Sometimes You Need to Stop Running to Finish the Race...

In 2013, I ran the Broad St. Run in Philadelphia for the first time. It’s a 10 mile race straight through the center of the city. City Hall sits at right about mile 5 and that is where I met two very friendly paramedics and let them know that my blood sugar was 45 and dropping quickly but I wanted to finish the race.

Over 40,000 people run Broad St. We lined up at 5am and my blood sugar was starting to go up. By the start, it was in the 200’s (running with high of a bs kind of feels like running with a really bad hangover). I use an insulin pump so I was giving myself insulin to bring the number down and I got impatient and took too much. About 3 miles in, the adrenaline and the insulin kicked in and my blood sugar was now going in the complete opposite direction. I had glucose gel with me and used it all. As we got to mile 5 at City Hall there was an ambulance directly in front of me and I knew what I had to do. Stop running. Not just the race but from that fact that this disease can and will stop me from living a normal life from time to time.

I was running with my best friend who was keeping an eye on me and encouraging me to stop if I needed to. As we approached the ambulance, she ran in the other direction! I let the paramedics know that I was a type 1 diabetic, that my blood sugar was dropping but I still wanted to finish the race. They gave me more glucose just as my best friend arrived with a bagel and orange juice. She literally ran into Dunkin’ Donuts with her race bib on and ran right back.

After my blood sugar was stable, we took off running again, orange juice in hand and we crossed the finish line together. That was the day I realized two things. That I needed to acknowledge my disease and talk about it and stop trying to act like it wasn’t there and that I could never repay my best friend for being there for me through it all.

12 years later, runs have become walks and I no longer run races but she is still my best friend for being there the day my life changed for the better. Sometimes you just need to stop.