Since I am training for a marathon, let me share this article with you which came via post from my marathon, endurance, coach good friend.
The similarities between managing T1D and running marathons is uncanny. 1. If you lie about your times, your only cheating yourself, 2. Always looking inward to figure out how to run farther/faster, 3. Constantly aware of your body and what its telling you, 4. If you are not aware of your body and what its telling you, you bring havoc upon yourself.
But my favorite line from the article is this: Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi said: “Mind is everything; muscle, mere pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.”
Managing T1D is a head game. 1. Knowledge, 2. Drive, 3. Determination, 4. Calculations in the face of cognitive impairment, 5. Constant education.
What gets a marathoner past mile 20? When legs feel like rubber and they don’t want to lift anymore? The head does it. The head tells the legs to shut up.
What gets a T1D through hypo or hyperglycemia? The head does it. The head tells the body to shut up, we have things to do.
And at the end of the day, a T1D analyzes, reviews, plans and rests. Everyday.