beginning. It's the starting that makes the marathon great. Finishing is great too, but to decide to commit to weeks of training, to DO the weeks of training, the planning of race day, the scheduling of work time, family time, illness, unexpected troubles, injury and to persevere and arrive in good health at the starting line on time, on race day...Yes, the starting can be a finishing line too.