Running with Type 1

"Hey, let's do a quick warm up lap then head up the hill, I need to wake up a bit" I suggested. "Ahh come on, let's just power hike up the hill and begin running from there," my brother nonchalantly rebuttled back.  So we began our "warm up" power hiking up the steepest incline in the park, watching my HR spike into the 150s, "hey dipshit, the key to a warm up is to get the blood flowing, not flirt with going anaerobic to begin a trail run," he laughed and shook his head in between heavy breaths.   As we finally settled into our Christmas Eve run through Brady's Run, our backyard stomping grounds, the trails were quite Beast Coast beautiful.  Mostly cloudy sky, 38 degrees, a frozen layer crusted the ground from the cold, as we climbed, descended and swung around switch backs for an eventful 7 mile run with 1100 ft of climb.  We solved the world's problems a few times, and tossed out crazy ideas for ourselves to tackle in

A week before flying overseas last August, I finished out my summer block of training with a 14 miler.  Somewhere later in that run, I committed to the marathon.  I called my brother later that morning, I jotted some notes, and for 54 weeks, it was thee unicorn. I had established a better understanding with my blood sugar management through 2 full years of half marathon training, and racing the last 5.5 years.  My blood sugar wasn't as much of an issue as 10-15 years ago as discussed in the past.  While always a priority in my training, and daily life, I've gained a lot of confidence in that realm.  I stick to a game plan that works best for me.  My blood sugar isn't perfect by a long shot, but it's consistent. Becoming a father and balancing our own endeavors forced me to become more creative with my time management.  Running wise, a supportive wife and being open to early mornings is the backbone to getting the time and mileage in.  I had an absolute blast gettin

Been awhile huh?  A lot has happened since 2018 came upon us, and I've been holding on for dear life, but, all is well. Back tracking a few steps.. First, I now know that the cliche, "just wait until you have kids" isn't so much a cliche, but rather a humbling reality.  Your life really does get flipped upside down, in the most beautiful, exhaustive way possible.  My man is 6.5 months now, so the sleep does get better.  You just need to accept sleep walking for the first few months, and eventually, it balances out, hopefully. It was a long, and painfully cold winter.  I tip toed and flirted with exhaustion on a regular basis due to the lack of sleep and not so much overzealous workouts, as I have in the past.  I had a lingering foot, ankle injury that I couldn't seem to shake for the 2nd half of February and all of March.  I'd take several days off, run easy and feel good, and within 24 hours, the lingering pain would creep back in.  It was frustrati

I have another splash of caffeine on a Sunny Friday morning. A light workload for the day, before 8 am, the weekend is oh so close, and the good vibes are flowing. Jotting down some random clutter in my head, I get an itch to check the local race schedule.  With a Half Marathon in 3 weeks and 2 weeks post a 30k road race, I am planning on a few more strong yet shorter efforts.  All in an effort to peak for 13.1 on 5/6. "Hmm..no 5ks in sight, 10k maybe?"  I ponder back and forth, ultimately deciding against any spur of the moment race effort. All of a few moments later, I jot down another note, and then, like most impulsive runners, "Alright, one last look.  How about runhigh.com?"  We're in luck.  Saturday April 14th, 22nd Annual Martha's Run, 10K @ Mt. Lebanon High School.  I read in a little more; oh wow, there's a lot of history here.  It's a tribuatory race towards a local slain officer who loved to run.  I call my wife, she laugh

"Just wait until you're my age, kid.." A phrase that is used and abused, one that sends shockwaves down my spine as nails on a chalkboard, yet a phrase that unfortunately carries some truth.  Growing up as athletes, it's like we're blessed with endless energy and our days are non stop.  Heavy weights in the gym, pick up basketball for a few hours, come home, shower and then head out until late night.  Maybe eat some junk food past midnight, get to sleep late, wake up and do it again.  You're invincible with hardly any color under your eyes.  Somewhere in your late 20s, at least for me, but many others alike, you start to take a second look at your life's shenanigans and wonder how you can better utilize time, and more importantly, rest.  The idea of overtraining or going too hard wasn't even a thought until almost 29.  I jumped into Half Marathon training, and too my ignorant surprise, I was terribly run down and my vitals had shown it.  Coachi

A fair question to runners, what makes you tick?  What's so damn enticing about the whole endeavor? I ask myself this quite often.  I didn't grow up with runners in my family, it was nothing that I was ever exposed to at a young age.  I grew up in a football obsessed family and community.  I've alluded to this before in earlier posts, but until 21 years old, anything over 1 mile was long distance running.  I am not even sure if I ran for 30 minutes straight before I was about 23. To have predicted that in 2018 that I'd be training for my first marathon is about as bizarre as it gets. Initially there was zero desire to venture towards 26.2, very naive and humble beginnings. When you hear somebody say, "running is an addiction," I'd gladly co sign that statement.  If a licensed psychologist was to break down the psychology of endurance runners, there would be many parallels to an addictive personality, for a lack of better terms. I've found the r