By Mariel Sotelo

I am 43 years old, was diagnosed just before I turned 20 years old.

The doctor misdiagnosed me with type 2. After the diagnosis of my middle daughter, I understood why I was misdiagnosed. She was diagnosed as a MODY 3 and she is now being treated with oral medication. I started with oral medication and three years later, I got married and was planning to grow our family. I started to research insulin pumps. My endocrinologist had no idea about any of the pumps, but he signed off on the paperwork within a few months of me getting pregnant with my first daughter. As she turned one, I found out I was pregnant with my second daughter. After I had my second daughter the weight just piled on from there. After my oldest started school is when I decided to do something about the weight and my sugar. I met the gym owner who is the one responsible for me starting my love/hate relationship with running.

In 2013 we started to train for our first half marathon. It was not an easy thing for me to do. I could not just say I am going out for a run like the rest of them. Why? Because I have type 1 diabetes (T1D) and at first it was trial and error just to figure out how to handle the pump, the blood glucose, and the effort put into it. I always love the idea of having to use less insulin after a run.

Photo credit: Mariel Sotelo

After running a few more half marathons, everyone decided it was time to go to the next level. I was a little scared, but not because of my diabetes. I was scared because everyone was getting faster and it seemed like I wasn’t making any progress. I have continued to run no matter how fast or how slow I am. I know I have T1D and that alone is a hassle sometimes, but I know that a lot of the women that now run in the group say that they started and continue to run because of me! They feel inspired when they see that no matter what, I do not back out from running.

Even COVID-19 did not stop me from completing a challenge I had signed up for back in November of 2019. My first run was completing a half marathon in May which I had to do a week after a 14-day quarantine after contracting COVID-19 from work and having mild symptoms. I have to say, I did have some concerns with my lungs, but I did okay and was able to finish. On October 25th, I completed my 8th marathon which was part of the challenge. On the weekend of November 14th and 15th, I finished my 9th marathon. I ran 14 miles on the 14th for World Diabetes Day and 12.2 miles on the 15th to complete my run.

Diabetes has not stopped me from running! I am not the fastest runner of the group but I always reach the finish line!

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