Teaching ... myself

Well, I met Dave and Wayne (Russ has been out of commission due to crazy back muscle/nerve issues) for a Sunday morning run yesterday. We took off from the swim center and Dave wanted to show us his neck of the woods. Well, it wasn't but 2 minutes into the run and Dave veers off the gravel and into the woods. Its barely light and we are running on some squirrley trail in the ice and snow - tripping over stumps and cursing - and off Dave goes just loving it. Well we went to the end of the Greenway and just kept going - past the humane society, down a gravel road to 421 - across the river and back down Bamboo for many a very pretty mile. We hit Deerfield and traffic and wound back to the start. It was in the 10 mile range, I would say and quite a beauty of a run. We did our share of laughing - Dave's blood sugar was perfect the whole time. I however stopped in at the quickie mart and had to buy 3 candy bars (for a dollar each! Rip off!). I checked mid way through just becaus...

Well, the day was not without interesting things happening. I woke up at 56, ate, went for a run. Not even to the McDonalds , I was 38, ate, felt terrible and walked a bit. Jogged the rest of the way in, I was 43. Was low by 2 nd period and ate a bit. Lunch - 125, 4pm - 38 again. After dinner (and cake) - 41, so more cake. 4am this morning - 263, yay ? Last night was fun, regardless of the low day. We had wanted to get Dave's family (specifically, Em who is heavy with child) a dinner that they didn't have to cook. But we turned it into a combo - Triabetes get together (John and Maureen came over), birthday, and Em dinner. It was really great. Zoe and Ashley made some incredible cards...I really can't get over how well Zoe (just turned 4) is drawing and writing...she's further along than I was when I was 27. Ashley spent the entire day making the cake from scratch, baking bread, making the dinner, cleaning the house, oh yeah - and taking care of the kids. I absolutely...

Well, if you haven't checked out the really fantastic journalistic and photographic work of Marie Freeman, then pick up the Jan 22 edition of the Watauga Democrat (or go to http://www.wataugademocrat.com/2008/0121/0123runningdown.php ) Marie really did a good job for us and the timing is nice because now that the Triabetes project summary is done, the workhorses of the team (Nate, Peter, Michelle, and John) are really tracking down sponsors. The photo is kind of funny - see we had just finished an easy 17 miles... Kidding! We showed up at the swim center, changed in our cars, and ran exactly 40 yards. Dave and John and Ashley then went on a run and I went in for a swim with my daughter. In other news, Zoe has been having some stomach pains the last few nights - we took her to the doc to make sure there's nothing major to worry about - and there isn't - she had a good night. But I did what most parents do, I wished I could take her pain...you know, "just give i...

Well - John is just dying to go for a run...it has something to do with the fact that he is insane. It's 9 degrees out...in the sun. He wants to do 10 and then go for a swim. So we meet at school and head out. About 4 miles in, under the shadow of the Mickey-D's arches....the Bermuda triangle for blood sugar...I say I need to test - I feel slow and I'm sweating under my eyes. He does too. "Holy Crap!" he says "I'm 31(?)... I've never been this low in my life!" Welcome to the dark side, I say. I'll see if I can top that one. Then the screen displays "LO". HA! says I (thinking that LO is less than 30) "Gotcha". We laugh. We eat a bit and try to figure out how the $1.37 I have in my bag will enable us to survive. Orange Juice? Coke? If only Dave were here (he was called and emailed but left us hanging) - Dave would know what to do - He'd find some little bit of edible mulch with 0.1 grams of sugar in it. ...

Ok , we go to lunch (Chic Fil -a) and I load up on fries and sweet tea and 3 units because I was 188 - and off I go. My plan was to meet Ashley at the library in an hour and a half. It was snowing and the tunes were playing and I spent some time running the lonely greenway trail...very nice. After about 70 minutes, I was really feeling good...I always said I never get runner's high - but here it was... I was cruising and could go forever. That doesn't happen to me so I stopped to test. LO - that's all it said. I've been low 30's and it registered. Its really kind of funny - Dr. Matt had just this week written up my eval and he was concerned that I was getting low too much. He thought being low too much would dull my body's ability to recognize the symptoms ... yeah, I know - what a quack! Anyway...I thought my current situation might need some divine intervention, I thought. And there it was ... like the sign that Constantine saw in the sky from Go...

Well, its Saturday and I have a few moments at the start of the day to catch up a little. We had a snow day on Thursday and some good sledding - then rain glazed over it. I hoped for a snow day yesterday but it was only a 2 hr delay. I went for a run yesterday morning and really did pretty well - there was snow and ice everywhere but the sidewalks were cleared so off I went. Just as I was finishing and heading up to the high school I looked up and there was a snowplow barrelling toward me cleaning out all that ice and muck in the gutter...I looked to my left...guardrail. A little panic set in and moved to a spot where the ice was thinnest and I just got ready to huddle over and take the ice cube wave that was about 6 feet high. At the last second, the snowplow operator lifted the blade. I sprinted in so sorry for cursing those guys for keeping the roads cleared enough to let us have school. Zoe and I did some sledding down the driveway at the farm and we built a "Snow Zoe...

After a long break and a great talk with an old friend, Marie (who is working on getting a Triabetes article published) - I was convinced (told) to get off my butt and blog. Thankfully, I just discovered that we are on a 2 hour delay this morning and everyone is still asleep...rare. OK, I guess you are always in danger when you think you are in the clear...at least that's the lesson that all horror films teach. We made it through the holidays in fine fashion, except for a little sickness...however, that kept us from traveling which was almost a gift. But we did decide to make it to Greenville to visit family. It was a whirlwind tour - we left friday after a workday and zoomed down before rush hour. Teri and Mallory, Lee, Alex, and Gray came down the next day and we all went ice skating and in general had a wonderful time. It was so great to see Zoe just swept up with those kids and take off. Zoe had only been skating one time before and I just had her in my arms the whole time. Thi...

Well, Christmas and the New Year has come and gone in fine fashion. Its been a great break to just be with my family and do the occasional run. I've been running a 7 mile loop around my old school (Dave's school) and last week we (John, Dave, and Nate - Dave's bro) decided to do 2 laps...14 miles. That being farther than anyone but John had ever done...his high is somewhere around 80 miles, so he does not count. But it went really well - it took awhile but was comfortable (even for Dave once he bought the lip balm...huge joke here that will remain under wraps). John even somehow got me to do the last few miles pretty fast (for me) with the mantra..."its gotta hurt, you know".... Well, I may know but I am not ready to accept that one. But all went well. As for blood sugar - I ate 2 snickers bars, a pepsi (reverting to Old School Diabetes care) and 4 clif shots...oh and some of John's super gatorade (imagine a small bottle filled 3/4 way with gatorade m...