Tag Archives: Pikesville 5K

Another 5k.

June 21, 2018 – 10:11 am

This past Sunday, I ran in my local neighborhood 5k event. This was probably my 12th or 13th time running this one, and today, I can say, unequivocally:

My back is killing me!

I should mention from the outset that I felt great Sunday morning. I was ready to go. Also, this has never happened before when I’ve run. Maybe my back would feel uncomfortable, sometimes when I ran, but that uncomfortable feeling would go away pretty quick.

Instead, this time my back started hurting toward the end of the first mile. I just powered through, because, again, this has never happened before. A little after mile 2, my back was hurting so much that I walked.

And I alternated walking and running the last mile-plus of the run.

This event helps to raise money for cancer research and treatment for people living with and surviving a cancer diagnosis. Toward the finish, I ran up to a group of 10 to 15 who were either cancer survivors, loved ones of those survivors, or people who trained the survivors to run a 5k.

I didn’t want to finish ahead of them, so I walked a bit so they could get ahead of me. Then I started running again, and before I knew it, I caught up to them again. So I walked a bit longer, then started running again, before catching up to the group one last time. Each time I walked, my back hurt more and more.

By the end, I was running nearly completely bent over. A question mark? No, I looked more like a right angle. Even though I managed a sprint toward the finish, I couldn’t get myself fully upright.

I usually take ten or fifteen minutes to recover after a run like this. Then, I get a little breakfast (this event has the best post-race spread), and we go home.

This time, I took about 40 minutes to recover. It was difficult to sit for long, difficult and so painful to stand, difficult to walk. I could not get comfortable.

In fact, I can’t get comfortable, even now. Things are a little less painful, but days later I’m still feeling pain and still feeling uncomfortable. I’ve given up on the ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. I couldn’t take what it was doing to my stomach, so I’m just gutting it out until I can feel better.

I guess that’s progress in a way, because I can get by without pain relievers now, and I don’t think I could have hoped to do that a couple of days ago. But I’m still hurting.

Believe it or not, my time was pretty good for someone my age… 35:05.8. I don’t really know how I did it.

So I’ve finished this one. I’ve mentioned that I’d like to keep doing this until I turn 60. That’s four more years.

In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter what my time is, or even that I finished. The most important thing is that I did my best, I hung in there, and the adversity I experienced didn’t deter me.

That is SO worth how my back feels right now.

By StephenS | Posted in Athletes With Diabetes | Also tagged | Comments (5)

Another 5k in the books.

July 19, 2017 – 9:18 am

Well, I managed to get it done. Again.

This past Sunday marked the running of our neighborhood 5k. I’ve done this run every year since my early forties, with the exception of 2015, when I opted for surgery on a torn meniscus instead.

It’s a fun event. It’s great to be a part of, and it’s close to home. The weather was about as good as you can get for Maryland in mid-July: temperatures in the low 70s, with atypically low humidity, and not a cloud in the sky.

How did I do diabetes-wise? Only okay. Actually, it was a stark reminder of how adrenaline affects your blood sugar in a negative way. I woke up at 74 mg/dL. I had a little juice, waited around at home with a heating pad on my sore hamstring (what a difference that made), and then checked right before leaving for the race: 152 mg/dL.

Once I got to the race venue, I did some stretching and tried to stay hydrated. One more check before the race began revealed 192 mg/dL. Did I mention I was feeling a lot of stress about finishing this year?

Regardless, I was able to finish, and a check about five minutes after completion showed I had only gone down to 177 mg/dL. I was plenty hydrated; this was all stress. But I knew eventually, the stress would go away, and I could sink fast if I wasn’t careful.

I grabbed a bagel at the post-race spread (which is always nice, by the way) and put it in my bag so I could enjoy it at home. After eating a big, poofy bagel (think MEGA carbs), hydrating some more, and getting a shower, two and a half hours later, I was sitting at 94 mg/dL. Stress gone.

How did I do race-wise? Better than I thought I would. My fastest pre-race run was right around 36 minutes, and I didn’t finish any mile in under 10 minutes. But race day always makes you go a little faster. Though I don’t think I was able to do a sub 10-minute mile, I did manage to cover the 3.1 miles in 33 minutes, 12 seconds. Good enough to be 199th out of 462 runners overall, 20th out of 43 runners in my age group.

The photo above is really the only one of me that we got. However, I did record a little video after I finished, showing others finishing the race.

If you’ve been thinking of entering yourself in a race like this, and you start to wonder why you’re doing it, I hope you come back to this video for inspiration (watch full screen if you can). There weren’t a lot of people lining the home stretch, but we (especially Maureen & I) were vocal. When you’re on that last run to the finish, the feeling of having people cheering you on is indescribable. This is what we all run for.

By StephenS | Posted in Athletes With Diabetes | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)

I’m back!

July 11, 2016 – 9:08 am

That’s right… I’m back. Back from Florida (more about that soon), and back as an athlete.
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Sunday marked the yearly occurrence of my local neighborhood 5k run. The 2014 5k was the last athletic event I participated in before my knee was injured and repaired last year.

It was a difficult process, getting my body down to a workable weight, and getting my stamina up to the point where I could cover 3.2 miles without passing out. Even three weeks ago, I couldn’t cover two miles without wheezing and gasping for half an hour after. Could I make it all the way?
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Well, the last three weeks have made all the difference. I’ve concentrated on feeling comfortable running, and not pushing myself to the brink like I’m used to. Did I walk part of the way? Yes. I walked about 3 or 4 tenths of a mile during this run. But again, the number one goal in every event I participate in is finish. Everything else is secondary. And in the end, I didn’t finish too badly:
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My goal (beyond finishing) was to finish in 40 minutes or less. From the photo above, you can see that I finished in just under 34 minutes, which is faster than I’ve run all year.

My diabetes played well all day. Just a little high (170 mg/dL) at the beginning of the run. I ran a 30 percent temporary basal for an hour, beginning just before the race began. The end of the race saw a 148 mg/DL. Well played, Stephen.

There are many factors that went into this successful effort. But there’s no denying: I’m back. And it feels so good to be back. Now I know I can do it. Don’t ask me what my next event will be. But now I know there will be another event. That makes me very happy.
 

By StephenS | Posted in Athletes With Diabetes | Also tagged , | Comments (3)

Cross it off of the list – Pikesville 5K.

July 15, 2013 – 9:16 am

Sunday was something like the 8th or 9th year in a row that I’ve participated in our local neighborhood 5K run.

This year was different from all of the other years. Because this year, I got to run with family:

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Rather than do this thing all by myself, The Live-In Niece ran the entire race with me. She was a division 1 soccer player in college, and that wasn’t too long ago, so she’s pretty fit. But she had never run in an event like this before.

So we stayed together, communicated when necessary, and covered the course in just under 31 minutes. Kinda slow by my standards. But it just felt so good running next to Rachel and feeling that bond as we covered the same ground, sharing the same experiences, crossing the finish line at the same time. Something about that makes the victories much more rewarding. Sound like any experiences you know of?

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The BGs behaved too… 186 mg/dL at the start (small breakfast but no bolus), and 123 mg/dL after.

In short: Best. Run. Ever.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Exercise | Also tagged , | Comments (6)
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