Flying Pig 1/2 Marathon - May 6, 2007

The weekend started off wrong – my bloodsugars were very high all day Friday (which didn't surprise me since I was in the car for 7-8 hours), and even higher through the night. I barely slept Friday night, because I was drinking so much water and getting up every 2 hours to use the bathroom, check my bloodsugar, and take more insulin. I finally figured out why my bloodsugars were so high on Saturday morning, when my insulin pump completely stopped working. I ended up having to go to CVS to get some NPH insulin (I had used Lente before I went on my pump, but apparently that is not a common insulin anymore because none of the pharmacies I called had any) and some extra syringes. My bloodsugars were higher than usual all weekend and I was stressed out beyond belief with trying to figure out how much insulin to take and what to do about my pump (the warranty ran out last year, so they gave me a hard time about replacing it). I wasn't even sure I should run the ½ marathon on Sunday morning, but eventually decided that I'd at least try it.

I wasn't excited the morning of the race like I usually am – I was dreading it. I had to carry my bloodsugar meter, insulin, and syringes in my waist pack/ water bottle holder instead of gel & Clif Bloks, and fill my bottle with water instead of Gatorade. I decided to take the race very slowly, even though I knew I had trained well enough to finish in close to 2 hours. I even stopped and waited in the porta potty line with my friend around mile 4.

While we were stopped, I checked my bloodsugar; it was 104, so I ate 2 Clif Bloks. Another friend passed by while we were in line, so we decided to catch her. Once we caught up with her, I ran ahead to get water, then couldn't find them again. I decided that I wasn't going to let diabetes stop me from finishing as fast as I could. I knew by this time that I couldn't make up enough time to get the 2:04 that I should have been able to do, so I aimed to finish in 2:10.

The first 10 miles or so of the Flying Pig ½ Marathon are uphill and the last 3.1 or so are downhill. I ran reasonably hard from the time I lost my friends until I passed mile marker #10, then I went all out. I wasn't going to let diabetes stop me! My official chip time was 2:08:44, and that's 10 minutes faster than my best time ever (last year at the Country Music ½ Marathon). I'm trying desperately to be happy to have a new best time, but I just keep thinking about how much better I could have done if I'd had my insulin pump, because I would have been much more confident from the beginning of the race.