As a diabetic my mind never stops thinking about my blood sugar.  A dry mouth or yawning a lot instantly has me thinking that something is wrong with my blood sugar.  So much work goes in to trying to be perfect in a blood sugar sense, when something works you don't change anything for days.  If I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 11:46am and take 1.2 units of insulin and my blood sugar stays below a80 for the day then I will do the same thing everyday until it doesn't work.  I'm definitely a creature of habit.

As I sat down to write this evening I thought of titling this blog Laziness.  In my mind I feel that I'm being lazy, before I go in to why I'd like you to look at the picture again, for most I would say that picture is a decent day.  I'm a little unhappy with my blood sugars today, i don't like the spike and really don't like the lows after the two spikes.  This is where the "laziness" comes in,  I'm to "lazy" to change my basal rates to try and eliminate those spikes.  Last summer I tweaked my basal rates each month and still had those spikes so this summer I feel I'm being "lazy"  That picture is a very respectable day of blood sugars, I'm nervous to change my basal rates because if I do so I could be higher and taking more insulin.  With my job I really don't like doing that, one minute I could be at 220 and rising, if I take two units to cover the rise and the fact that I'm sitting for a while.  If that happened I would be fine, but my job is always changing, especially this summer.  One minute I could be sitting the next I could get a text that says go hit all the greens with a hose, if that is the case I'm on my feet and running around like a mad man.  If I took two units for a rising 220 blood sugar and got called to water I would be down to 40 in an hour.

With my current basal rates I know that I need to take 3 units for breakfast, one unit at break, and 1.2 units at lunch to have a successful blood sugar day.  Yes, I will have a couple of lows but a high blood sugar will be rare.  I believe doing this makes me work at my highest level, any changes and I could be to low or high and my will work will suffer.  It is an interesting place to be and I believe I need to stop thinking I'm lazy and enjoy everything.

At 3pm when you're knee deep in a puddle of mud trying to fix an irrigation leak a beeping Dexcom is the last thing you want. It is one of those moments where you swear at the dexcom but minutes later you give thanks to that same dexcom that you hated moments earlier. The trust I have in my dexcom is more than I have in some people. I know that the dexcom will always be there for me.

Today the dexcom was beeping a lot because I was low. As always my coworkers were great and brought me food as I was playing in the mud. A peanut butter cracker tastes a tad weird when it has a bIt of dirt on it. As the work load gets heavier I will have to make some minor tweaks to my basal rates, for a week or so I have to many lows at 2pm. Making changes will be a little bit easier with the dexcom because I know that it will alert me when I'm low or high.

With a heavy rain falling as I slowly woke up a little after 5am was expected.  I Had prepared to run in the rain, I even had two extra running outfits depending how soaked I got on my warmup run.  Other than the rain my morning started off great, I had a blood sugar of 162 and was feeling great.  I took 3.7 units of insulin and hoped for the best as I had a bowl of Cheerios.

As I left the house two things had happened, the rain had stopped and my Dexcom never beeped.  The rain stopping was nice but the Dexcom not beeping was great.  I was able to enjoy my thirty minute ride to the race while sipping on a Spark by Advocare.  As I checked in for the race the sky was now blue and I was surround by great people and great friends.  As I began to go on my warmup run I could feel that I was going to have a decent race.  Ten minutes before the race I was very to see my blood sugar at 174, that blood sugar reading put me at ease and would allow me to run my race.  The race went well, I felt strong but my breathing was off.  I know that sounds odd but it took me a little while to find my breathing rhythm, I was emotional at the start and I believe that was the cause.  Around mile two I hit my groove and was able to pass a few people on a steep incline.  The second half of the course had a good share of hills.  Nothing crazy but enough to test you physically.  I made my kick to soon as I approached the finish, I started kicking with a half mile left and would get passed about 800 meters from the finish by the two people I had wanted to pass when I started my kick.  A time of 23:04 and 20th place finish made me happy though.  I would have a nice blood sugar spike after the race, other than that today was a great day as far as blood sugars go.   

Tomorrow I will be running in the 2nd annual Thomas Cavanagh Scholarship 5k, this race is highlighted on my calendar and for great reason.  For those that don't know about Tom Cavanagh I suggest clicking this link to learn about a great individual.  Here is a blog post that I wrote a couple years back that explains my relationship with Tom.  I believe that you now know why I'm looking forward to tomorrows run.

