Tag Archives: ADA

D-Athletes ROCK.

September 20, 2013 – 9:25 am

I’m off today to do my 55 mile bike ride over on Maryland’s beautiful eastern shore. We start and end in Easton, which I like, because the area is about the flattest terrain I’ll ever ride on. It’ll be warm for this time of year, but the ride starts at 7:30 a.m., so if I put some real estate behind me early, I should finish by noon.

I know I wrote earlier this week about wanting it all to be over. But the fact is, I am pumped to do this ride tomorrow. That’s partly because I always get this way before an event. And it’s partly because of something else that I can’t reveal yet (sorry for the tease). I should be able to talk about it sometime in early October.

Anyway, I’m really excited to do this ride tomorrow, and I’m proud to be a Person With Diabetes who will be out there breaking stereotypes. I’m even more proud to ride in an event on the same day that others, in hilly Nashville, Tennessee, will be riding in the JDRF Ride for a Cure. I’m prouder still that many others with diabetes are training, participating, and yes, competing in athletic events around the world. And I’m not discounting you, all of you JDRF and Step Out walkers. What you do for all of us is special. It seems like the population of Athletes With Diabetes is growing every day, and I love it.

I hope that all of you D-Athletes run faster, swim longer, walk farther, and bike harder than I ever will. I will cheer you on all the way.

I am happy to be part of your team. Go us!!!
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Chesapeake Bay Tour de Cure.

May 21, 2013 – 9:19 am

I went to Maryland’s Eastern Shore (east of the Chesapeake Bay) again this past weekend. This time it was for Saturday’s Chesapeake Bay Tour de Cure.

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I rode the 55 mile route this time. Maureen was engaged with some dog walks at home, so she wasn’t able to be there. Even if she was, she wouldn’t have let me do the 100. That’s okay though.

So, how was it? More difficult than I thought. The weather, which was just about perfect on Friday, was pretty lousy on Saturday. The 55 mile ride started off at 9:00 under cloudy skies and temperatures around 63-64 degrees. It stayed cloudy, with a little rain too, all through the day.

My glucose wasn’t very cooperative either. I bolused less than normal for my high carb breakfast at 7:30, which I normally do. But when I checked my BG just before the ride started, I was at 312 mg/dL. Still, I was a little worried about correction bolusing and crashing too fast later on. So I didn’t bolus, and started the ride.

The first rest stop was about 12 miles into the ride, and I thought that it wasn’t worth checking my glucose because I had only been on the bike for about 40 minutes.

The next stop was at around mile 28, after the Bellevue to Oxford ferry. That’s right… our ride included a ferry ride across the Tred Avon River. Yes, it was a nice break in the ride. Especially since my BG at the Oxford rest stop checked in at 61 mg/dL. I loaded up with an energy bar, some grapes, and a couple of honey stingers. Then I was off to the next rest stop, about 10 miles away.

Once I got there, I checked my BG again: 71 mg/dL. Another bar, a bag of chips, and two more honey stingers. No bolus since about 7:30 in the morning. I stayed at this stop for about 20 minutes, which is 10 to 15 minutes longer than normal. Then I was off again.

I now have about 17 miles to go. I’m very concerned about going hypo at this point. Part of why I was worried was because I wasn’t riding with a pack. What I mean by that is there were about five or six people that passed me and disappeared quickly at around the 45 mile mark, and they were the only people I saw in the last 25 miles or so of this ride. ADA does a fantastic job of tracking riders and equipping everyone with emergency numbers, etc. But if you’re nursing your BG along in the last leg of the ride over mostly country roads, you don’t want to take any chances. I decided to suspend my pump.

At that point, I just kept reminding myself: Keep those legs moving, keep the wheels rolling. I managed to get back without an issue. When I checked my BG prior to partaking in the post-ride lunch, I was at 86 mg/dL. After suspending my pump for about an hour and twenty minutes up to then.

I finished the ride in about 4 1/2 hours, including time spent at rest stops. That’s faster than I thought I would go, but I didn’t feel like I was really pushing it. That’s a good sign.

All of the event volunteers were wonderful. They were helpful, informative, and always very nice. At the stop in Oxford I was helped by a volunteer with Type 2 who was putting together sandwiches, someone handing out grapes and chips who’s had Type 1 for twenty years, and her son, who also has Type 1 and a great service dog. They all looked happy, and they were doing great. How can you not feel empowered by that?

I’m glad I made the commitment to ride. I’m happier still that we were able to raise about $266,000 for the American Diabetes Association. That’s pretty good for a still-new ride with a relatively low turnout. Now, if they can just get the weather worked out next year, it will be a lot of fun.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events, Exercise | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Time to get going.

February 11, 2013 – 9:50 am

Back in my first post this year, I talked about my defining ideals for 2013. One of them involves staying as healthy and active as possible. To that end, I’ve made the commitment for my first athletic event of the year.

TourdeCure

The Chesapeake Bay Tour de Cure is entering its second year. To be honest, the Maryland Tour de Cure is closer to home… I wouldn’t even have to stay in a hotel for that one. But it’s a couple of weeks earlier, and you never know what the weather will be like here in early May. Plus, it’s in Carroll County, which is west of here, which means it’s very, very hilly. As in uphilly. As in, even a 30 mile ride would take a lot of effort.

On the other hand, the Chesapeake Bay Tour de Cure is based in Easton, on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay. All of it is 100 feet or less above sea level. I’ve already done the Tour de Talbot there, which benefits JDRF and covers much of the same real estate. I know what I’m getting into. The 55 miler should be a great way to get started this year. If I can add the Tour de Talbot (in September) as a bookend to my events in 2013, I’ll be thrilled.

