Running for A Sweet Life in The 2017 San Diego Marathon

Because my husband, Mike Aviad, is a glass-half-full kind of guy, he likes to call type 1 diabetes an endurance sport, rather than a debilitating illness. It’s positive motto that makes him a runner, not a patient. And it’s the motto that inspired us to create ASweetLife, a diabetes magazine that wasn’t about the same old, decades-outdated dietary advice and terrifying discussions of complications.  We wanted to focus on the vibrancy of life with diabetes, and demonstrate that life with diabetes-done-right is exactly as sweet as any other life.

No one works harder than a person with type 1 diabetes because no matter what else you’re doing, you’re also calculating a minute-by-minute math problem in order to stay alive.  It’s the literal embodiment of blood, sweat, and tears. It’s self-dosing a drug that can kill you. It’s a life where there is a never a day or night you don’t look at the clock.

Since 2009, ASweetLife has been bringing you diabetes news and tips. The magazine is a toolkit with everything you need for emotional support and healthy living, including recipes that won’t raise your blood sugar. Our contributors are sharp and relatable (and often very funny), giving an accurate, honest picture of what it’s like to live with diabetes 24/7, while also educating, and advocating on behalf of people with diabetes.

On June 4th, Mike is running the 2017 San Diego Marathon. (His 12th marathon.) He hopes his race will inspire you to donate to Diabetes Media Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes ASweetLife. We have never asked you to pay for ASweetLife’s articles, and we never want to, but in order to continue to bring you the same quality and frequency of content, we do need your help. Several organizations have already pledged their support, but we are still only halfway to our goal of $10,000. So, if you read ASweetLife, please join KNOW Foods and Beyond Type 1, and show your appreciation for our work by making a donation. 

Wise people have said type 1 diabetes is a marathon. And if you’re running a marathon and you have type 1 diabetes, I think that makes it a double marathon, or 52 insulin-pumped miles. Your donation, too, can be doubled. We are very grateful to the Helmsley Charitable Trust for pledging to match donations of $500 and above.

Click here to donate.

Thank you for your support, and thank you to KNOW Foods and Beyond Type 1 for their sponsorship.

Jessica Apple, editor

Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and has continued to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets).

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)