Out in the upper Mid-West.  In Racine, next to Milwaukee.  Last week in Michigan.  Flint to Hastings.  Spoke in small communities about bettering our health.   About exercise and taking first steps.  Kids with diabetes would wait for me at the end, introduce themselves and we would begin to talk.  Did this at the library, in the senior center, at boot-camps and laying ground work to comeback and address whole schools.  Making a loop around Lake Michigan. Had the chance and was invited to run with the Hastings Trilanders.  My host, Nicole Mathews was AMAZING!  Setting me up and getting me into a small communities meetings healthy gatherings.  Was even in a parade.  Thank you for everything and all the hard work that it takes to get there. After being away from home for 2 weeks now getting ready to head back.  Sort of sad but the snow makes it tough for me to better my own diabetes.  Running in the snow is more than a challenge for this guy. Exciting events are coming together for April back in the Mid-Atlantic.  Can’t wait to share more about it.

The goals for this year,  get a million people to run a mile for diabetes.  1 million miles run by 1 million people.  Many million footsteps to better health in a start and a stand in bettering diabetes and preventing it.  Second, to run a ridiculously  long distance or racer (not across a continent) but something more than a marathon.  To do it fast as possible. Do it to continue to share with diabetics what is possible and that we can. So from where I am now and to actualizing these goals there are a million of my own little steps that need to be made.  Updating websites is a priority.  Finding a suitable place to train is another.  To run the Leadville 100 I feel you need to practice running at altitude.  Maybe that will be my run.  Recruiting help to pull all of this off is mandatory.  So far people are writing copy and creating website code. Media is interested and waiting for dates and the specifics.  Politicians are excited and as all of this is taking place more diabetics are met.  This makes me lucky. Last week I had the opportunity to go to Capital Hill and meet my local congress persons and my senators health staffs.  Went to other offices where the congressperson supports the fight in bettering the lives of diabetics.  They have a Diabetic Caucus in Congress.  It is the largest caucus on the

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The last words before getting on that jet, “this is kind of upsetting.  It took me 6 plus months to run 3,400 miles.  I will cover 2000 In an after noon.”  Then I took off.  My brother has been lobbying, asking for me to come visit.  I am not smart.  He knows this and took matters into his own hands and I was headed to the Cayman Islands.  It was announced that I needed to do nothing for a bit.  To “decompress.”  Much deserved I was told. - 80′s degrees and iguanas, feels more like other planets than other counties.  My personal goal for the week  GET MY BLOOD SUGARS UNDER CONTROL! The way I know how to do this is with, well running.  Very contrary to why I was here and what I was supposed to be doing.  Sometimes it is better to not listen.  Better yet to compromise.  This is what my body told me. In the end there is a beach and I would step off from the water’s edge.  Apparently you are supposed to float here.  I am a rock and rocks sink.  The water is clear down there and there are fish and starfish.  A different place.  So I watched. - In the middle of Seven-Mile Beach is the Ritz-Carlton.  Today there was a health fair.  So me and my running shorts step into the ballroom.  There are booths and a person who checks people

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The great diabetic challenge was not the run as much as it has been the ensuing week(s) after ending.  This period where I have to reclaim my life without running a marathon day.  My diet has shrunk from 9,000 calories to under 2,000.  I run for about an hour on a treadmill.  There is a constant here to as the steps at 8 miles an hour tap across the spinning belt.  The blood sugar now reads 308.   At least this time it is not higher.  So let’s resume the more insulin is better approach.  Click the  wheel back on the syringe two more notches and fire.  Hopefully it takes.     I can only imagine what my HA1C will look like next time. Excessive exercise has been replaced with sleeping super long and napping frequently.  In between there are phone calls and emails.  The list is endless.  Waiting for me is another person.  Waiting for me is the treadmill.  Waiting for me a seemingly “high” blood sugar.  This is a diabetic life.  One where in time and through effort (in this case anger and obsession to control it through more and faster running) it will come back to me.  So I still believe though the results are not immediate.  In the hours between there is pervasive nausea.  So I eat less and watch pants slither to the floor.  I run more at this moment to stay away from a hospital.

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Last Sunday was perfect.  I ran through midtown and stopped at Times Square.  It was early and very empty.  Ran down Broadway and stopped in to take a quick picture at my a alma mater, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.  Continued on and began to run over to Brooklyn.  On the way I had the chance to pass by two apartments where I used to live ten years ago.  Never would of guessed that this is where life would take me.   On top of the Brooklyn Bridge my family met me.  Have not seen my brother and sister for months.  Made the moment all that more special.  We took some photos laughed and I went on. At 1:30 I began to run down the Coney Island boardwalk.  I had a few moments to think of what this was.  Where it began.  The people that made it possible and moments where I felt if it was just for this one interaction, this one meeting and sharing with a person it was worth it.  The pier was my turn off.  At it were many faces I recognized.  Over their shoulders, the ocean.  A quick hello and the last 100 yards. The water.  Feet in up to my knees.  I was out of land.  No more left.  One continent crossed.  Over my shoulder was my family, people from diabetes groups, runners.  In that moment there was a realization “I did it.”  Followed by “only with

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