A type 1 diabetic refused to let the condition stop her from achieving her goals as she ran more than 54 miles in less than 12 hours at the weekend.
Heidi Dyson, of Keswick, ran 13 loops around Whinlatter Forest in the Whopper Ultra trail race, with an overall elevation of more than 12,000ft.
Being a diabetic for almost two decades, Heidi has learned how to live with the condition, and is keen to not let it take over her life, and keeping fit was a good way for the 37-year-old to keep on top of that.
“Planning and preparation when living with diabetes is key to doing most things on a day-to-day basis,” she explained.
“You must always consider what you are doing, whether you have enough supplies like food and drink to keep stable and the impact of exercise on your body and blood glucose levels.
“An autoimmune disease such as type 1 diabetes increases the risks of seemingly lots of unwanted things, such as depression, amputation, blindness, heart disease and stroke, miscarriage, kidney damage etc.
“So for me it makes total sense to try and be the healthiest I can with the array of potential problems that can be attributed to just being diagnosed as type 1. I just try to do the best I can.”
After taking up running 20 years ago, Heidi has become more consistent in her challenges in the past decade.
In 2014 she completed the Edinburgh Marathon, and more recently ran the Scafell Sky Race, a 40km test over the Lake District fells.
This, along with being a member of both the Derwent and Keswick running clubs, came in very handy in her preparation for the Whopper Ultra.
The worry that she could take a downturn if her blood glucose levels dropped was something that played on her mind during the run.
But the Whopper Ultra’s Backyard format means runners must complete a lap of just over 4.1 miles within an hour, so any time remaining if the lap is completed in less than the 60 minutes can be used as a break to recover.
And that allowed Heidi to replenish and refresh as and when she needed to – without losing time in the race.
“In completing the ultra, it has given me confidence that challenges like this can be undertaken, and the format of the Backyard Ultra type event is really well geared to diabetic runners as a community,” she said.
“The ability to refuel and assess each lap means that the blood glucose management is so much easier.
“Initially I was doubtful about whether I could even run for as long as the time suggested, and what effect this would have, but things turned out really well on the day, even when the weather decided it wasn’t going to make things easy because it rained almost constantly!”
Heidi hoped that her achievement would inspire others to do the same, and not let diabetes be a barrier to living a happy and healthy life.
“Obviously when you live with a long-term health condition you get to know your body really well and have to become self-sufficient at managing it to your best ability, so I would always suggest careful consideration around people’s personal risk factors in relation to what they intend to do,” she said.
“However, preparation can be undertaken, and self-belief can be found in the process.
“I’m really happy to have been able to complete this challenge as a type 1 diabetic runner, I feel like I was able to compete despite this extra challenge, so I would encourage anyone considering anything like this to prepare and enjoy the process.
“You never know where it will take you in future.”