Tomorrow will no doubt be an emotional day for me.  Toms family is amazing and puts on a great race.  Tomorrow is not about how fast anyone can run a 5k, yes the race will be competitive but tomorrow is about raising awareness about mental illness.  We hear so much about concussions and how fragile the human brain is but we still keep mental illness quiet.  The Thomas Cavanagh Memorial Fund was created to raise awareness for those suffering from mental illness.  The fund has done amazing things in its short time of existence and will do ever bigger and better things in the years to come.

I can't wait for tomorrows race, I can't wait to see everyone and hear all of the great stories about Tom and how special of a person he was to so many.  Tomorrows race is for anyone and I promise you that if you go to the race and don't know anyone by the time the race ends you will have made a new group of friends. 


For anyone that is unable to attend tomorrows race you can donate to the Thomas G. Cavanagh Memorial Fund by clicking here!! 

It amazes me how quickly a great blood sugar day can go bad.  All day my blood sugars were very respectable, a small spike up to 200 after breakfast was the only flaw I had until 3pm.  At that time I started to be  feel a little angry, little things such as noises were annoying me.  When I looked at my Dexcom I was at 199 and climbing, I took two units of insulin but knew that the insulin would be to late.  As I left work I was up to 249 and the anger was elevated as well, again little things were making me mad.  I had some choice words for the poor old lady that sat at a green arrow waiting to see if the traffic would stop.  Of course I was unhappy when I arrived home, I tried my best to find something to do around the house so that I would not be angry with Leanne.  I figured cleaning the house would be the best idea, I made small chat with Leanne and was lucky that she could tell I was upset.  By 5pm I was back to normal and my blood sugar started to free fall.

The attitude that comes with high and low blood sugars is something that I don't like at all.  If put in a business setting I'm able to control my emotions but when I'm alone it isn't good.  Little things set me off and I wish that didn't happen.  I need to control my blood sugar so that these high blood sugars don't happen.  I also lose a lot of things that i want to do when I'm moody because of my blood sugar.  This afternoon for example, I wanted to go for a run to the baseball field to see some of the high school game.  That didn't happen because I had to much insulin on board and I would be very low while running.  I also love coming home and just relaxing with Leanne for a little while, I hate coming home and having to avoid her because I'm high or low and angry.

This evening I saw a very interesting post on Facebook that the JDRF posted.  The article, Clues to Early T1D Process Found in Donated Tissues is a very informative article talks about how islet inflammation could be key in stopping Type 1 diabetes.

Every so often diabetics are given little snippets of information on what may cause diabetes.  For so long I held out hope that a cure for the disease was right around the corner.  As I have gotten older I still love hearing about possible causes and cures but I'm more interested in the science.  I want to know how this disease forms and why, I'm not worried about a cure.  Yes a cure would be great but I want the cure for the next generation not myself.  I wish I was able to study diabetes on the molecular level.  I could do that but I would have no clue what I'm doing or what is going on.  As we find out more and more about diabetes it is tough not to get excited about what could be.  We have amazing technology that is allowing so many to try and find a cure, I'm confident that the cause of T1D will be found in my lifetime.  Once the cause is found I believe the cure won't be to far behind.

I believe that people with diabetes are some of the most courageous people in the world.  We all know the odd comments that diabetics get, such as "I couldn't have diabetes, I hate shots." and "You have to test your blood sugar so many times a day, doesn't that stink?"  When diabetics do amazing things athletically with diabetes it is a small miracle.  I may be able to run and bike for hours on end but I have never been or will ever be an elite athlete.  It amazes me that diabetics are becoming professional athletes, it takes a lot of time and commitment to become a professional athlete and if your a diabetic you have insulin and your blood sugar to control.  Personally I have some difficulty with my blood sugar when I race, I have races where everything is perfect but to many times my blood sugar is around 250 at the start of a race.

My personal struggle with racing and diabetes makes me appreciate and love team Novo Nordisk that much more.  Yesterday team Novo Nordisk let the world know that diabetics may have a terminal disease but they can run and ride with the worlds best.  The picture above is from the Tour of California which Team Novo Nordisk is racing in this week.  One of the best sprinters EVER, Mark Cavendish, is shaking hands with team Novo Nordisk rider Charles Plant!!!  Charles received the Most Courageous Rider jersey in Stage 1, by giving everything he has and working his butt off Charles was chosen for the jersey over the other 127 riders in the field.  

