Here I am hurtling down Sedgewick, en route to a 4:38 finish at the Chicago Marathon today! None of the issues that plagued last year's suckfest, it was a great day to run and I enjoyed about 24 of the 26.2 miles and only had 2 miles of "when is this going to be OVER!", except for the end, when I had enough gas to sprint to the finish!
I also had a great day yesterday, meeting drsoosie and Dane, from http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/diabeticswhorunmarathons for breakfast with Mrsoosie and Dane's brother who are all really cool! We had breakfast (carb loading...) and walked around Grant Park, where the start and finish are chatting away the whole way, D stuff, non-d stuff. It was a good time and pleasant way to relax before the race. Then I came home, family went to meet aunt for dinner and then bounced off the walls. BG wasn't as smooth as last year, I had one big spike after too much Gatorade but no cramps and, amazingly, no chafing!
Your life sounds very fast lane. Truth is you and people like you got me out walking today, small step for other people, huge step for me. Keep it up, you are doing us all good.
Going for a walk *is* exactly what I did a few years ago when I got started, I just started walking around the neighborhood and one step led to another and whatever, 36000 or so today!
13 miles of brutal, knee locking cramps. I might've bailed out but my aunt kept me going. Plus, I can guess how that sort of stuff works in Chicago and that the meat wagon would have taken as long as running back to get me to the pickup zone. Which still would have involved a mile hobble the length of the park. So I just ran but it was not fun.
Does it look like you were giving out Hi 5's to Spectators ...so cool :) I am too proud of you !!... I can delete the rest , if not appropiate ...let me know , please !
Both in Victoria and Kelowna BC, Canada had Marathons and shorter runs /walks .Team Diabetes participated in Victoria . What tickled my fancy so to speak, is that a MP from the Yukon did run the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon .Leef, is a Conservative Member of Parliament and the lone federal representative for Yukon.
He'll be raising funds and awareness for the Canadian Diabetes Association, which provides education and support for those afflicted and research into finding a cure.
He has seen the toll the disease has taken on people in towns across Yukon Territory.
"I looked for a particular issue in the Yukon that could benefit from the inspiration of running, and diabetes really hits the northern part of our country hard," said Leef on Friday from Ottawa( our capital ).
"We suffer rates three to four times higher than the rest of the Canadian population," said Leef, a Yukon resident for 30 years.
"Our Aboriginal population, which makes up 25 per cent of the Yukon, really gets hit with that."
While Leef hasn't been touched personally by diabetes, he feels that supporting the cause is one way of supporting the many people who suffer from it.
"It can help to renew their energy in believing that the fight they're fighting is worth it, that the energy and effort they put into it is worth it," he said.
The Association "is just thrilled" that Leef is supporting their fight against diabetes, said Julie Holder, CDA Regional Director.
I started out around 166 had a CB and, right about when the race started it was showing 133 so I had a whiff of jelly beans, checked again and it was 120 then 133 so I figured "it worked" and kept on rolling.
About 1/2 hour into it, maybe 3 miles, I saw a 106 and had a couple of Gatorades as I still had maybe .6/ .7U on board and I figured "uh oh, the tail is crashing me out." This, of course, led to a quick spike to 190, no more Gatorade and switching to water for a while. Another CB got it down and I kept running and felt pretty good despite what I'd usually consider an "eek" bg.
Just before 18 miles I was down to about 106 and ran into the Clif Shot place, these gooey piles of carbs, vitamins, minerals, some w/ caffeine but I was laying off that so I figured I'd have one for some food and went ahead and bolused but forgot to cut it for the running so I took almost the whole thing until I remembered and cut it off so I had like 2U, instead of the .3-.5U boluses I usually have for small "hits" of carbs. So it was off to more gatorade for a while and some more jelly beans, which is right about the hard part of the race. I had the celebratory beer shots at mile 23. They were better managed this year, easier to swill so maybe 1/2 a beer?
Just past that I made another tactical blunder (coincidence?). I saw my family and junior just past 23 and she and her friend "bandited" out of the crowd to run with me (in Chuck Taylors and Uggs...) for a block.
I still felt good, although tired, creaky achy and I said "thanks guys, it's hammer time!" (some cheese to go with my Gatorade...)and took off. I forgot my Garmin so I'll never know what my pace was but I ran two hot miles and, oops, blew off the last Gatorade station before checking the CGM because I was rocking it. More jelly beans, no water as I didn't bring my jug so it was a comedy of errors. But all's well that ends well.
Thanks everybody! It was pretty much perfect Sandy, a wee bit chilly at the start but the winner was only about a minute off the world record. MrsAcidRock said the people in fancy jackets they didn't want to ditch. looked pretty hot by her viewing site at mile 23.
Time of my life!!!!!! Especially getting to spend some time with you and Dane. Unlike you, I have no cGM that I use. Tested at 148 at the start of the race and didn't test during. I made sure to consume my honey stingers at about 4-5 mile intervals. I was about 160 at the end (I ate a few extra stingers at mile 22.) Felt great after. Truly one of the greatest experiences of my life!!!
I am still hugely buzzed about it today. Not a good thing, grocery shopping was a pointless meander around the store and I forgot to take junior to dancing. Where's the amazing pic of us that mrsoosie took? That was classic!
I shall text it to you. If you want me to email send me your email in messages. I must say we all look pretty good. Especially the one with the amazing Chicago backdrop!!!! Still buzzing majorly myself!
