Sweet Victory

So I did something different last weekend. For all of my previous ultras, I've done 1 single long run on the weekends. The core of what makes a long run for me seems to be about 5 hours or 30-31 miles, though I've done a few at 5.5 hours and as long as 35 miles. The other school of thought is to do back long runs, but have them be shorter. Until this past weekend, I'd never done that. I can't say going into it, I had a great reason for doing it, either, other than training plans for 50 milers don't look much different than training plans for 100 milers, and that just scares me, so I decided different might be good. On the other hand, many runners say that the risk of injury is greater on back to backs, and hey, I'm not getting any younger here, so injury is a concern. To recap, last weekend, I did 31.1 miles in 4:55 of total running. For some reason, even though I'm a stickler about running time for ultras, I focused on miles for my btob. On Sa...

Warning: not about diabetes or running. Just a rant because I feel like it. Enough already. Enough with your Second Amendment rights being taken away, for a couple reasons. The first is the idea that limiting magazine sizes is a slippery slope to losing handguns. I don’t buy it. There are speed limits on our highways. By and large, they keep us safe on our way to work. At the very least, they send a message all drivers can understand, so that we can work together to get to the office in one piece. There are also limits to how much beer I can buy at the store. Make no mistake: I like beer. But these limits don’t keep me in bed at night clutching a cold bottle of Yuengling for fear the government will take it from me. Oh and by the way, those limits are plenty high enough for me and most people to catch a decent buzz or get through a Sunday’s worth of football. Moreover, I suspect the government likes the tax revenue generated by alcohol sales, just as they do the tax revenue gen...

Just like that, January is half-way gone. Quick update on my shoulder: after an unsuccessful month of PT and a clear MRI, one well placed cortisone shot did the trick. Granted, it also put my blood sugars through the roof for a week, but now I'm sleeping through the night again. Speaking of blood sugars, I also received my latest A1c, which was 6.1. That's pretty darn good. I think I may have had a 6.1 1 or 2 other times, but that's close to my best ever. Meanwhile, the miles add up, with 102.3 in the books for January and it's only the 14th. I expected to miss some time last week when I was in NYC, and while a few runs went a little short, I actually didn't miss a single day, which was nice. Last weekend, I did my 2nd 5 hour run of this build, reaching up to 31.1 miles in 4:55, which was a nice tick faster than the last one. While the weather was a little better, I attribute much of the improvement to my new Hoka One One's . If you're not familiar...

If you're not a diabetic endurance athlete, this likely won't matter to you, but history was made yesterday! My teammate Tommy Neal finished the Houston Marathon in 2:30:36, good for 16th place among men out of a projected 13,000ish starters. To the best of my knowledge, this is the fastest marathon ever run by a Type 1 diabetic. Missy Foy commented to me on Twitter that she believes it broke Bill Carlson's diabetic record of 2:38. Perhaps most impressive? Tommy was disappointed in his time, which happened in a rain-soaked race. As the owner of a 65:00 half marathon, he's got 2:15 speed , so it's just a matter of putting together the right race on the race day. And as far as mastering diabetes? Consider this: Tommy tweeted that his BG was 153 at the start and 83 at the end . I'd say he's well on his way.