Running with Diabetes

By: Andrea Romie, guest contributor

Andrea posing after finishing 8th

overall at the Race for a Cure in Plano, 

TX.She finished the 5K in 22:03, a

personal best!

I’ve been running for years – in fact, I started by accident.  You see, I wasn’t gifted with that natural athletic ability to throw, shoot, kick or catch anything with ease. Despite the odds against me, I joined every sports team in middle school to simply maintain my social butterfly status.  So, after being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in the 7^th grade and finally gaining my strength back, I noticed that even though I ran suicides practically the whole basketball practice (due to my innate inability to make a free throw), I kept up with the girls who only had to run one or two.  Feeling that I found my niche, I went out for track my 8^th grade season and haven’t looked back since. 

Besides being the one and only athletic activity that I’m skilled at, running has always been my magic trigger when it comes to diabetes.  When I’m running consistently, I’m less stressed, I maintain a healthy weight and my blood sugars are more manageable.  Since my magic trigger isn’t wine tasting, shopping or international travel, I have to push myself mentally and physically to maintain a regular exercise schedule.  I’ve found that next to anticipating an endocrinologist’s wrath at an upcoming check-up, my best motivation is scheduling a 5K every now and then to inspire me to keep up the good work.  It’s a race that requires endurance, but only a reasonable amount of training to finish at a good pace.

As we all know, heightened activity levels can lead to low blood sugars.  I have been extremely lucky not to have serious issues with lows due to cardio, but I’ve always been cautious.  I spent many years running with glucose tablets in my socks and am very conservative with my carb ratios before a run.  When I was on shots, I would have to back down my nighttime long acting insulin to almost nothing to avoid nighttime lows during my heavy running seasons.  Recently getting on a pump, I’m still working out what basal rates work best for me when a race is coming up vs. periods when I’m resting my legs. 

I have to admit, I was extremely nervous about lows when I first got hooked up to my Omni Pod. Yet, after the first couple days, I found that I needn’t be any more afraid of the Pod compared to the shots I had known for 14 years.  The most important thing for me is listening to my body, checking my blood sugar before a run and having lots of snack on hand during heavy running periods.  I know that I will have good days and some “bad” days, but I have the ability to learn and correct for the future.  For me, running can be rewarding, enjoyable and maybe even your magic trigger.