Teaching ... myself

Well, we finished exams on Thursday.... ahhh . I went to Dr. Morgan on Friday morning and got a nice little Christmas bonus: a hemoglobin A1C of 6.5. My lowest ever. I mean that is not even flagged as high....for normal people! (Granted - it is right on the edge...) It even made the fact that a landslide had closed my route back to Boone and I had to take a hour and a half detour back to town....not so bad. Then I got a gift from two incredible friends of ours - William and Janet - who could possibly be the most giving people I've ever known....and I have known some incredibly generous people. It just popped into their heads that I could really use a treadmill while I train for this event so they arranged for their super plush treadmill to live at our house. This really comes just at the right time - its been harder and harder to run and have Ashley run and spend time with the family now that daylight and temps have dropped. I just need one of those endless pools and we can have tr...

Well, my first organized run...ever. I went back to where I've spent much of my life (Greenville, SC) for the Paris Mountian 20K. My wife has run this many times before and it was just something I was always certain I would NEVER do. So it was very appropriate that this was my first Triabetes run. I had on my Triabetes shirt and the tri hat John gave me (would have carried voodoo dolls if I thought it would help). I got there at 6:45 for an 8am start - even bought my breakfast with me because I was most worried about how my blood sugar would do. I checked in and got my cool t-shirt (almost went home after that) then I went back to the car to stretch and eat. At about 7:20 I ate breakfast and took 2 units (blood sugar 137). Earlier I had backed off the Lantus just a bit - because I figured that I would only be a few hours and wouldn't affect the rest of the day that much. I pinned my number on (number 4....felt like an elite runner - but they just did this by alphabetical order)...

Not really a Triabetes log here today - I thought nothing could top the test strip miracle, but then our dear, sweet 6 month old Adia...slept through the night. Realize that Ashley has not slept well since she was 6 months pregnant. So that's 9 months of poor sleep (and 6 months for me). The irony in the whole thing is that Adia just doesn't sleep well with us. We have always had a family bed and have always slept great - but its just not for Adia. She slept her first night in the pack and play (our version of a crib)...which is a little sad....until you realize that we slept! Hooray! Paris Mountain 20K tomorrow. I'm now stoked to run my heart out...which is good - because it is supposed to be cold rain. If you haven't read Dave's brother's comments on his blog ( http://triabeticdave.blogspot.com/ ) about Wide Open - please do.

So, when this project started I knew that 1) I would have to test more (while I run, bike, swim) and 2) my insurance would be difficult about it. I am a teacher in NC so I have Blue Cross / Blue Shield - they say that my plan only allows for 150 tests (strips) per month - (450/90 days). Well that works out to around 5 tests per day. Now that I am exercising I find that I can blow through 5 in a single long run. I'm low a lot and there are many times when I'll be exercising and I'll ask myself "am I just getting tired or am I crashing?". Well now I test to find out. The problem is that BY TAKING BETTER CARE OF MYSELF, I HAVE GONE OVER WHAT MY INSURANCE ALLOWS. Oh, by the way - my doctor wants me to test more and has written a prescription for more....which my insurance won't accept. So I was on the phone for 45 minutes with the insurance company 2 nights ago trying to figure out how to get my prescription filled. I have been talking with my benefits coo...

Dave, Wayne (Dave's principal and my old principal), and I went for a run this morning and just kind of wandered for a couple of hours. It was soo good to just keep going and to realize that "yeah, I can do this thing...slowly". I've signed up for a half marathon in Greenville , SC next weekend - one my wife always used to do. I'm hoping to simply be close to her time. This is my very first "race" ever... how hilarious. I wonder what it will be like to be at the starting line...

This weekend was pretty nice by anyone's accounts. Saturday morning John, Dave, and I went for an early morning run. It was the first time the musketeers have been together in a few weeks and it was really nice to connect and get excited about this project again. As the goals of Triabetes become more clear it becomes more and more of an honor to be involved with it. We started in the pitch dark and the sun rose while we ran. And on the way home McDonalds had 2 sausage and egg biscuits for $2 ...mmmm - but it makes you wonder how they can afford to sell quality food at such a low price.... hmmm Later that day Ash and I and a dear friend from Athens took our kids and watched the Christmas parade in town. (Pictures are posted on our picassa site - see link on the side) Today (Sunday) we slept in, took care of starting a nice little split rail fence, Ashley did some doula stuff and then just after dark I went for an 8 mile run in town (Greenway Trail). The clouds were backlit by a ...