Training Goal # 1 - Complete!

Yesterday with a stomach full of butterflies I ran in my first competitive road race as a diabetic. The two days before the race were filled with lows only adding to the doubt I had that I would ever again be the type of athlete I was before my diagnosis. Before I get into my race results here's a brief overview of how crappy my Friday and Saturday was:

Friday - I set out for a swim workout having had muscle milk (30 g of carbs) a clif bar and 3 glucose tabs with a basal rate of 5%. Arriving at the gym an hour and 1/2 after I started my always fun nutrition protocol my blood sugar was only 114!!! After I changed into my jammers (which make my ass look great) I found out the pool was closed and bolused for the ingested food (stupid idea). An hour later at my apartment by bs was down to 43 - I had a 1/2 hour run scheduled that night so I took my pump off pounded some accelerade, and had a turkey sandwich 2 hours later my bs was 160. I ate 1/2 a clif bar and set out on my run - 15 minutes into it my blood sugar was down to 57; so I found a bench ate some glucose tabs and cabbed it home. Nothing adds to an athletes confidence like having to end a 30 minute run short and cab it home!

Saturday - Woke up around 10 am and took my pump off. Had a bacon, egg and cheese and started my ride around 12 am. 20 minutes into the ride my blood sugar was in the 80s - a 10 minute break and some nutrition got the bs back up to 110 so I was able to finish my ride nice and slow. Ate a BLT with turkey for lunch and headed up to the New York Road Runners Office to grab my race packet, felt kind of weird on the subway and checked, down to 80 an hour and 1/2 after eating so I popped a couple glucose tabs. After my walk from the subway and search for accel-gels at every bike shop on the UES my bs was down to 60 - had some disgusting frozen yogurt and hoped my bs would stabilize for the rest of the day.

Saturday Night - For my pre-race dinner I decided to have whole wheat penne pasta with onions, peas, mushrooms, ground buffalo and red sauce. I bolused for 80 grams of carbs, 2 hours later my bs was a happy 97; an hour and 1/2 after that I was at 235!!!! I tried to correct but nothing happened - changed the infusion site, gave some more bolus and when I woke up at 4am I was 160 - gave another correction woke up at 7am and found my bs to be 90.

Race Day - With a bs of 90, I turned my pump down to 10% 2 and 1/2 hours pre-race. I had 2 eggs, 3 oz of orange juice, 2 pieces of cracked wheat toast and a cup of coffee. On the subway ride to Central Park I downed 32oz of water and checked my bs at 8:50 am - 198, alright I thought to myself right where I want to be. I had a 1/4 clif bar on my walk from the subway to the park, put my bag in the baggage area, changed into my Newtons and walked to the start area. At 9:20 am I checked my bs and was terrified to see a 117!!!!!! No way I could run a 10k with a starting blood sugar of 117 and how the f did it drop so quickly??? I gobbled up the rest of my clif bar, had 3 glucose tabs and said Liebo it's time to HTFU and tell diabetes to F off today.

With my heart racing and seeds of doubt (due to fear of passing out and having a seizure) racing through my head I found the 8 minute pace sign and got into the mass of people at the start. 10 minutes into the race I was still standing, passing people left and right and popped open my first accel-gel. 5 minutes after having my gel I tested - 173, what a relief; at that point I knew I'd be able to do this race and started to hammer.

With that confidence my official statistics were:

Overall place - 1751 (total racers 4840)
Gender place - 1333
Age place - 274 (total racers 1233)
Finish Time - 51:08 (in my goal range!!!!!!!!!)
Pace/ mile - 8:14

Finishing a 10k makes me neither an Ironman nor Triathlete. However, overcoming the mess that was my blood sugar in the 48 hours preceding the race gives me the confidence that I can accomplish my athletic goals. Yesterday, for the first time I felt like an athlete again. I bobbed and weaved through the crowd, raced around people and pushed myself for 6.2 miles. I fell asleep smiling last night looking forward to the hell that will be my training through July. At 9:20 am yesterday I HTFU and completed my first training goal.