Sweet Victory

So while the Boston Marathon was the culmination of a lot of work, and it was an amazing experience and I will run it again (likely not until I hit a new age group), let's face it: the record heat made the resulting time a bit of a bummer. If you compared my finishing place this year to 2011, it means I probably would've run a PR 3:11-3:13ish in Boston in ideal conditions. But you won't find PR's at the "would've" shed, so I'm still stuck at 3:17:30. The good news? I'd previously agreed to do the Cleveland Marathon as a Team Type 1 event on May 20. At the time, I thought it would be a "fun" marathon; zero pressure, run it by feel, enjoy Cleveland (side note: I've been to Cleveland twice and was surprised both times how much I enjoyed this seldom-ballyhooed town), etc. But now, well, now there's work to do. After a week of recovery, this week's going to be around 44 miles, including 16-18 on Sunday. Next week will be up ov...

I was fortunate to speak at a joint event held by the JDRF of Eastern PA and the Children’s’ hospital of Pennsylvania this past weekend. More than 300 people attended, a wide mixture of children and adults, all touched by Type 1 diabetes in one way or another. The morning program began with a presentation by Dr. Aaron Kowalski, who oversees the Artificial Pancreas Project. Learning about recent progress of the project was exciting, and the audience was happy to learn of updates currently coming down the pipeline. Next up was a short break engaging with vendors. I was happy to chat with the Sanofi reps and see the forthcoming IBGstar, the blood sugar meter that plugs into an iPhone. It’s hard to imagine any diabetic iPhone fan not picking up this meter as soon as it becomes available. I was the next presenter to take the stage. I began by sharing the latest Team Type 1 video, which was greeted with a resounding applause. As I joked after the video, the only problem with it is m...

A few weeks before this year’s Boston Marathon, a friend of mine commented that he was proud to have run it last year, during a “record-breaking” day. He was referring to the fact that the course record had been demolished on a day of near-perfect weather. I remarked that he was right to be honored, not even considering that I’d participate in a record-breaking day of another sort. When the sun came up on marathon Monday, there was no denying that the weathermen had nailed it: we were in for a day of record heat. Though Pennsylvania’s sticky summers mean I can do all right in such conditions, that’s only after weeks of preparation and that wasn’t what we were facing. No, we were faced with an anomaly – a once in a lifetime occurrence that was impossible to prepare for. My shuttle arrived at the athlete’s village, early, and I found a space in the shade to sit. At this point, the shade was cool and it was almost easy to convince yourself that things would be ok. But as the sun crep...

This year's HEA Scholarship Race served as my final tune-up for this month's Boston Marathon. Last year, I had placed 2nd overall in 19:12, and then followed that up a month later with my first Boston-qualifying marathon. This year, I was hopeful I'd be faster, as my Boston goal is also more aggressive. Thirty minutes before the race, my blood sugar was a bit too high at 240, but I knew I had insulin on board so I was hopeful it would get below 200 prior to the race. At the gun, three of us jumped out, fast, but I was definitely the slowest of the three. I tried to maintain contact with the two rabbits, but settled in for a wire-to-wire 3rd place finish. When I went through the mile at 5:44, I knew I was either heading for a PR or a terrible crash and burn! I opted to run this race mostly by feel, rarely glancing at my watch. I was deep into the pain well by the first mile and committed myself to spending the rest of the race there. In most races, pain is mandatory b...