Every single year the event is really fun and the atmosphere is brilliant. When you walk up to the park all you can see is a sea of pink tutus and bunny ears. We had a big team this year, all sporting the name of my mum's running group: Breakthrough Runners.
My blood sugars did not feel like co-operating today.
I tested my blood sugars before the race: 10.6 mmol ..."okay, not too bad" I let them be because I knew running the race would bring them down. This was about half an hour before the start of the race. Just before starting the race, I checked them again and they had gone down to 8.9 mmol...it was still okay because once again, I knew they would come down a little bit.
Off we went following the big flag that said 'Runners' if there was a flag that said 'crawlers' I would have gone to that one. The race for life is about 5 kilometers/ 3 miles. Of course, everyone in the running group had been training twice a week for this race and they all ended up doing brilliantly, apart from me.
Literally about 15 minutes into the race, having started off really well, I had a good pace going...then my blood sugars went low. I checked my blood sugars and I was at 3.9 mmol, so I called to my sister to wait for me but then my mum came up behind and told my sister that she could go off; having munched through a teacake I waited for a few minutes then started up the race again. Too bad my legs felt like jelly. After I have a low blood sugar it always takes me about half an hour to start feeling like a fully-functional human being again but I wanted to finish the race in good time. I was really frustrated because I wanted to do well this year but clearly diabetes had other ideas.
I feel bad for my mum too because she stayed with me while I jogged/walked at a pace similar to that of a drunken snail and she knows, and I know that she could have run way ahead of me and finished the race in a brilliant time; but she didn't, she stayed and that is just the kind of wonderful mum she is because she sacrificed a good time to make sure that I was okay.
After 42 grueling minutes me and mum finally crossed the finish line. The commentator thought he was funny by saying "You two are in the top twenty!" to be honest, I was in a bit of a bad mood so I didn't find him funny in the slightest...a bit obnoxious actually. Then he said "only joking, just to make you feel better"...no.
So yeah, I'm not happy with my time but I tried my best in the circumstance.
Then again, I won't feel disheartened because I know that diabetes doesn't always get in the way of sport and exercise because I look at diabetics like Gavin who ran 30 marathons in 30 days and it inspires me and I know that I can do anything- it's just annoying because sometimes diabetes gets in the way a tiny bit and it knocks you back, but like I always do; I'm dusting my shoulders off, ready to do even better in Race for life 2014.
Today I raced for my mum and my nan who are survivors. My mum survived breast cancer and my nan survived kidney cancer and non-hodgkin's lymphoma. I also ran for everyone else who has cancer, who had cancer and for those who lost the fight.
So far our team have raised £1,685 for Cancer Research UK.
Together, we will beat cancer.
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