Oh, you and he can TOTALLY geek out on this stuff. I shudder to think…! You will definitely figure out how to make it all work! Exciting!!! Let me know when you want me to make the connection 
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Thanks @JessicaD!
I have plenty of time to plan, so we can do it after the holidays sometime.
I think they say the limit for your carry pack is 15x5x5. But I am not sure if you are also allowed to have an additional belt for water, or if it has to be the same.
I prefer multiple smaller SPIBelts because having the weight spread out makes it slosh around less, rather than having it all in a single belt!
I assume I can just clip gel packs directly to my shorts.
There are a lot of details that I will need to figure out!
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That sounds great! Mark is totally into it and looking forward to meeting you. I am guessing you can also get a medical exemption if necessary for fluids / gels / etc. I have a friend with some clout at the BAA, so we can work that angle if we need to, too. This is great!
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Here is a picture.
Here is the same pic with all the gear labeled.
It looks cluttered, but I know where everything is. It’s easy to get to everything.
Today. That’s what I needed to tell myself.
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Thanks! Would love to get some info on all of that!
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Wow!!! Great job Eric!!!
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Wow, they actually limit what one can carry? That size of pack is definitely not going to work for you while needing to carry T1 gear, too! And you certainly don’t want to rely on carbs / water being available along the route!
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I understand wanting the flash shirt, but don’t you think with that belt that Batman might be more appropriate?
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I have been Batman many times before. The last time was in 2017.
Remember these pics?
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Ohh, I do remember those! Ok, then a challenge for you. Hit the gym a little bit and you can be the Tic!
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Congratulations, and thank you for sharing!
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@JessicaD
From BAA’s site, it has a list of “Allowable Items” that runners can have.
One of the permitted things runners can have is:
Armband, which can carry a cellular phone or small camera.
I don’t carry a phone when I run.
But you know what? It doesn’t say the armband has to actually have a phone in it!
So I could stick some gel packs in it. 
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@Eric what do all of your fluid containers have in them? Is it your own glucose mixture or regular water? If water, there are very regularly spaced hydration sites along the course, so you might be able to lose those. But I understand wanting to carry your own gatorade, etc. Mark took some sort of sugared mixture along the course at the end of one race and lived to regret it. Also, Mark has a snazzy GU band that goes snugly around your waist and holds 5-6 GUs. Not that you’re wanting to layer belts, but this is low-profile and could sit flush against your shirt.
PS - I just confirmed w Mark that water stations are every mile, starting at mile 3 or so
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Thanks @JessicaD!
That sounds great. Can you share a link?
Sounds like that would work. But would that count as the fuel belt? Because I need to have my PDM and strip holder on my belt.
I just carry water because I want to stay as hydrated as possible. The problem with Gatorade or any sugared sports drink is if you have high BG, you can’t drink it! So I just carry water, and rely on gels for when I want to (or need to) take carbs.
I try to have my own water, and I get water from Leslie a few times during most marathons because the water tables use little paper cups and you can’t really get much out of them, and you end up spilling most of it.
I do grab water cups when I am in need, but it’s just hard to maintain pace and grab a cup and drink it, without sloshing it all over. The water tables slow me down.
The bottles I carry have the squeeze spouts, so I don’t spill it.
But I know that in Boston, Leslie won’t be able to make it to more than one place. Realistically with the crowd and traffic, it will just be a single hand-off. So I can get a bag from her with about 30 ounces in the bottles. And if I start with about 30 ounces (not sure what they allow), that’s a reasonable amount. Not great, but reasonable. If I supplement with the water tables as needed, I think it will be okay.
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GU band: we are in Maine for the wknd, but will dig it out when back in Boston and send a pic or link.
For water and other re-fills, plan on having us as a resource at 21.3. You’re right – it’s definitely challenging to get to more than one spot on the course. I typically get to see Mark when he runs by us at BC, then I hightail it into Boston, park on Beacon Hill, and meet him after he comes out of the security perimeter (which is now realistically on the Boston Common).
I’m going to send you a msg so we can keep talking!
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I wanted to share this because it’s fun for me to look at. I like to do a home A1C test after a hard effort, because it’s always a lot lower than what my actual BG would indicate.
I appreciate the science behind it - the idea that shortening your RBC lifespan means the new ones are not glycated yet, so your number is artificially low.
To me, this number does not really represent my diabetes, it’s more about the work. I did it 2 weeks after, which is an ideal time to look at the new RBC’s your body has made, as the old ones have been retired.
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I haven’t tried a home A1c test. How do they actually work? I note your comment about accuracy, what level of accuracy are they supposed to have?
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@TomH,
My comment about the result is not about the test itself. The home tests are pretty accurate. I usually do them on the same day as I get the lab A1C done, and they are always within 0.1 or 0.2 of the lab test.
I think they are great for the money. They come in packs of 2 tests, and are about $40-$50 per kit. You can get them at CVS or Walgreens or Walmart, any of those kinds of pharmacy places.
My comment about the result is about the A1C’s reflection of BG control, not about the accuracy of the test itself.
A1C is supposed to show your past 3 month’s “average”, but it is really just showing how glycated your red blood cells have become over 3 months. A1C measures either how many high BG’s you have had over 3 months, or the absence of highs (it does not measure lows).
The reason they call it a 3 month average is that red blood cells (RBC’s) normally last 3 months.
That’s where it is not a reflection for me of 3 months!
Higher exercise volume reduces the lifespan of RBC’s. They become destroyed faster by continually being forced through small capillaries at higher volume than normal (intravascular hemolysis).
Exercise lowers your hematocrit (the proportion of red blood cells in your blood), because while it increases your blood volume, the number of older RBC’s is decreased. This is commonly referred to as “sports anemia”.
So the point I was making is that my A1C is not 100% a reflection of my BG. It’s also the fact that I have killed off a lot of my older RBC’s, and they have been replaced by younger RBC’s which have not become glycated yet.
Tell me if that makes sense. This topic can get confusing.
I can simplify it like this:
- Eric killed off a lot of his older RBC’s.
- He has mostly new young RBC’s.
- New RBC’s have not been around very long, so they are not yet glycated.
- That means his A1C’s is artificially low…
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@Eric I’m impressed at the accuracy of .1 or .2 vs a lab, much better than I’d have expected. I’d never thought of the sports aspect on RBCs and the impact to A1c or hematocrit, but it seems to make perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation and education!
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