LIVINGLIVING
continued over
stuff to carry around. The downside is that
if your phone is out of range or runs out of
power, all the information disappears and
the alerts no longer happen."
Sandy feet
It was when he was working as a junior
reporter on the Woking News and Mail
that Brown first interviewed people who
had done the Marathon des Sables
(MdS), a 230km run in the desert over
six days, it literally up and down sand
dunes. "It just stayed with me. I had never
thought it possible for me to do it, then
in 2013 another Type 1-er, Roddy Riddle,
completed it. I got in touch with him via
social media then I started to believe, 'I
can do this too'.
"I started training and also started
my blog Diabetic Dad Runs (https://
diabeticdadruns.com/), the purpose of
which was to tell everyone I was going
to do it, so I couldn't back out! I'm not
sure I could have done it without being on
the pump. The Omnipod has no tubing
to get caught. Roddy is an ambassador
for the Dexcom so he said I should try it.
FreeStyle Libre is way better than having
to do blood tests all the time, but Dexcom
syncs directly with a smartwatch, which
just makes things even easier - especially
if you want to run up and down sand
dunes in the desert.
"The Omnipod-Dexcom combo got
me through the desert. If your pancreas
is not working properly when you do an
ultra run like this, it's is just something
else you have to get organised for - it
is your responsibility. The whole MdS
is characterised by there being a good
sense of support and friendship between
the runners. I was a little bit jealous that
they did not have to handle diabetes as
well as handle the running, the heat, the
sun and the sand. They say the MdS is
one third fitness, one third kit, one third
management, which is to say managing
the things that are under your control,
such as nutrition and hydration.
"During the race there's no hot food,
you can either carry your own stove and
cook your own or do what I did and just
carry things like breakfast cereal nuts
and fruits and you have to carry it all with
you. I used to top up with a Glucogel if I
was going low. I carried an 800 mL water
bottle and pouches of something called
Betafuel which would make a drink that's
In the past I'd been
told I could not do
sports and I just
thought, 'No, I want to
do this.' So I started
to lobby to go on a
pump.
"