I am aged 67 years and in April I started to have a run of a few hundred yards. My sugar levels were rather high could have been the doughnuts etc and the local medical staff were getting concerned as was I as my finger pricking was giving 10-15 readings. I am a type 2 diabetic and have been since i was about 50years. I stayed on a a good diet for the first 5 years a not so good diet for another 5 years and then ate freely since and for the last three years have been on max dose metformin.
I quite enjoyed the running and pretty soon found out I could run half a mile. I have always been pretty fit, a bit of a sportsman, cricket and golf but never an athlete.
hb tests indicated I should be starting on insulin. I said no! I restarted my good diet. No more sweets, biscuits cakes. You can't avoid sugar completely but you can look at the packets and decide good or bad.
I bought my first pair of running shoes, followed by a pair of shorts and a running shirt. I could now run a mile! My diabetic nurse gave me more blood tests and said that there was a slight improvement with my Hb but again suggested insulin. I said NO!
More good diet the next few months and more running. I lost a stone in weight and finger pricking readings were now down to below 10. I was persuaded to enter a 4k downhill local race and to join a running club. They took me out and I did a 7 mile run, yes 7 miles, I could not believe it myself.
I then entered a 10k race at Bournemouth and came 217th out of nearly 1200 runners. I was flabbergasted!
This was followed up by the Weymouth park run which had just started. I held my age group record for the first 8 weeks. What a wonderful gathering the park runs are. Some are brilliant runners, some like me just try very hard and others are courageous in battling around. The emphasis is on the word run and not the word race but I just love the stats that are produced that enable you to compare your standard with others your age.
More blood tests. WOW! doctors dead happy with the results and figures are normal 48% if i remember or understand the measurements. My finger pricking is now in the range of 5.5 - 8
A runner will tell you that to lose weight it is 30% exercise but 70% diet. If the whole population followed this rule we would be a healthy group.
Can't wait for my next run, pity is I am not playing so much golf but that is another story!