Saturday, August 7, 2021

On the road again

I have started running again after a long layoff. My fitness life appears to be 

 

  • Gain weight
  • Lose weight
  • Run
  • Repeat

    • Repeat?  Why the heck did I repeat? 

    Seriously, I don't recommend it.  I am going to try really hard to not repeat again, holding instead here at run.



    My last race

    My last race was the Bill Snyder Half Marathon in May of 2016.

    I never wrote about it in these pages because I wasn't happy with my performance. I knew I was in bad shape after several years of losing fitness from my peak in 2013, but I also knew I was still capable of finishing a race.  I really wanted that finishers medal and the race course passed through the campus of KSU, my alma mater.   

    This picture alone was worth the price of registration 😀😀😀.

    I finished in 1:57ish. 

     
     

    Diabetes

     
    Shortly after that race I stopped running altogether.  
     
    I kept planning to lose weight and start running again but couldn't find the willpower.  I thought that as long as I exercised every day (15 years and counting) that I could eat anything I wanted and never have to worry about diabetes again.  I was wrong.  My diabetes symptoms returned, worse than ever.

    This winter, back in the doctor's office to look over my latest results, I asked what was wrong.  Why isn't my prescription working?  Come on lady, I want a magic pill, dammit.  She kindly, but firmly replied
     
     
    "The disease is progressing."

     
    That was the moment.  Right there, those words.  
     
     

    She should have been holding her stethoscope to the side of my head.  It would have been like one of those old safe crackers hunched over, listening intently, sweat dripping from his nose, nothing, nothing, nothing, ..., "click".

     
    From that moment I made immediate diet changes and in the months since I have lost enough weight to allow myself to run again. 


    My next race

    I signed up for the Best Damn Race in New Orleans in March 2022.  

    I can no longer hope to run as fast as I did a decade ago.  However, compared to others in my age group my potential is the same.  After all, those guys got older too.

    For now though, I think just beating that 1:57 above would be a nice return to racing -- on the road again.