Run like the wind

OK, trot like the wind. Today was the first day I've ran outside in a few weeks. Its not always easy in the winter around here. I don't think its been above the teens for several weeks. Its not that the cold bothers me, quite the contrary, I love the cold. Its the sidewalks that suck. Some are very clean and others barely touched. Its not so bad when its a little warmer, in the 20s or above with sun, but when its colder, the sidewalks suck.

Stats:

Location: outside, yay! 20 degrees.
Distance: 4.68 miles (Garmin 305 yay!)
Time: 44:50 AVG: 9:22 pave
pre-run BG: 85 mg/dl
post-run BG: 110 mg/dl

I checked my BG before the run and it was 85, a little on the low side pre-run so I had a delicious espresso love gel by GU, my favorite gel. 25 grams of carbs with 5 grams of sugars. Primarily maltodextrine, a short chain carb polymer that the body can use quickly -- starting even in the mouth and excellerated through the small intestines, about 15 minutes to get into the blood stream. I know a lot of diabetics are carb phobic (at least if they are concerned about BG levels) but something like a GU gel is pretty easy to utilize and doesn't really raise BG levels if you engage in some endurance activity after taking it. In fact, if I am running more than an hour outside, or my BG is in the 80s or lower I will take one before a run, and even more during, depending on my running time and intensity.

Running on snowy sidewalks a week after it has snowed sucks. Clean your sidewalks. The city of madison cleans sidewalk worse than they do streets, and that's hard to do. I guess when you use frontloaders that don't come within an inch of the sidewalk, that will happen. The people who live next to those city properties are less likely to clean their sidewalks. The City of Madison: leading by example.