Eat. Live. Train.

So it turns out that I am not the only diabetic to have found myself in a situation, like I did on Sunday, where I had no poker to draw blood with to test my blood sugars, and had no way of getting such a device in a timely fashion. After posting last night’s blog, I went onto a diabetes forum that I regularly frequent (tudiabetes.org) and posed the question to my fellow diabetics, What would you do? These were some of their responses:

“Sewing needles work well, they’re pretty sharp. You could always poke yourself with your insulin needle. I jabbed myself down to the bone more than once by accident with them. Got lots of blood!” ~ Emmy

“I don’t run, but I bike and i keep a safety pin on my helmet strap on the off chance that i forgot… i usually have water and it works for me in a pinch…” ~ Elizabeth

“Its shameful that I have used a whole variety of mechanisms to get blood… lancets without the lancer, sewing needles, insulin syringes, packaging blades (very tricky!)… I do NOT recommend any of these “tricks”, but hey, I can definitely understand the desperation!” ~ Emily

And my favourite:

“Pet the first squirrel you see.” ~ Muragaki

This time last week, I was itching to go on a run, so much so it was putting me into all kinds of sorts, but today, I was content to just stay at home, lay back on my couch and watch my “stories” (more commonly known as One Tree Hill). And given the trend of my last three Tuesday runs, that were more forgettable than beneficial, I’m thinking I’m not really missing much by skipping today’s run – at least I hope I’m not.

So instead, I’ve been doing some reflecting. At some point last night, it hit me that my marathon training will soon be coming to a close, a milestone that I thought in the beginning would never arrive, but a milestone that now makes me somewhat sad to see so near. For almost four months now, marathon training has been my life. I kid you not, I have lived, eaten, breathed my marathon training. Pretty much every decision I’ve made in these months, I’ve made with the marathon at the back of my head.

Case in point #1: Almost every Saturday night (very rarely have I deviated) Mario and I eat the exact same meal so as not to throw my Sunday morning body chemistry out of whack. Luckily, it’s one of my most favourite meals EVER that entered our evening menus after touring Tuscany last year:
• 1c. angel-hair pasta with olive oil drizzled on top and a smattering of parmesan cheese (44 grams carbs)
• Greek salad with tomatoes from our tomato tree (4 grams carbs)
• breast of chicken with fresh rosemary
• 1 glass Chianti

This was Mario's portion; a little larger than mine.

Case in point #2: About a month ago, I got together with two girlfriends of mine from high school. It had been awhile since the three of us had all gone out together, and we were pretty excited about it. We were meeting in Vancouver, where one of my girlfriend’s lives, so we left it up to her to choose the restaurant, and normally I’m not picky, I love all sorts of food – except for a Saturday before a long run. Ashley chose a restaurant that her and I had been to before and had really enjoyed, but that was before marathon training. When I checked the menu online, I freaked out. There was nothing on that menu that I was confident would sit well for a 29 km run. So, I started searching out a whole bunch of other restuarants in the area, but because I didn’t know the area that well, I didn’t really know what was good and what wasn’t. Finally, I decided on Joey’s, where we had also eaten at in the past. I called them up, made a reservation, and then sheepishly texted Ashley telling her how horribly sorry I was for being such a pain in the ass – blame the marathon!

I went for the beach salad but switched out the lemon poppyseed dressing for the honey balsamic and got a side of garlic toast and of course a couple of glasses of the chianti 😉

Case in point #3: This weekend my girlfriend Ashala got married. The two of us met about four and a half years ago as newbies to the dragon boating scene. I remember the day perfectly: It was pouring rain and cold, and I was looking for the first friendly face I saw to direct me where to go. That face was Ashala’s … unfortunately, however, she was just as directionally challenged as I was (and she develops maps :D) and didn’t really know where we were supposed to go either. It was the perfect beginning of a beautiful friendship. And even though our dragon-boating priorities have changed over the years (she became team captain, I quit after my second season to focus more on my running) our friendships have remained. And I couldn’t have been more happy for her when I found out she was getting married, and I was so excited when I got my invite, and I instantly (well, instantly in my procrastinating world) RSVP’d. Four weeks before the wedding, though, I discovered it was to be held the night before my final 32k run. Oh crud. I had just come off a brutal 32k run where I had felt like I was going to puke for the majority of the run and was fearful of that happening again. I didn’t think I could risk shaking up my belly with unfamiliar foods, and as a result I sent my dear Ashala an I’m so sorry, I suck email asking her if it was too late to cancel my plate at the reception 🙁 I felt awful.

But at least I got to see her stunning and glowing at her oh-so-beautiful 'RAIN-FREE' ceremony

And lucky for me, I have really understanding friends (totally not buttering you guys up here ;)) but yes, I am going to be happy to get somewhat of a social life back in order again. But, that being said, I am also going to greatly miss the camaraderie of my running peeps – especially my favourite running chicks. I have never had such a great experience as I have with these girls. We’ve talked about everything and anything; they know things that very few people in my life do because that’s what happens when you’re on the road three times a week, sometimes for upwards of four hours – you talk and talk and talk. I’ve run with a few of these girls for almost a year and a half now, and we’ve developed incredible friendships, and I know I’m gonna see them when the clinic closes, but it still upsets my heart a little knowing that I’m not going to be seeing them three times a week regularly. Boo 🙁

Group shot! (The beauty of Photoshop :D)

How do you fit training for a marathon in with rest of your life? What sacrifices do you make?

4 thoughts on “Eat. Live. Train.”

  1. What do you mean the rest of your life? Marathon training is your life and everything else has to fit itself in around that. LOL
    Definitely loved the squirrel suggestion, especially after we suggested you let a dog bite you.
    Going to miss you too!!!

  2. All I can say is 🙁 Makes me very very 🙁
    I’ve enjoyed every minute of every run with all of you. Thanks so much for your friendship.

  3. That picture is PRICELESS! I love it!! And I have loved running with you guys! I know we will all rock our marathons! And we will have to keep running so we will have a blog to read afterwards! I love it and I think I will go through withdrawls!

Leave a Reply