The Adventures of A Type 1 on Halloween!

Although Coach Orton hasn’t officially ended my off season yet I’ve determined that in October I did enough damage to my liver and body that November is a perfect time to get after it again. Knowing that Monday would restart my diet of clif bars, and whole grains I had to blow it out on Saturday asking the question, “what would Brian Boitano do?”

Saturday started harmlessly enough with an 8 mile run on gorgeous Ridge Rd. The leaves continue to change colors in Charlottesville so running out in farm country is absolutely breath taking. I had planned to go for a long ride on Saturday but woke up with a stomach ache and some high blood sugars so I thought a run was the safer option. During October I have definitely noticed a change in the effort required to maintain a decent pace. I haven’t been eating as healthy as I normally do and my off season workouts have paid the price – we all need a break every now and again though!

After my run I showered up to head to Darden’s tailgate for the UVA v Duke game; and was pretty excited since I actually had seats for the game! Normally I’m crammed up on the hill with 500 undergrads but this time I was on the 40 yard line 3 rows from the field. I left midway through the third quarter to get myself glammed up for Halloween – that’s when the adventure started!

This was actually the first time I would be dressing up for Halloween as a diabetic. I knew the parties I’d encounter would have chocolate goodies and was a bit worried since my costume didn’t have any pockets. My blood sugars have been a bit bouncy lately so I went into the night with some trepidation. When I got home from the tailgate my blood sugar was at 216; not too awful since I had 3 beers at the game and a couple York peppermint patties; I corrected for that and was off to the first of 2 pre-parties.

Since my costume didn’t have any pockets I carried my meter with me in a fuel belt pouch that I have; the palm sized pouched was the perfect solution. I tend to freak out if I don’t have constant access to my meter so having something that fit in my hand gave me blood sugar confidence for the night. After playing some flip cup I left the first pre-party and headed downtown for the second party and to eat some pizza. At this point my blood sugar was in the 300s, so I bloused and corrected a ton for 2 slices of pizza. I was a bit worried at this point since my blood sugars were starting to get out of control but tried to push that to the back of my mind so I could enjoy hanging out with my friends.

From there I was off to Darden’s dance party and had an absolute blast. For 3 hours my friends and I danced up a storm and drank a ton of beers – however I was a sweaty mess by the end of the 3 hours. Once our tab ran out and the party was over we all headed outside. I finally tested and had a blood sugar of 61; hmmm not so good, time to find a deli. A group of us were headed to a second bar for the rest of the night but I got separated from them as I was trying to find a soda or something anywhere.

The first open place I passed by was a fairly upscale wine bar – heads turned around as I walked in with my slightly over the top costume. The bar tender asked me with hesitation if she could get me anything. I asked for a coke; she said I’m sorry we don’t have any soda. I then asked her for anything with sugar, orange juice, cranberry juice, anything. She then said something like “oh so you just need to carb up?” I responded with a smile and said “yes, ummm… something like that.” She then realized that they had “Italian soda,” so I said that was fine and drank the Orange-gina or whatever it was, while the 2 people seated at the bar gawked at me.

Finally the two people seated at the bar started talking to me as I drank my soda, and I explained to them that I go to Darden and was at their Halloween party and just had to run in here to grab a soda and then was going to reunite with my friends. The couple then started asking me questions and the guy who was a computer science graduate student began asking me for career advice. Seriously he was asking a guy dressed like this:

For career advice! Looking back on it I should have said, the only thing you need to ask yourself is “what would Brian Boitano do?” But I put sarcasm aside tried to be as nice as possible, wished him well and was off to find my friends again. As I walked the Downtown Mall I realized I must be far less intimidating dressed as Chaz Michael Michaels,” then I normally am as a couple groups of guys talked some sh*t to me – I of course had to say something back but just kept walking. Finally I reunited with my friends, danced for an hour or two more then headed home as I started to feel a bit low. Once I got back home my blood sugar dropped into the 50s so I ate some whole wheat toast with almond butter and chia seeds before bed. I woke up with a blood sugar of 98, ate a clif bar and then hoped on my bike trainer for an hour. Yep the off season is over, now it’s time to get back into shape – but at least I ended the off season in style!

and yes - Kent (or should I say Jimmy) and I did lifts on the dance floor!