Running with diabetes is tricky. I asked myself when I was diagnosed if having this disease would change my running. “Will having Type one disable me from being able to compete and do what I love to do?” Running with diabetes has its ups and downs. You have to keep control of your blood sugars while running because everyone’s sugars react differently to different weather changes and how many miles your running ect. Running does affect your diabetes if you don’t have control over it. For me running in the heat tends to make me go sometimes high and sometimes low and same for when it’s colder out. For me, if I have good blood sugar and it’s in range then I eat something like a cheese stick or a couple of pretzels to keep your blood sugar from dropping to the point you can’t run or do your workout anymore. No one wants to stop their workout or exercise just because of low blood sugar. Having diabetes is hard. There is nothing to say that it’s not hard and you have to work no matter what the case is. You have to keep a better eye and carry glucose tabs or something with a good amount of sugar in it when you go on really long runs.
There is no way I can say that running with diabetes isn’t hard and that after being diagnosed things don’t change because they do. Life is a roller coaster and diabetes affects you in many ways. I can’t say that I know how type 2 works with running because I don’t have it and type one is very very different. Running with Type one diabetes is very hard and I’ve had to go from running without any care in the world to have to care about how I’m feeling and knowing if I’m going to drop and to check my sugar before I start running and after I’m done running. I’ve learned that running with diabetes is not the biggest challenge you’re going to come up against as an athlete or even just someone that works out in general that has diabetes. One of the biggest challenges that you’re going to come up against is you need to figure out that you know your body best. You are the one that is going to know when you’re low or high. So, just know that you know your body and always watch your blood sugars before and after a workout or in general a run.
Abbie Worden
Type one diabetic since Jan 2016, athlete staying strong
