The Nearly 1/2 Marathon PR, Apidra & Other Stuff...

As a reader, I can tell you: sporadic blogs suck. When I'm enjoying reading someone, I expect them to post regularly, and I haven't.

But as a writer, I made a deal with myself a long time ago: I write what I want, when I want. There's no need for another chore in my life because, believe me: I've got plenty of them.

But still, I do have some things to say.

First up, running. Last weekend was the Hands on House 1/2 Marathon, one of the bigger 1/2 marathons I do and my 3rd time on this course. It was also my first race since my marathon melt-down three weeks prior. While I expected to be a little tired, I was also a little eager to repair my ego.

Due to construction, the course was re-routed and that led to some problems, most notably when the 4th mile marker gave way to the 5th after only 1/2 mile. Yes - you heard it correct: the course was off by more than 1/2 mile.

From that point on, the pack was made up of 2 kinds of runners: those who were amazed at their fitness and those who were annoyed to be shorted on the course. The most discernible difference? The second group was made up of those of us with Garmins.

In the end, I finished in 1:30:11 -- converted to a true half marathon, it was about a flat 1:35, just 20 seconds off my PR. Considering that's 3 weeks after the marathon, I was pretty pleased with the deal.

Soooo after the race, I had to jet so my wife and daughter could get to a baby shower. At work the next day I was told I had been called for an age group award and according to the website awards packet, I did sneak into third. And yet, when I called the sponsor, they feigned indifference. Well, my wife said, it's not the trinket, it's the fact you won, right? Yeah, I said. Exactly.

So there you go - denied the chance to have a true PR and denied an award. Kind of a bummer, but what are you going to do?

In other news, I've been on Apidra for about 3 weeks now. What have I noticed?

a. It's more potent. My total insulin dosage is down about 30%
b. The lowered dosage hasn't done much to my weight. I'm still trying to trim 5 pounds and haven't had much success with it
c. Apidra supposedly has fewer occlusions - short periods where the pump tube becomes clogged. I used to think this was marketing BS - the times I've had "No Delivery" warnings on my pump are sooo few and far between, and yet I've noticed something since being on Apidra: my between meal blood sugars are like a dead man's EKG - flat, flat, flat. With humalog, I get slow gentle waves, but with Apidra, I am F-L-A-T. I'm guessing this is what occlusions really mean in the real world. So all in all, I'm an Apidra fan.

Next up, the Knoebels Lumber 5k this weekend. There, I'm the reigning two year age group champ and lemme tell ya - I'm STAYING for the friggin' awards.

Popular posts from this blog

The gun in my basement.

Image
In my basement, I have a safe. And in that safe, under expired passports and birth certificates, there's a gun. It's unloaded. Hasn't been loaded in probably twenty years, and yet every time I take it out, I check to make sure. If you're a gun nerd, it's a 9 shot .22 revolver. On this website , it says that "it is true that many people have been killed by a .22 LR in the course of history," but the writer concludes that this weapon is a bad choice for self defense. I didn't buy it for self defense. I didn't even buy it. It was my father's and after he died, my mother gave it me, along with an Elgin watch he'd worn for years. The watch was weathered and worn and I took it to be restored. The jeweler refused, saying it was worthless. Two decades later, the watch is still in my jewelry box. There's no need for it to be locked up. I have no idea if this gun is in my possession legally. No idea if my father had a permit for it, or w...
Read more

Happy D-Blog Day, Uh, I Guess...

So according to diabetics blog-wide, today is D-Blog Day, the day when those of us affected by diabetes are supposed to blog about it. Or draw awareness to diabetes... Or something like that. I'm really a bad poster child for the disease. Not because I'm not in great control (actually, I am), but because I've just never been bothered by the disease so much. Red sums it up well in Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living, or get busy dying." So if living means three blood sugar tests a day, so be it. If living means being hooked up to an insulin pump, go to it. That being said, I feel for anyone with diabetic kids... I'm a tough guy about the disease. I wouldn't be if my kids had it. If either of my kids had diabetes, I'd be screaming about the politicians who are spending money on wars instead of research, and I'd be yelling about the schools that make it difficult to be a diabetic in the classroom. But my kids don't have diabetes, so instead I ...
Read more

The Bright Side

“ And if you ever get scared, look on the bright side: You’ve got a new life.” – Amos Lee Last month, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Since then, I’ve tried to write this essay a few times. The first attempt followed a narrative arc rife with suspense, with a few years of frustrating doctors’ visits, mysterious symptoms that came and went and the all-around sentiment that the batteries that powered my body were no longer able to sustain a charge or be fully refueled at the end of the day. But if you Google Lyme disease, you realize there’s nothing unique about that story. In fact, the reality that my own diagnosis came only two years after all of this started makes this a much shorter story than it is for many. The theme of the second version was more pitiful, tinged with regret about what this had taken from me over the past two years and what it might take in the future. But honestly, that one didn’t get far at all. If there’s a good time for something like ...
Read more