February 2, 2009
Jennifer S.

I've found that these two are not always in sync. I plan and plan and make considerations for plans and adjust things and reality seems to always be a little different than what I expected.

Living with Diabetes requires a lot of planning and forward though so we can hope to see the results we expect. I've found the same thing with training for athletic events. A lot of planning goes into where we expect to end up at the finish line.

Last December ('07) my husband and I decided to register for the Disney Half Marathon for January '09. I only really started running about 3-4 years ago, and this would be my first 1/2 Marathon. I've done lots of 5K's/10K's and 10 milers, all with planning and training of course...but nothing like the effort I really put in to do this 1/2 and do it well. I really wanted to finish in a great time, or what I hoped would be admirable in my eyes!

I was doing great and a few weeks before the January 10th race day. I ran my last long run 12 miles, did really well, 2 hours (a little less actually) and was feeling great after I was done. My training was giving me what I expected (Thanks also to Yoli's training plan she e-mailed to those of us doing 1/2's).
I was ready for my tapering before my race....but not the kind that reality dealt me.

However, reality strikes when you really aren't expecting it, and not at opportune times either!!
Friday Jan. 2nd I woke up with a scratchy throat....thought not too much of it, just that it may be a "little cold" and since I'm rarely if ever sick I wasn't worried about it's effect a week from then on my race.
Saturday Jan 3rd, stuffed up head, feeling a little tired so I really rested most of the day...did some Yoga (little hard with a stuffed nose) and overall again just thinking this is a cold.
Sunday Jan 4th. Still stuffed up, but just not feeling right....food has that yucky taste, and I was really tired.
So being the devoted volunteer for my Tour de cure committee that I am, I went to our planned early afternoon meeting....sitting as far from my co-volunteers as possible so as not to infect them....and then went home and took a "Nap".
My husband woke me around 8PM asking if I planned to eat dinner (or make dinner more likely as I'm usually the cook), and my stomach was telling me..."please do not put food in here!!".
1:35AM Monday Jan 5th.....clearly my stomach wasn't pleased with any of the contents and thus began my 2 days of confinement in bed and more often the bathroom! And the real thing on my mind here in my waking state was .....I really have to be better by Saturday...I am not missing my 1/2 marathon! A little crazy I realize....but I had really planned/trained and planned some more for this event and was so irritated that I hadn't planned on being sick.
I hadn't had the flu since I was in 9th grade, I get the flu shot every year.....really....the flu before my exciting event!!

Well, by that Friday I was feeling "better" so to speak. Stomach still queasy, but I am not missing my race.
I went to bed that night knowing I wouldn't finish in my expected time....I hadn't done any aerobic workout for over a week since feeling ill...and I don't think that's the type of taper you want before an event!
My expectations had to change, and again the reality of that was a hard thing to swallow.
I started the race with a slightly higher than normal BG - 167, ate a Powerbar (which actually sat well in my stomach) 40 minutes before the race and bolused for only 1/3 of the carbs going on past experience here....not what I had planned to do!
Doing well at mile 3 with BG of 136, mile 6 with BG of 118, but noting on my CGM that I was trending down. So some cherry caffeinated sport beans went in and for the next few miles I was right on target.....after mile 10 I was feeling pretty tired, walked between mile 10 and 11 with BG steady in the 90's.
Finishing time of 2:35.....my goal was 2:10, but I can only learn from this experience.
Finished a little lower than I wanted at 79....but I felt pretty good when I stopped to think about what I had just done and considered my past week of unexpected illness. As the girl at the medical station wrapped my knee with ice and Donald Duck continued to cheer at the finish line for those finishing after me....I ate a glucose tablet, then a banana.....and was feeling good the rest of the day!!.
I think I learned things will always need adjustment, and many times expectations aren't what we planned for....the benefit of being on this wonderful team is that we all have individual expectations and experiences, but because we share them each day we are also learning from 20 other experiences....not just our own. We should be over prepared when we get to the start line for our Tri this October....even if reality is not what we expected we'll have a lot of experience to mentally draw from and we'll all be able to finish strong!!