“See that girl? She has an Animas.”

I was walking into The Color Run with Martin and two of his non-diabetes friends this past weekend. And I was at least pretty sure that was what the lady behind me said. But I was at an event that had nothing to do with diabetes with thousands of strangers. What are the odds that the person behind us would know anything about my insulin pump?

It turns out the odds were pretty good. The lady behind us was talking to her son, and she mentioned to us that she had just given him his insulin and that’s why she wanted to point out to him that I had a pump too. Martin and I had a brief conversation with her and then turned back to continue walking with his friends.

They asked if we knew the woman and her son. From our conversation it sure sounded like we did. We had to explain to our teammates that everyone with diabetes is the club. They know the secret handshake and we automatically have enough to talk about for the longest conversation.

We finally made it over to where the run was supposed to start. We walked past the starting line and all the people who were lined up already. We could definitely tell when people were reading our shirts and when they actually understood (and appreciated) our shirts.

When one girl elbowed her friend and told her to check out our shirts as we walked by her, I stopped to ask if she had diabetes. She didn’t but the two of them were diabetes educators. Our friends really believed we were in some sort of secret society at that point.

I had woken up higher than I wanted to that morning due to some sarcastic/ironic carbo loading the night before. I had mentally decided that if I was below a certain number by the time we got to the starting line, I would set a temp basal (it would still be 45 minutes or so before the run started for us). Of course I was two points below my mental threshold and I chickened out and left all my settings.

I told Martin I was going to test after the third K because we would know that would be about halfway. Of course the color to mark that third section of the course was blue. Even The Color Run was supportive of the checking of our blood sugar.

I will say that this was probably the first time in YEARS that I have (outside of a doctor’s office) used an alcohol swab before poking my finger. And that way only because it was absolutely necessary. I don’t think colored cornstarch residue would have provided a very accurate result. It was a very good thing that we checked. We were both low and neither of us felt it. I was carrying my Dexcom but I had dropped so fast that my Dexcom had not been able to keep up.

The Color Run isn’t timed. A good portion of the participants walk the entire course. The event prides itself on being “The Happiest 5K on the Planet.”

I got Martin to agree to do it by telling him we had to dress up like fools and that I did not plan on running any of the course (we broke that rule a little – we got excited!). It was a perfect final adventure for me in Florida before the road trip across the country begins.

P.S. Most of these pictures aren’t mine. I brought the perfect camera for the event with a broken memory card.

P.P.S. I’m hoping to catch Martin one more time on my way out of Florida, he (and Jacquie) are definitely some of the best things about this state and I’m really going to miss them.