The Tour of California is shown live everyday this week on the NBC Sports Network.  I love cycling and love watching the grand tours and cheering for my favorite riders, such as Mark Cavendish and Pierre Roland.  This week however I have been watching the Tour of California and cheering for every member of Team Novo Nordisk, I have an idea of what it takes to ride a bike with diabetes but what they are doing is amazing!!  A member of Team Novo Nordisk may not wear the winners yellow jersey at the Tour of California but they are showing myself and thousands of diabetic cyclists all over the world that diabetes may be a tough disease but if you fight like hell and work for your dreams anything is possible!!

I love having a job that is so physically demanding.  Today was a crazy day at work, from noon until four pm I never stopped moving.  Going in to my lunch break I knew that the afternoon, I only took .8 units of insulin to cover a big bowl of pasta, a granola bar and an apple.  I had a couple low feelings while working but was able to avoid a true low by taking sips of Gatorade and an occasional shot of maple syrup. 

When I arrived home the madness didn't stop, I had a lot of work to do outside and a blown fuse that needed attention.  The fuse would get the better of me after a very intense hour long battle.  To calm down a bit I decided to head outside and tackle my lawn project.  As I finished mowing the lawn at 630PM I realized that my Dexcom had not beeped in what seemed like days.  I took a quick peak and saw that I was at 71, I was very satisfied and decided to call it day and went in for some dinner, when I tested I was at 63.  This is where I was faced with a huge problem, how much insulin do I take?  I decided to have a glass of apple juice, eat my dinner and take two units of insulin as I ate.  Almost two hours later and my blood sugar topped out at 183!!  

This afternoon taught me that everyday is different.  If I tried to do the same thing tomorrow afternoon my blood sugar might climb up to 300 if I take my insulin while eating dinner.  The one thing that I do know is that being physically active is a great thing for my diabetes.  It keeps me happy and healthy, as time goes on I may lose a step and get odd old man pains but I will find a way to stay active to help my blood sugars!!

Three years ago the mechanic that I work with brought in a giant Pixy Stix (don't ask me how to use pixy stix in the singular form!!)  He had seen the Pixy Stix at the gas station and bought it in case of emergencies.  It amazes me everyday how much the guys that I work with know about my diabetes and how much they care.  If any of them read this I'm in trouble!!  When he gave me the Pixy Stix I told him that the I would not use it unless my blood sugar was below 40 and I was nervous that i could go down.

Yesterday I was on my tour of the golf course.  This tour is a six hour walk that is over five miles.  The tour has a ton of hills and does a number on my blood sugar.  Yesterday was my first tour of the season, I will be takeing the tour challenge once a week for the next twenty-five weeks.  My blood sugar always gets better but the first few tours are very difficult.  I always have a Gatroade and a Powerbar with me when I go on my tour.  Yesterday I did very well in the first three hours of the tour, I was at 90 when I took my break.  I had my usual break snack and took .5 units of insulin to cover what i had eaten, that was a mistake.  As I began to walk the machine in I started to feel low and I took swig of syrup to get a quick blood sugar rise.  I felt good and headed in, I put away the machine and quickly ran in to test my blood sugar.  My Dexcom read 64 but was trending down, I told the mechanic to get the Pixy Stix ready.  When I saw 39 I cut open the Pixy Stix and downed some of it.  Three years of avoiding the Pixy Stix was nice but I got my butt handed to me yesterday.

The good news is that a blood sugar of 39 is very rare, I learned from yesterday and know that I will not see a blood sugar below 40 again due to the tour.  The tour and I have a love hate relationship, right now he loves that he has won.  I will be back and I will be show the tour who the boss is!!!

After a crazy day of blood sugars on Sunday it was very nice to have near perfect blood sugars all day.  A busy work day helped a lot as well but I was so happy to see blood sugars below 100 all day long.  The half marathon has helped my blood sugars tremendously, I can't explain what happens to the body after a run but after long distance runs my blood sugars are great.  I don't know if that means I can get paid to run a half marathon every weekend but I can dream.

Tomorrow morning I will begin a sprinting workout plan that will hopefully increase my speed and endurance.  I'm a tad worried as I will be doing the workouts at 5am, I know that any activity that where my heart beat is over 160 for thirty minutes causes my blood sugar to plummet.  I will obviously have plenty of supplies with me in case I do go low but my hope is to wake with a blood sugar around 180.  I will do my sprint workout out and hopefully have a blood sugar of 100.  If that does happen then what do I do?  I have a long day of work ahead of me, what do i take for insulin to cover my breakfast?  I don't have the answer to that question just yet but give me some time and I will.  Here is the workout that I will be doing, the workout is towards the bottom of the page but I do suggest reading the entire article.

