Author name: Katie

And Then There Were Two

Diabetes

For nearly 28 years, Dear Diabetes has been all about me. My actions, my health, my mentality, my words – all me. It’s been lonely at times, I’m not going to lie, but my goodness, it is the way it should have always been. And then there were two. Exactly one month ago yesterday, everything changed. This disease of mine became about so much more than just me. It became about a super sweet, precious little boy who captured my heart long before he was born. A boy who can be deceivingly quiet at times, but break out the tunes and he’ll be dancing and singing like no other. A boy who has a world of dramatic flare itching to burst free. A boy who loves his superheroes. A boy with one of the most contagious laughs. A boy who my boy can’t get enough of. Last month, my four-and-a-half-year-old nephew […]

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The Road to Redemption

Running

Another half marathon has come and gone; my feet and leg muscles no longer ache with every movement I make and my insides are once again hydrated… well, as hydrated as can be in this crazy assed heat. As is always the case for me post race, I’ve been thinking a lot the last few days about the journey to redemption: the triumphs, the challenges, the lessons, the moments, the people. The last 15 weeks was spent again with a select group of women, between the ages of 18 and 60, volunteering their legs for the UBC run study, which is investigating running injuries in women. The road to redemption was not only my journey but theirs also. Like the previous study, most of these women had never run a half before, many were novice, they were excited, they were nervous, some came to the first session with knocking knees.

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Redemption Song

Diabetes, Races, Running

This was not my best race, it was not a pretty race, I did not push my pace, I did not pull off a personal best, I did not have much gas in the end, and when I crossed the finish, I was weaving and swaying like a drunkard and pretty much collapsed under the closest ant ridden tree I could find. But, I finished. Redemption baby. The Vancouver Scotiabank half marathon and I have a bit of a jaded history. It all started in 2008, what was to be my very first half marathon. Oh, and it was all so new back then. I had hopes. I had dreams. I had visions of the perfect race. And could only pretend to imagine that thing called post-race running endorphins. I wanted it so bad, I could taste it. I’d already had my appetite whetted several times over with 5 and

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Oh my aching, aching *elbows*

Running, Uncategorized

Dear, dear, dear elbows, Please, please, please forgive me. I do not know what came over me, how I did not recognize/feel the err of my ways. Sure something felt off, not quite right, my shoulder, which hadn’t bugged me in months, started aching, and my hips felt all akimbo, and my feet like they were slapping the ground. I felt loosey goosey, not lithe and swift. But I wasn’t feeling flippity floppity. And it was hot out, there was a blood sugar issue, and maybe even a slight dose of dehydration. I know. Excuses. I cannot even imagine what others were thinking seeing as they saw me run by; for some it might have been an unwelcomed flashback to the free sixties. Oh the shame, the shame. As soon as I was home, as soon as I saw your lack of proper protection, wow, my head was going backwards

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The art of falling

Diabetes, Running, Uncategorized

It’s taken a few years, and a few practice tumbles, and a whole lot of curses, but it seems I have finally mastered the art of falling. Believe me, that’s something to be proud of. Five years ago, the pavement attacked and I bailed, taking out both my elbows and knees. Three years ago, the speed bump (in an area I might add that gets NO vehicle traffic) grabbed my leg forcing me to dive forward with arms full force ahead, screwing up my shoulder; still screwed today. But yesterday, when that bloody jerkface of a tree trunk came at me, and I knew about a quarter of the way into the attack I was going down, I tucked my arm in, silently cursed the devil, and braced for the gravel rash to come. And what do you know, I came out of it alive; no broken bones (hello snowboarding

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