At 8:00 p.m. on October 27, a group ten men set out from Oceanside, Calif., to run 3,000 miles across America.  Besides being some of the fittest guys in the country—marathoners, ultra-marathoners, Ironman finishers—they all also have Type 1 diabetes.

Running for Team Type 1-SANOFI, the group crossed the country to increase diabetes awareness, encourage better health through proper diabetes management, and promote prevention of Type 2 diabetes through exercise.

Led by Tom Kingery, who raced across America as part of the group’s world record setting cycling team in 2009 and 2010, Team Type 1-SANOFI didn't let their diabetes slow them down.  In fact, they finished their journey in 17 days, just in time to celebrate World Diabetes Day in New York City on October 14.

Check here for a slideshow of photos from Team Type 1-SANOFI's Run Across America.

I recently caught up with Tom Kingery a few days before the end of the team’s Run Across America to find out more about their trek, running with diabetes, and what Team Type 1-SANOFI utimately hopes to achieve.

Running Examiner:  If you could just talk about the logistics of how the team is running across America relay style.

Tom Kingery:  We started out with two five men teams each running eight hours and switching off 24 hours a day.  We quickly realized that wasn’t the best method because it didn’t allow for enough recovery time. 

Now we have seven guys in the van that’s active.  One of the guys is injured so he’s just driving.  We cover about 150 miles in a full day of running from 5 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m.  We then rest until the next morning, and the overnight crew of three guys—our biggest endurance guys—run 50 or 60 miles each night.

Running Examiner:  Is it tag team then where one guy runs 10 miles and then another guy runs ten miles.

Tom Kingery:  Yeah, but we’re keeping it much shorter, around one or two miles, so that way we can keep the average speed very high. 

Running Examiner:  What is your average pace?

Tom Kingery:  We’re probably averaging about an eight-minute pace.  We’re all doing about 25 miles a day and the reason we’re able to get so many miles in is with a leapfrog approach.  We’ll put a guy out on the road and he’ll run two to three miles. 

We’ll then drive up the road and put a cone out and drop another guy off and he’ll run two to three miles.  We go back to the first guy and pick him up at the cone and then we’ll repeat that so we always have two guys on the road at the same time which makes it twice as fast.

Running Examiner:  How hard has it been?  I mean is it what you expected in terms of difficulty?

Tom Kingery:  I would say it’s much harder than I expected.  I’m a triathlon guy and I usually only do 35 to 40 miles a week of running.  Here we’re running 120 miles a week. 

Running Examiner:  How does having diabetes affect what you’re doing in terms of fueling?  Is it more difficult to manage your diabetes when you're running like this?

Tom Kingery:  Well our message is that anything is possible if you know your body well.  When I first got diagnosed with diabetes at age 28 I thought they’d hand me a manual on how to handle it.  But it’s a self-managed disease and you have to sort of write your own manual and adjust it all the time.  We have ten guys here and I guarantee there’s ten different ways they manage their diabetes. 

Running Examiner:  Do you use the same types of fuels as other endurance athletes without diabetes like gels, chews and sports drinks?

Tom Kingery:  Yeah, we all use PowerBar fuel--the gels, chews, drinks,  and the bars.  It’s just basically how each guy uses it and the quantities.  Everybody is different.

Running Examiner:  As you’ve been running across America have you been able to see the impact you’re having on other diabetics?

Tom Kingery:  Yeah. New Mexico was really amazing.  One of our runners met some people on the side of the road and later he came up to me and said two of those people have diabetes and they told me what an inspiration we are.  He just broke down because he realized this is why we’re doing this.  We’re doing this to spread a message of hope and inspiration.

Running Examiner:  In the long run what does Team Type 1-SANOFI hope to achieve?

Tom Kingery:  We’re glad we’re getting the word out that you can accomplish anything you want in spite of having diabetes.  This run is kind of changing the face of diabetes.  It has such a negative perception and it doesn’t have to.  Type 1 diabetes has no cure and you can get it for no reason.  It’s not a lazy man’s disease.  We just need to get more education and awareness out there.

World Diabetes Day is November 14, 2011.  Check here for more on Team Type 1-SANOFI's Run Across America.

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