The Walking Lady of the Tulla Road is back on the beat. This post is inspired by two funny conversations I had over the summer. You see, I go for a 40 minute walk at around the same time, four mornings a week, during the school year. I normally take a break during the Summer holidays, so each September I get back into my routine of walking and figure out the blood sugar versus 40 minute walk balance again.
Towards the end of June, as I was on my walk, a car pulled up beside me with a female driver. I approached cautiously thinking this person probably needed directions. No she didn’t and her story was lovely. She has three children: one in the local primary school, one in preschool and a baby in the back seat. She had just dropped off her older girls when she decided to make my day. She told me that her girls call me “The Walking Lady” and can spot me far away and would often say to their mother “Look, Mammy, it's so wet and she doesn’t care!”. The family judge if they are on time or late by where I am on my walk which brings me to the second conversation I had.
My physiotherapist asked me, very concerned, if I was still walking during the summer because she hadn’t seen me and she judges how on time or late she is for work by the direction I’m walking in. She also said that if there’s any goings on in the mornings on the Tulla Road that the Gardai would come to me as a good source of information :-O
So! I am back to my usual school routine and it’s taken about two weeks of my morning walks to figure out, again, an insulin dose and temporary basal rate on my insulin pump to avoid a low glucose crash. Let me tell you the first few when you are already sweating from exercise were very unpleasant but thankfully not as bad as the one below in the image.
This is something I have to do every time I take a break from walking for more than a couple of weeks, by the way, I didn’t take the entire summer holidays off from walking just August. Between the changes in the weather and the changes in my routine that affect my metabolism, I have to do this every September.
Between now and the end of October there may be less posts on Blood Sugar Trampoline but you will find me over at Thriveabetes gearing up for our next event on Saturday, 19th October in Dublin. I can’t believe it’s been 18 months since the last one. We have a great line up this year - come join me and about 300 other people with diabetes. Register soon!