It is amazing how much you can learn while you're running.  I certainly learned a lot on Sunday morning.  They day began perfectly, my blood sugar was at 70 when I awoke at 5am.  I was so happy to see a low number, I could have my normal breakfast and the insulin would have plenty of time to do its job before I began my half marathon.  As I was driving up to Providence I was very happy to see that my blood sugar was staying right around 160.  I even began to get a little bit nervous that it would be to low at when the race started at 8am.  

As I began to stretch my Dexcom had the single up arrow and quickly climbed up to 260 before the arrow disappeared.  I figured the adrenaline was kicking in, I started on my two mile warm up run and was feeling amazing!!  When I say amazing I mean like I could have run a 1:30:00 half marathon amazing.  As I headed to the start line, I felt strong, I was sweating and was feeling very confident.  This confidence was with me when I hit mile seven at a time of one hour and one minute!!  That is just one minute over where I wanted to be, I was confident that I could run the rest of the race in around 45 minutes.  I stuck with that pace until I hit the 10.5 mile mark, all of a sudden I had no sweat and was getting angry.  I quickly reached for my Dexcom thinking that I was getting low, I was at 312 and had been around 300 for the entire race.  I quickly took two units of insulin and made sure to hit every water station until I finished.  If having a high blood sugar and being dehydrated wasn't enough the 20mph head wind decided to show up.  I kept running but had lost my confidence and each mile was slower and slower, the two mile pace ribbon would pass me at mile 12.  That is when determination took over, I vowed at mile 12 that if I ever finished a half marathon over two hours that I would retire from half marathons and only do 5ks.  I would pass the 2 hour pacer around mile 13 and would finish in a time of 1:59:24.  The course beat me and I beat myself, I need to get better control of my blood sugars before big races.  

The half marathon was amazing though, I had a lot of fun and loved the crowds.  I was pleasantly surprised at how big the crowds were as we got outside of downtown Providence.  As you can see below I ran the half marathon with two great friends one of which is a fellow type 1.  I also wore my Team Novo Nordisk cycling jersey to run the race, it felt very comfortable, had all of supplies so I figured I'd do some advertising while I ran.  What I got were numerous runners coming up to me during the race and saying that they love the team and asking if I was a member.  I would tell each person how I got the jersey and I would get a "that is amazing, great to see someone with diabetes doing such a big race"  I also got a lot of encouragement from the crowd which is amazing.  I may have ran like crap but I had amazing people running with me and raised diabetes awareness, I couldn't have asked for more.  At the end of the day it is not about my time, it is about living an amazing life with amazing people and doing amazing things with diabetes!!

I'm all prepared for the Cox Providence half marathon. I have picked up my bib, have all of my clothes, and all of my diabetes supplies ready for when I awake at 530 tomorrow morning.

All my diabetes supplies will be kept in my team type 1 cycling jersey that will be worn under a dry wick tshirt. A few GUs, my meter, my dexcom, cellphone, and a couple of cliff bars will all be in the three pockets of the cycling jersey. I know that is a lot to run with but having all of that gives me the confidence I need to run at my best. I will definitely not use all that I carry but you never know. Anyone interested in tracking me tomorrow can download the racejoy application, it will have everything that you will need to see how I'm doing.

I like to dedicate major races that I compete in to people that mean a lot to me and that have helped me get to this point. I'm going to pull a little bit of Sesame Street tonight, this dedication is brought to you by the letter B and the number 13!!

It's crazy how much a blood sugar can change in thirty minutes. For most of the winter and some of the spring I was very cautious when it came to taking insulin. In doing so my blood sugar would spike and then I would take to much insulin for the high and then I would be really low hours later. This process would repeat over and over.

As I have become more active I have not been as afraid of low blood sugars. As odd as that sounds, my confidence is a lot higher right now. My diet has changed and I'm back to eating foods that I know how to take insulin for. That combined with a very active lifestyle has helped keep the amount of insulin I take right around 30 units per day. That is my comfort zone when it comes to my diabetes, the more I'm in my comfort zone the better everything else will be.