GarthWigle.ca

On December 21, 2004 I became one of the millions of Canadians afflicted with diabetes. I am fortunate that I have Type 2 Diabetes which may be controlled with diet, exercise, weight management, and medication (oral or insulin). I began a walk to run program on my treadmill on December 22. I also began to search for information as to how this disease would impact my lifestyle and what I could do to forestall the complications which include neuropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease among others. I soon came across the Canadian Diabetes Association and Team Diabetes Canada. In February 2005 I joined Team Diabetes with the intention of completing the Honolulu Marathon in December 2005 after also raising $6000 in the process.

On December 11, 2005 I successfully completed the Honolulu Marathon in 5:58:53. It was actually my tenth race of 2005 as I started with a 5K in March, two 10K races in April, a half-marathon in May, a 10K in June, an 11K in August, another half-marathon in September, a 10K in October, and a 10-miler in November.

Since that time I have continued to run 8-10 races per year and running 40-70Km per week spread over four to five days. As of July 2008 I am no longer taking metformin for my diabetes.

With 2010 being the tenth anniversary of Team Diabetes Canada, I again committed to raising funds and running with the Team in the Ottawa Half-Marathon on May 30, 2010. After a year of varied injuries in 2009, I was quite pleased to finish the half in 2:25:00 after raising $500 for the Canadian Diabetes Association.

My Current Personal Records: