Collinsville runner fights type 1 diabetes, conquers New York City Marathon
As Justin Scott crossed the finish line of his 10th marathon — with a crowd cheering and his family waiting on the other side — he was overcome with emotion.
He called the moment the “experience of a lifetime.”
The 45-year-old Collinsville native completed the 26.2-mile race through the five boroughs of New York City in 3 hours, 55 minutes and 37 seconds, a new personal record. It’s a performance he says helped bring awareness to others living with type 1 diabetes, which he’s battled since he was 14 years old.
Scott finished the marathon as one of a team of 50 runners on a team assembled by Beyond Type 1, a nonprofit organization that provides support for individuals affected by type 1 diabetes and an official charity partner for this year’s TCS New York City Marathon.
It partnered with Dexcom to provide the team members with such non-traditional training equipment as continuous glucose monitors and with Tandem Diabetes Care to make insulin pumps available.
“The toughest thing with the training is maintaining blood sugars while running, while doing cross training,” Scott said.
Team members are still working to reach their fund raising goal of $250,000, all of which will go toward platforms, programs, and grants that make a direct and immediate impact in the lives of people living with diabetes, said Beyond Type 1 Director of Programs Jordan Jendricks.
Those interested in donating can to so online by going to Scott’s donation page here.
Jendricks said the purpose of the marathon is to showcase how the runners live beyond their diagnoses and support crucial efforts and programs for others affected by this condition. The individuals also raise awareness and funds for Type 1 diabetes as ambassadors for Beyond Type 1.
Managing diabetes
Scott was 14 years old when he was diagnosed with diabetes.
“It was in August of 1991,” he recalled.
The diagnosis was not unfamiliar to him — his younger sister was diagnosed with diabetes at 3 years old.
“I’’ll be honest with you it was a challenge,” he said. “I’ll say it was a challenge for majority of my lifetime, never feeling super secure without having my diabetic supplies, some type of food or juice, or something with me to treat my low blood sugar.”
The disease became less challenging for Scott when he began using Dexcom’s blood glucose monitoring system. The product is a self-monitoring system that helps keep track of blood glucose levels. Scott says he’s had the product for a year now and it gives him a piece of mind. Prior to this, he would use the finger-prick method.
“I have it linked to my phone and watch so at anytime I can take a glance down to make sure my blood sugar levels are good. When I would do finger-pricks, it would require me top what I was doing and carry additional supplies.”
In addition to the blood glucose monitoring system, Scott says becoming a vegetarian has made it easier to manage his diabetes while participating in marathons.
It’s been two years since he began practicing vegetarianism and he already notices a huge improvement in recovery time.
“I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, no complex carbs and animal protein anymore. When I first started running I would be sore for days, literally days after a marathon, but now I’m able ti do back to back long runs day after day after day,” he said.
Scott considers himself a “pretty avid runner” but preparing for the TCS New York City Marathon was a challenge for him. He struggled with keeping his fitness and health levels in order.
He says it took him about 5 to 6 days a week of training, 3 or 4 days of running, and 2 to 3 days a week of cross-training for strength to prepare for the marathon.
“That is just the beginning of it because my personal opinion is that marathon running is much mental strength as it is physical strength, to be able to keep the body going for an excess of four hours is definitely a difficult thing to do,” Scott said.
Training for the NYC Marathon
Each year, Beyond Type 1 opens applications months prior to the TCS New York City Marathon.
“Selecting 50 individuals to make up the marathon is not an easy task,” Jendricks said.
“Runners of all experience levels living with Type 1 diabetes are encouraged to apply by submitting a video and answering questions about why they want to participate and what drives them to advocate for others affected by this condition.”
The Beyond Type 1 team assembles the marathon team by running applicants through a selection process, then works with them on training, fund raising, and other ways to bring awareness to the organization.
Those who are chosen are notified that they will head to New York City to run on behalf of those everywhere affected by diabetes.
Scott has a blog that details how he trains, what he does daily, and the goals he has achieved. The blog gained attention from the Beyond Type 1 team, which notified Scott of his selection six weeks prior to the marathon.
“We invited Justin to be a member of this year’s Beyond Type Run team because he’s an incredible advocate for Type 1 diabetes and proof that people with diabetes can do anything,” Jendricks said. “As an experienced marathoner, Justin has served as a source of motivation, guidance and insight to everyone involved.”
Scott expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Beyond Type 1 and the Dexcom group for noticing his efforts.
“It feels amazing to be a part of something so special,” he said. “I know there are millions of individuals that would have stepped up to participate in this event so I’m just very proud and amazed that all of my hard work was noticed.”
‘It was just amazing’
Scott says what he learned from his experience is that it’s always good to challenge yourself. His biggest gain, he said, was experiencing what it was like to train as part of a team.
“It makes me feel more responsible to push harder than what I normally would,” he said. “I’ve never had a team before when doing a long race like this so this time I had a team of people that were there to support me.”
When asked if he would participate in the TCS New York City Marathon, he replied “absolutely.”
“It was just amazing,” he said. “it’s very hard to express in words. ... It was fantastic.”
The TCS New York City Marathon is one of the six world marathon majors, which inlcludes races which takes place in Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin and Chicago.
Scott’s goal is to complete the other five marathons by the time he is 50 years old.
He says one a year would be fantastic.
This story was originally published November 13, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