I’ll be honest… I would really love to participate in one of the big JDRF rides this year. But there’s a big reason why I don’t. You see, there’s a big difference between the ADA and the JDRF rides, and the difference is this:

1800 dollars.

If I want to participate in the Tour de Cure here in May, I have to raise 200 dollars before I’m allowed to ride in the event.

If I want to participate in one of the JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes events, I have to raise at least 2,000 dollars. 1,999 dollars? No ride.

Granted, if I raise 3,000 dollars they’ll put me up in a hotel for three days, and if I raise four grand they’ll cover my airfare and ship my bike too. That would be fantastic, and I would sign up yesterday if I thought I could raise that much scratch.

I know it sounds like I’m hating on the JDRF rides, but I’m not. I greatly admire the people who can do this, and I will be contributing to as many of those efforts as I can myself. I encourage you to do the same.

But… even though almost everyone I know might contribute, almost everyone I know can only contribute 5 or 10 dollars at a time. I don’t know if I know 200 to 400 people. I’m not ruling it out, mind you. I really want to do one of those rides. But I’m going to have to wait another year at least.

In the meantime, ADA is still a great cause, and they do a tremendous thing organizing these rides all over the country. One suggestion: Please publish the ride route early. I hate having to wait until event day to find out where I’ll be going, and so does The Great Spousal Unit. She wants to be able to find me if I don’t check in by phone at the right time. You know what I mean.

This is getting a little long, so let me close by asking two things:

1. If you’re within driving distance, please consider participating. More information is available here:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?fr_id=8614&pg=entry

2. If you can, please consider contributing. I feel kind of weird asking, but I know the cause is important. Here’s the link to my page:
http://tour.diabetes.org/site/TR?px=7322190&pg=personal&fr_id=8614&s_src=email_tour&s_subsrc=autoresponder-forward

In another month, if I’m lucky, I’ll be tuning up the bike, pumping up the tires, and getting out there on the road. In three months, I hope to see you at the Chesapeake Bay Tour de Cure.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Diabetes, Exercise | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

It’s a busy month.

November 12, 2012 – 10:03 am

It is indeed a busy week inside of a busy month. So here’s a quick primer on some upcoming events:

– The American Diabetes Association is still collecting photos for their A Day in the Life of Diabetes project. They’re asking for people to take photos of their life with diabetes and upload them to the ADA Facebook page. CVS Pharmacy will donate $1 for every photo uploaded, up to $25,000 dollars. In addition to that, the Association is going to take some of the photos and project them onto the walls of Washington D.C’s iconic Union Station this Tuesday and Wednesday, which is World Diabetes Day. I’ve got Wednesday off of work… maybe I can get down there to get a look in person.

– Speaking of money for worthy causes, Diabetes Hands Foundation reminds you that you’ve still got a couple of days to participate in the Big Blue Test. Five dollars for every test logged will be contributed by Roche Diabetes Care to organizations that provide life-saving supplies and services to PWDs in need. If 20,000 take the test before World Diabetes Day, $100,000 life-saving dollars will be donated. As I publish this post, over 15,000 have participated. Only 5,000 more Big Blue Tests need to be logged before Wednesday! So get out there and work it out people! For more info, and to log your test, go to bigbluetest.org

– Locally, the Maryland JDRF chapter is hosting their Night of Hope Gala Saturday night in downtown Baltimore. They’re hoping you can attend. But if not, they’re also looking for volunteers to help with everything from checking coats to busing tables. For more information on the gala, go to jdrfmd.org/

– Finally… of course, there are many things happening this Wednesday on World Diabetes Day. All over the world, people will be dressed in blue and forming human Blue Circles and lighting monuments in blue. Many other happenings will be happening, and to find out more about all of it, go to http://www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday

Have a super (busy) week!
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Like these links | Also tagged , , , | Comments (2)

JDRF and ADA Events.

October 23, 2012 – 10:01 am

That’s right… I put both of those organizations into the same headline. That’s because there are a couple of things coming up that you should know about:

– The American Diabetes Association is doing a Twitter chat this Wednesday. No, it’s not at 8:00 p.m… that’s the DSMA Twitter chat. The ADA Twitter chat is at 1:00 p.m. EST here in the USA (10:00 a.m. on the West coast, 6:00 p.m. in the UK, 4:06 a.m. in Melbourne & Sydney).
The chat is all about patients rights. To participate, you can follow the ADA Twitter handle (@AmDiabetesAssn), and look for the hashtag #DiabetesRights. Katie Hathaway, Managing Director in ADA’s Legal Advocacy group, will be answering questions. Promises to be an interesting hour.

– JDRF is sponsoring Be T1D For A Day in November. This is an opportunity where non-Type 1’s can sign up to receive text messages that will simulate the various things that T1Ds go through all day, every day, without a vacation. Let your non-Type 1 friends and family (and maybe teachers, bosses, traffic cops, and TSA agents) know that they can sign up before November 1st by texting T1D4ADAY to 63566. You can also sign up via the web by going to:
http://www.protexting.com/out/signupform.php?code=ztvdwbtnrrofceym

I’ve got to get someone to sign up for this. I’m dying to find out what the text messages will be like (“2:00 pm: You’re hypoglycemic. Drink juice and down 5 chalky glucose tabs, then find a sunny spot to sleep in for the next two hours”).
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Diabetes | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)
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