Thriveabetes 2016 speaker, cyclist, solicitor and person with type 1 diabetes, James O’Reilly is taking on the Dublin City Marathon this weekend (Sunday 28th October 2018) to raise much needed funds for Diabetes Ireland.

This week’s guest post is from James who wants to spread the message “Yes you can run marathons if you have type 1 diabetes”

Can a person with Type 1 Diabetes run a marathon?

James O’Reilly

Of course they can! I have met plenty who have. But can THIS person with Type 1 Diabetes run a marathon? Well there is only one way to find out. Please help him spread this message and raise a big cheer for all Marathon Runners with type 1 diabetes.

When offered a place at this year’s Dublin City Marathon through Diabetes Ireland I said “of course I can”. Despite the fact that I had never even run close to half that distance before.

Being a bike racer first and foremost I tend to turn my nose up when I whiz past people exercising without bicycles thinking “don’t you know how much more fun you could be having on two wheels?”

Well it turns out that training to run 42km with only three months available was more than just a little bit harder than I had initially anticipated. But here I am, hundreds of km, two broken toes and multiple incidents of tendinitis later, only a few days out from my first marathon race. The training is done. The fueling strategies to keep the blood sugars level have been tested.

Let’s be having you Dublin!

So if you would like to make a donation to support my endeavor to turn my legs to mush and dribble all over myself, all while trying to avoid a brutal hypo for 42km on the streets of our fair capital, please follow this link. All proceeds go to Diabetes Ireland.

Best of luck James!