Friday, January 20, 2012

A Break in the Weather

We had wicked wind and snow squalls yesterday afternoon.  People were stumbling through the doors at work covered in snow with their hair whipping around in all directions.  I kept looking out the window thinking "I have to run 25 minutes - oh good lord!".

Aside: injuries are very helpful for giving perspective.  No matter the weather, the wind, the rain or the cold  my brain always tosses the same thought my way "you should be grateful you can run at all!".  And then I realized that I am grateful and so I run without (much) complaint.  

Moving on...I left work at 4:15pm, took five minutes to clean off my car and soaked the bottom 6 inches of my jeans in the process.  I got home and joined Doug as he shovelled out the driveway.  Then I pulled on my running clothes, looked out the window and saw blue skies, white snow and a lovely sunset developing.  The storm was over.

I quickly checked my sugar and discovered a 4.1.  What?  I expected it to be around 7.  So I had a gel, a date and four giant rockets.  Lots of unwanted calories for a wee run but there wasn't going to be a run unless I ate and the sun was looking so darn inviting...  I waited about five minutes, yanked on my Yaktrax and headed out the door.  It was gorgeous out - the temperature was comfortable, the wind was strong but not overwhelming and the air was crisp and clean.

I came home, did my strengthening exercises, stretched and got ready to shower.  Better check that blood sugar again:  7.0.  Perfect.

Shower, change, start laundry and head down for a dinner of leftover beef barley stew.  No point in checking my sugar - I had done that about 15 minutes earlier.

I bolused, we ate and did the dishes.

I walked away from the sink, felt lightheaded and thought "uh oh".

I checked and discovered a rather disconcerting 2.9.  One juice box and a piece of maple fudge later things seemed to settle a bit.  Of course, once the barley stew and baguette transform themselves into glucose my sugar will continue to climb and I'll be faced with the decision of whether or not to bolus the high that will inevitably follow.

That's what I thought anyway. But my sugar never made it past 8.9 despite the rather large hunk of fudge I inhaled.

Yesterday afternoon the weather was stormy and unpredictable.  Yesterday evening the weather settled and my blood sugar took over the stormy and unpredictable role. The end result was that I took in a lot of unnecessary and unwanted calories just so I could have a 25 minute run in the sun.

I had forgotten that part of running.

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