new type 1 record set at 2018 JCP Swansea half marathon
What happens when 69 people with Type 1 diabetes decide to run a half marathon together? You might be forgiven for thinking that some of them might not complete the course due to low blood glucose levels, you might be forgiven for thinking that it would be difficult to recruit a large team of runners with Type 1 diabetes, even Diabetes UK told me that they would be unable to find that many people with Type 1 diabetes to run a half marathon together.
However, here at 1bloodydrop.com we are used to pushing the boundaries that others try to impose upon us and on 26 June 2018, a diabetes world-record was set as 69 people with Type 1 diabetes travelled from all over to run the JCP Swansea Half Marathon together. Some of our team were inspired by the work that 1Bloodydrop.com has been doing in recent years to help people with Type 1 diabetes to exercise safely in the knowledge that they can prevent and mitigate many of the blood glucose challenges that they have previously faced, others have been running for many years. The one thing they all had in common was the experience and tenacity that living with Type 1 diabetes teaches us.
Defining New Standards, Sharing Knowledge & Making New Friends in the Diabetes Community
Are you like me? When you see somebody injecting insulin or wearing a pump do you have this voice inside that yells out “look – one of us?” If you are, then you probably walk on by without saying anything always wondering if perhaps you should have? Let’s be honest Type 1 diabetes is a hidden condition and it is difficult for people that do not have it to understand the challenges and fears that we face on a daily basis.
Have you ever spent time in the company of others with Type 1 diabetes? I am not talking about those awkward moments when we are sat in the clinic waiting to see the Doctor. Instead I am talking about the community spirit that comes from going out socially with others who have Type 1 diabetes, knowing that you will not be judged for eating pizza or drinking beer. Knowing that you might face some blood glucose challenges later, but you can deal with that.
Imagine the camaraderie that happens when a group of people who all share the common understanding of what it means to live with a Type 1 diabetes gather to push the boundaries that have been imposed upon them.
Imagine for a moment that you are joining the largest team of people with Type 1 diabetes ever to run a half marathon together on a hot summers day at the beach, you can smell the warm salt breeze coming from the sea front, you can feel the excitement and anticipation of your fellow runners and the reassurance that comes from working with an incredibly supportive community. What would that feel like for you? What conversations would you have with other Type 1’s? Now visualise crossing the finish line, hear the sounds of the crowd supporting you, see the faces of your loved ones and friends as they celebrate your success with you. Feel the clean fresh material of your finishers t-shirt and the cool metal of the medal you just earned, as it is placed over your head. What would that mean for you, for your family, for your loved ones? How would you feel when you cross the finish line and achieve the world record? Let’s not forget the friendships that you will take home with you after the race.
A Beautiful Sunday Morning for a Run
We gathered at the start line and it was the first time many of us had met, within moments we were sharing experiences and tips for managing our blood glucose levels. As we usually find at diabetes gatherings a few people were having challenges with technology or meds. Within moments of admitting you had a challenge the team were there to offer help and support, providing spares of insulin, tech or advice wherever possible.
The Sense of Community
I first experienced the amazing sense of community when I climbed Kilimanjaro with 18 other Type 1’s in 2014. There was a similar sharing of experiences last year when 26 runners with Type 1 diabetes gathered at the Swansea Half Marathon to help me complete my challenge of running 40 half marathons in my 40thyear of living with Type 1 diabetes, when I retired from running half marathons. It was therefore only fitting that we should set new standards and gather an even bigger team of Type 1 runners to bring me out of retirement from running half marathons.
