Svati:

I saw your article in JDRF capitol Chapter news. what a port in a storm! What a relief to see another Cross country runer with Type I diabetes. Well not the diabetes part but you understand.

My son runs cross country for Sherwood HS, just down the road from Magruder. Do you run for Magruder?? That's a Magruder uniform in the picture in the article. He is a junior and has has type I since he was 13. He has run Sherwood Cross country for three years, and spring track for two, hopefully three this spring.

Now I am writing as a parent, but cross country races and preps are so complicated and nerve racking for us parents. I read your hour by hour events of your last race. I assume these were the regionals at watkins Mill. this day hit home. How familiar. I always think, nobody ever asto deal with this.

Race day is alaways an event. When I arive my son greets me with his BG level. As he approachs I think " OK what kind of day is this going to be....is he high or low?" Are we goingto fight to get it down or fight to get it up? And then we go from there.

This season has been very different from last season. Usually it was pump up the BG before the race cause it's going to drop ino hypo during the race. It never has, but BG did drop during races. we were always OK, most of the time.

But this year everything reversed. The races were spiking him and sometimes making him nauseus  ( sp?) He would start at 200, which before was OK, but now he would end well over 300 close to 400!!. Bad. he'd feel sick at the end of the race. Headache almost sick to his stomach. During outdoor track last spring this was happening and it would prevent him from running in other events. He'd finish the 1600 m and not be able to run the 800 because he felt so sick. He would have to go to the coach, who just never wanted to be bothered. And I know his coach just didn't understand or appreciate this struggle. I'd try to explain. His reaction was always that he should be able to control it better. This frustrated me. My son got assigned to less races, and the coach had no confidence in him. This crossed over into cross country this fall.  But the coach is another story.

 So we brought the BG's down before races. even starting a race at 90, once, at a race at the Landon school. I had to convince him to run the race. he was worried about a BG that low. But I said it always goes up....go run. And still, the BG rose to almost 200 when the race was over. So we figured it out, but I paced and was so nervous while he was racing, especially when he would dissapear for a mile or so. I waited for him to re-appear and try to see how he looked. Then when he finished it was always does he look and feel that way cause he is low, high, or exhausted because he ran 3.2 miles. He finished middle of the pack most of the time, right about 50 percent. But I always felt with steady BG's without diabetes he certainly could be better.

Your experiences you re-count in your blog are so familiar. I just loved to hear your story of your "blood sugar day " It hits home!!

If you are still running for Maruder in Spring track, and if Sherwood has a meet with you guys, I might see you, and intorduce myself, and my son.

Good luck to you. You seem to be dealing with it extremely well.

redd0058@aol.com

Svati

11/16/08 8:49pm

Wow...yes I do run for Magruder! Thanks very much. I will email you ...