Running: 3 July 2010 – Earlham Firecracker 5k (25:22)

I woke for today’s race with low blood sugar (53).  So, knowing I needed some carbs to run on, I mixed 32 ounces of Shaklee Performance.  It runs about 25g of carbs per 8 ounces of drink.  I drank about half that before running.  Blood sugar before the race was a comfortable 149.  Post race: 117 with a pulse of 136 two minutes after finishing.

The Firecracker 5k must be a rather popular race.  Seems there might have easily been 200 people in attendance.  I rode up with Dad.  Nice to have a running father.  The weather was very comfortable.  Much nicer than it was at Stuart.  At least for the first 1/3 of the run.  Then the shade kind of dwindled and some of Iowa’s humidity started to kick in.  The course was relatively flat with the exception for a short piece at about the half mile mark.  Here, we encountered crunchy stuff under our feet…gravel.  Nice! 

Pace at the 1 mile mark was 7:45.  I didn’t catch the other time at the 2 mile mark.  Finish time: 25:22.   That’s almost a minute down from Stuart, and a personal best.  I think the winning time in my age division was 18:03….urgh.  Oh well.  (Course record was set that day too:  15:13!)

I’ve also noticed something else - sort of a scary metamorphosis or devolution.  I’ve been at this running stuff for 19 days, and I have had one 20 oz. bottle of Diet Mt. Dew.  I’ve probably only had about that much coffee as well.  I used to consume a 6 pack of Diet Mt. Dew or so a day, maybe a couple Monsters or Red Bulls – easy, and a 20 oz. or so mug of coffee each morning.  Almost overnight, my desire for caffeine has all but vanished as has my want for coffee.  In its place, has been water.  Tons of water.  And not for any other reason than that’s what I want.  There was a time during the onset of my Diabetes that consuming that much water was a bad thing because I was bleeding off sugar buildup in my blood.  Now, it’s different.  My body needs it and I like it…a lot.  And my appetite has been ravenous…especially for meat and cheese.  I guess protein is also a necessity.

I’m debating running the Midnight Madness 10k next Saturday in Ames.  We’ll see how the week pans out.

Catch you all somewhere down the road…

myk