Challenges & Research (ExTOD 101)
The day was not without it’s challenges, the incredible hot weather meant that we were all a little more sensitive to insulin than normal, but many of us were participating in a diabetes and exercise research project called ExTOD 101, led by Professor Rob Andrews and the University of Exeter which meant that we had access to glucose monitors which were continuously monitoring our blood glucose levels and these provided us with almost real time data that we could use to make sure that we remained safe. We experienced a number of technology failures, including my own insulin pump which decided to fail to respond to any button presses and I had to rely on an ‘unofficial’ remote control system which links my insulin pump to my mobile phone to reduce my insulin levels whilst I ran. This is part of the closed loop system developed in the open source community and I had only ever run for 5km with it before, whilst I had become familiar with the system I had discovered that it does not respond quickly enough to the rapidly increasing insulin sensitivity levels that happen for me when I run so this was new territory. I don’t mind admitting I was more than a little worried as I set out to run 21.1km with a faulty insulin pump attached and no backup with me.
Charities & Support
The team was supported by Diabetes UK Cymru, and Dai Williams the Director of Diabetes UK Cymru was there, running with his son Sam (who has Type 1 diabetes). The coincidences do not stop there, the race director of the JCP Swansea Half Marathon, David Martin-Jewell, also has a son with Type 1 diabetes, and perhaps this is why he agreed to allow such a large team of Type 1’s run at his event, I am sure many other race directors would have had concerns about so many Type 1’s running together but David Martin-Jewell took it all in his stride. The one concession we were asked to make was that the whole team was asked to run in the same t-shirt so that the race martials, and first aiders could identify all the Type 1 runners if we required assistance.
We were lucky enough to be supported by another wonderful Type 1 diabetes charity called JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and were joined by Miranda Burdett the regional fundraiser for Wales who also happens to be a fellow Type 1.
The welfare and safety of our runners was our primary concern and thanks to some amazing support from a number of businesses to ensure that our runners had everything they needed. An amazing line up of sponsors and supporters helped us to maintain the safety and welfare of our runners, including Annaps.com who made special t-shirts for us that included pockets for blood glucose meters and insulin pumps, Dexcom who sponsored the film crew who shot a footage for us for the documentary we will be releasing later this year, Sanofi for supporting the welfare of the runners, Go-Gluco for providing glucose supplies and bum bags for the whole team, ExTOD a diabetes and sports research organisation who were tracking us all and monitoring will be analysing our data to help inform future guidelines on diabetes and endurance exercise and of course Diabetes UK Cymru who became an affiliated charity of the Swansea Half marathon in order to support us.
In addition, we were joined by Dr Sam Rice a Diabetologist who ran with a hypo box strapped to his back.
Heat Exhaustion
There were 7,000 runners on the course and some of them had not considered the effects of heat and dehydration, and this became obvious by the time we reached 6 miles as we started to see runners laying at the roadside receiving first aid for dehydration and heat exhaustion. I began to worry that some of our team might be needing assistance, but the tenacity that we learn from living with diabetes and the way in which it teaches us to listen closely to our bodies served us well and all of our team completed the race without any incidents.
The fastest runner home, Adrian, finished in an astonishing 1:30 minutes, as the last man home I finished in 3:40, my slowest half marathon on record. For me this was never going to be about how quickly I could run, or whether I could complete 13.1 miles, instead it was about the whole ethos of 1bloodydrop.com, it was about helping others with Type 1 diabetes to achieve their sporting goals and I used my extensive experience of running half marathons to support some of our runners who were doing their first half marathon by supporting from the back of the pack.
What is Next?
Next year we plan to bring 200 runners with Type 1 diabetes to the Swansea Half marathon and recruitment has already started, places are filling up fast and this is going global, we have already recruited runners from France and Sweden.
Do you want to join us? You don’t have to be Mo Farrah, this year our oldest runner with Type 1 diabetes was Anthony Fisher an 80-year-old man from Gloucester. Pete Davies, a 63-year-old man from Surrey, ran his first half marathon with a smile on his face the whole time and he has been living with Type 1 diabetes for over 61 years. Devanshi, Adrian and Heather were all diagnosed within the last year. Our runners came in all shapes and sizes, they had varying experiences of living with Type 1 diabetes, they came from far and wide, one flew over from France and another from Ireland The one thing they all shared was a common experience of living with Type 1 diabetes, now they all share a world record. Perhaps, more importantly, they share the friendships that were made on that day, and I suspect will last.