The Objectives Your objectives are going to have a big influence on the tactical choices you make for your run. For instance: Fastest Known Time: Optimize for the most direct route (if that’s an option) and shortest travel to accommodations. Meeting people / sharing your story: Optimize your route for stopovers, meet-ups, non-running days like…

I try really hard to see myself with clear eyes. To know what I enjoy doing and am capable of — and to acknowledge the stuff that I don’t like and the things that are beyond my reach. I’ve read the race reports from people who love night running. It’s quiet, it’s cooler, the sun’s…

One of the biggest questions you have to tackle when planning an epic run is how many miles you can realistically cover every day. If you’re Pete Kostelnick, who was 29 when he set the 2016 world record for crossing the United States, it’s about 72 miles/day. If you’re Marshall Ulrich, who set the world’s…

Sleeping Arrangements When you’re dead-tired at the end of running all day, for 26 days, nothing is as important as a good night’s sleep. Ideally on a super long run, in order to get a good night’s sleep, you’re going to want a comfortable place to sleep that isn’t far from the course, restroom facilities,…

Back in the April / May 2018 time frame, I wrote about my initial experiences with the Medtronic 670g insulin pump/CGMS and its auto mode, a clever feature that’s designed to keep people like me from experiencing life-threatening low blood sugars and prolonged highs. At the time, I had quite a lot to say about…

On June 10, 2018, with the help of my wife and crew chief Leslie Nolen, I completed a 339-mile run across Iowa. I’m asked: “Why Iowa?” The answers vary from facetious to strategic: Because it’s there. Because no one had ever run Relay Iowa (the longest relay in the world) solo. Because it’s training for…

The first reaction I get when I tell people I’ve done runs over 100 miles is, “Wow. I could never do that.” The truth is, I’m nobody special. Most of us are capable of epic things, but the devil is in the details.

Epic adventures test the limits of human endurance — especially when you figure type 1 diabetes into the mix. Regardless of the size of the challenge, what matters more than anything is what you do when things go wrong. Because they will.

UPDATE: In November 2018, I switched from my almost-new Medtronic 670g to the Tandem t:slim X2 and Dexcom package, at my own expense. * * * * * * * * * My original Medtronic 670G review: Back in March 2018, after the announcement that Animas would be shutting its doors, I had to make…

This isn’t a what-do-do article. It’s more of a what-I-wish-someone-had-told-me article that I’d write to my newly-diagnosed self in the past. As such, it’s not intended as medical advice. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s what I’d tell me: