Human bird feeder, I don’t think so

Ziplock bags? Really? What was I thinking?

Shortly after posting last night’s blog, I hit the hay as it was way past my bedtime given that I had been up since the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. But while I was lying in bed fighting to turn off my head, suddenly I was jolted awake with the realization that the notion of pinning ziplock bags full of fuel to my race shirt is quite the ridiculous idea for a fashionably conscious runner such as myself. I will surely be picking my race outfit based on picture-perfect looks over functionality (this is me we’re talking about) so why on earth would I think that ziplock bags with orange slices and mini pancakes thwacking against me with every stride I take would result in a show-off worthy picture. Seriously, I’d look more like a human bird feeder than I would a marathon runner!

In my defense, though, I did wake up super early, 5 a.m. early, and no one can possibly be expected to think clearly when they wake up that early! But hey, I’m still gung ho for the pancake idea so it wasn’t all for naught 😀

Oh my theres a whole lotta yum in that nectarine!!!

This time of year is one of my favourites when you can get local strawberries and blueberries and raspberries and soon there’ll be blackberries too, and you can get local peaches and nectarines and apricots and cherries and other fruitylicious goodness too. But, because I’m a bit of a creature of habit, any other time of the year I pretty much stick to apples for my lunches, and ever since going on the pump, I’ve become pretty bang on for figuring out, by feel, what size and weight of an apple is worth 24 grams of carbs and what ones are worth a bit more or a bit less. Today, however, Mario surprised me with my first nectarine of the season – I love nectarines!

But you see that nectarine up there, how big does that look to you? To me, it looks like a large nectarine. But when it comes to figuring insulin to carb ratios, small, medium and large often does not cut it. I looked up nectarines in the CalorieKing book and it gave me two options: 1 medium, 4 oz = 12 grams or 1 large, 5 1/2 oz = 16 grams. But how many of us out there really know how much 4 oz weighs? And how many of us actually walk around with a scale in our back pocket? I’m guessing not too many, and yet, this is what we get. I don’t complain about my disease too much, it is what it is, but sometimes, just sometimes, it would be nice if books like these and Internet sites with similar such calculations could make it a bit easier for people like me. Just saying… So yeah, what I’m getting at here, is that I totally miscalculated the nectarine, but with a bit of trial and error, I’m sure I’ll get it bang on, mind you, it probably won’t be until the season’s end!

TONIGHT’S RUN:

  • 6:15 p.m. BG before: 7.4 (temp basal -50 per cent)
  • Distance: ran 3 km walked 1 km
  • Average pace: 6:26 (just running pace)
  • Time: 19:28 (running time)
  • 7:30 p.m. BG after: 8.1

Tonight was one of those nights where I felt like I was running into the barrel of a blow dryer! I’m not complaining about the heat, not at all, but my goodness, we seriously went from one extreme, barely hitting double digits in the temperature gauge, to another extreme where it’s 33 degrees out (91F), 37 (99) with the humidity factor – in a matter of days! No wonder hardly anyone showed up tonight.

It was supposed to be a 10k tempo run, but my running partner (who happens to be one of the clinic leaders) and I decided right from the get-go we weren’t going to be doing anything near a 6:26 pace … well, that was before we started running! Our first km, we averaged 6:18 and our second, we averaged 6:21! And as we were running, and I was feeling my lungs quickly drying up, and the beads of sweat stinging my eyes, I had dreams, yes dreams, of my upper body magically transforming into the rock solid abs of female soccer legend Brandi Chastain so that I too could rip my shirt off!

By 2 km in, we decided to turn ourselves around; it was just too hot. And 1 km more later, we shut her down and used the last km to cool down, which I don’t really think was possible given the heat beating down on us. By the time we got back to the store, my hair was drenched, my face was the colour of a beet and my arms were so slicked they looked like I’d rubbed baby oil on them before heading out! And yet, there was another runner out wearing pants!!! Good golly, how she didn’t keel over from heat exhaustion, I do not know!

How do you combat extreme heat when running?

2 thoughts on “Human bird feeder, I don’t think so”

  1. hahahah, yes…i just had to wipe a tear from my eye, hahahaha….I read my comment last night after I wrote it…you crap me up!!!

    ok, so seriously, I am sooo happy you decided against the ziplocs baggies, that would NOT be a good look for you, I would be forced to make fun of you;P

    there’s got to be another way, I’ll think about it, maybe I could make you something…love you miss you

  2. You and I both know that she was wearing pants because she had zero body fat and was probably cold. 🙂

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