Jive Dancing
2010
Twenty years of living with diabetes.
5:00 AM, the alarm goes off.
It is dark, inside and out.
It is a Thursday.
I look at my CGM, flat line holding in the optimal target range, 103 mg/dL.
Typical questions I ask or remind myself:
How long do I intend to go this morning?
What route?
Hills or flat?
Short or long?
Partner?
Time constraint on the back end?
Those who don't live with diabetes and run, 103 can be a stress-producing number 30 minutes before a 12-mile run. Today was 8 miles of hills, and if all goes well, then 4 miles of flat. I was new to the running group, and I loved the dedication and fun we had on our runs. We meet early mornings on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
I prefer to run fasted. A 103 blood sugar, as lovely as that number feels, won't last long on this run. Without more time to deplete my issue of insulin before I begin, it was a guaranteed low blood sugar event before 6 AM if I remained fasting.
Living with diabetes means I have to commit to what I am focusing on with my early morning runs, really any activity that will impact my glucose levels. Today I was optimizing to complete the miles. I ate a GU packet that was next to my bed in anticipation. The sooner I can get these carbs metabolizing, the sooner it will counteract the drop in blood sugar as we begin to climb the many hills of Hope Ranch. Yuck - I'm not too fond of the quick syrupy forms of sugar, but again, my goal was the mileage.
I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, put on running clothes, tucked another GU into my running shorts, grabbed my headlamp, my meter, and was out the door by 5:17 AM, enough time to drive to meet my running group in the parking lot of Vieja Valley School.
Ten years after running with this group, which supports me like family, I am still impressed and thankful for how Arnie can roll out the adult-only conversation at 5:43 AM. I glance at the CGM, trending up with a single arrow... how I like it at the start of a hilly hour plus run. After the second to last hill on the first 8-mile section, I had another GU, knowing I wanted sustained glucose levels for the 4 mile flat I was adding on at the end. That morning I didn't get a low blood sugar, and I completed my mileage just as I set out to do. It required some extra cognitive attention, and many assume because I have been running with diabetes for 30 years, there comes the point it requires less. It doesn't; it is there 24/7/365. The moment I want to assume I know the outcome, something occurs to remind I do not know the result.
For healthcare professionals, family, and friends who still look at the diabetes athletes in their lives and think they are taking the easier path by remaining active with their disease, it is simply not true. Exercise sensitizes the insulin in your body, and that impact is another aspect of living with diabetes that requires management as a single activity has an effect metabolically for days. I run and remain active because I love how it makes me feel in my life. Though long-term, a life without exercise would be less healthy, it adds another layer to diabetes management day-to-day.
Sometimes I wake up on a Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday early morning with a blood sugar of 83 mg/dL. This blood sugar is deemed the perfect blood sugar by many. Perhaps I see 83, and I decide to stay in bed, not wanting to engage in the dance of this disease. Sometimes it's a Waltz. Sometimes it's an East Coast Swing. Sometimes it's a shit-show with both partners stepping on each other's toes.
I felt fortunate that Thursday morning; my mileage and blood sugar aligned, like a Jive.
Photo: A few of my running besties, love them and the many not in the photo that remain supportive on those Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday early mornings.