![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tiberias-Marathon-Medal.jpg\" "\\"Tiberias")
<\/a>It took me two-and-a-half years and four marathons to finally get it right. It was a lot of work.: training hard, eating well and figuring out how to control blood sugar levels before and during long runs. \u00a0It also took some good luck.<\/p>\nI spent the last four months training and experimenting. I figured out how much insulin I need before a long run, what to eat the day before, covering it with the right amount of insulin, and how to fuel during runs. I also lost a few pounds which never hurts.<\/p>\n
For all runners the days leading up to the race are important. Nutrition and rest are key in running a good race. When you have diabetes this becomes even more important. Like most things, I learned this the hard way.\u00a0 So I carefully planned out the days leading up to the marathon.<\/p>\n
I ran my last run (5 easy miles) four days prior to the marathon, and made sure to eat a little more carbohydrate during the next 3 days and hydrate myself.<\/p>\n
The day before the race is the most important and usually the hardest since you are usually traveling. I carefully planned the day before the race knowing I would be driving up to Tiberias (2-3 hour drive) in the afternoon and eating dinner there.<\/p>\n
Breakfast was a salad which included a can of tuna, 2 cucumbers, some lettuce, a red pepper and a cup of cold cooked quinoa dressed with apple cider vinegar<\/a> and olive oil. For lunch I ate 2 medium sweet potatoes.<\/p>\n I went to sleep at around 10:00pm with an alarm set for 11:30pm to check my blood sugar. It took me over an hour to fall asleep so the alarm woke me up just a few minutes later. I checked my BS and it was 164, the same as it was when I’d gone to sleep. Happy to see the result, I went back to sleep and woke up at 6:00am to find that my BS was still around 160. Although high for a regular morning, this was perfect for race day. I went down to breakfast and had two cups of coffee and went back to my room to prepare for the race.<\/p>\n The weather was perfect. It had rained all day the day before the race but the forecast for race day was partly cloudy with temperatures of 53\u00b0F – 60\u00b0F (20 degrees lower than last year).<\/p>\n The race started at 9:00am. As the 1,500 runners started to run I felt the urge to speed up and get away from the crowd, but determined to run according to plan I held myself back. I continued to run sticking to my plan, pacing myself, and not giving in to the urge to speed up. I used energy gels<\/a> to refuel (6 of them) and made sure not to skip over any of the water stops. I ran along the course enjoying the cool air and the warm winter sun.\u00a0 I talked to some nice people along the way and even appreciated the beautiful scenery.<\/p>\n Things were going great but at the 20-mile mark I felt my right calf cramping up. This was totally unfamiliar to me. I have never had a cramp during a run so I didn\u2019t know what to do. \u00a0I just knew I didn\u2019t want to be like one of the many unfortunate runners I had passed by who were walking or trying to stretch out a cramp on the side of the road. So I continued running, but slowed down a bit every time I felt my calf muscle tighten.<\/p>\n At the 22nd<\/sup> mile I passed by the spot where I hit the wall last year<\/a>. I smiled and continued running, noticing the huge difference in the way I felt. My leg hurt, and I was fighting a cramp, but there was no feeling of fatigue (thanks to carb loading<\/a>, fueling during the race and the weather). As I got closer to the finish I realized I was finally going to do it. Feeling better (mentally) I managed to increase my pace slightly for the last mile. As I approached the finish line I could see the clock 3:5x:xx \u2013 I was going to do it and I felt great. I crossed the finish line clocking 3:57:14. I was, and still am, so happy… but my immediate thought was \u201ccould I have broken 3:55?\u201d.<\/p>\n The one thing I didn\u2019t think about once during the run was diabetes.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":53098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[82,575],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>Since the traditional pre-marathon pasta dinner was not an option, I decided to not repeat last year\u2019s mistake and bring my own food with me for dinner\u2013\u00a0 a few grilled chicken breasts and 2 \u00bd cups of quinoa. I ate dinner with a friend (who brought his own pasta dinner) in the hallway of the hotel outside our rooms. I know it doesn\u2019t sound like the greatest dinner setting, but it was perfect.<\/p>\n