Set Apart In Christ

Today is a day I’ve been looking forward to for a number of months. On this day, fifteen years ago, I was lying in a bed in the emergency ward of a Balinese hospital in a desperate state when a doctor whispered in my ear “We think you might have diabetes” (read the full story here ) A lot has happened since then. Somewhere in the vicinity of 13,000 needles, 25,000 finger pricks, and 1,000 infusion set changes for my insulin pump. But my life is much more than numbers, needles and insulin. Type 1 Diabetes is a diagnosis but it does not define who I am.

Almost at the finish line! For almost two years now I’ve been a “runner”. It’s a great pastime for me. A time of recreation and contemplation, but also a physical challenge that I really enjoy. This year I completed my first marathon. There’s much more to a marathon than just turning up at the start line on the day and running 42.195km to cross the finish line. A lot of training is required in order to achieve that feat. Most marathon training plans include at least four types of training runs, each with their own purpose. The first is broadly categorised as “speed” work. This can take the form of intervals, fartleks (Yes, it’s a real term. Look it up), hill repeats, and many other variations in between. The purpose of this training run is to increase your pace. They tend to be shorter overall, but intense effort throughout.

You may be well aware already that I am preparing to run my first Half-marathon in just over 2 weeks time - the Blackmores Sydney Half-Marathon. Since I only started running in January this year this is an exciting venture for me. My preparations have been going well. I can now confidently cover the distance of 21.1km, have a relatively good understanding of how to balance my energy intake and Blood Sugar Levels (BSL) and have in recent weeks begun to grasp what I need to do to pace myself well through the distance.

As you may be aware I'm currently in training for my first half marathon. I only started running seriously in January this year until I realised that all the excuses I had were only preventing me from getting the most out of life. I'm using this run as an opportunity to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation . Last night this report was aired on Australian television about some exciting new research into a vaccine that, it is hoped, will prevent Type 1 Diabetes. What I appreciated in this story was the fact that it recognised that Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes may "look" very similar in their symptoms but are, in fact, different diseased. The first an autoimmune disease, then second brought on by a combination of lifestyle factors and genetics. Type 1 is incurable meaning anyone with this disease (under current medical treatments) will never stop requiring daily insulin injections or insulin pump therapy. Those with Type 2 have the hope of reducing or...

At the beginning of this year I was having a conversation with an Officer friend of mine, Captain Grant Sandercock-Brown. We've known each other for a long time, going back to the days when he was the bandmaster at Hurstville Corps and I was a know-it-all teenager. For my last two years of high school he was a teacher at the school I attended. All that's just to say; we go back a long way. Grant and his wife Sharon were appointed to the staff of the Training College at the beginning of the year and it's been great to work alongside them.