Category Archives: Fitness

Reaching the (bloggers) summit

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Day 196 dawned early, after not enough sleep and before the sun was properly up. I thought pre-dawn starts were reserved for fishing and alpine climbing!

Wrong!

I headed over to ClimbTime Indy with the “other” Stephanie in my life who has been my media liaison since the outset of the Roche partnership. Not to be confused with my wife Stefanie who unfortunately could not attend this trip to Indianapolis…

Without going into an esoteric rant, reminiscent of an Oscar “thank you speech” I can tell you that there are SO many moving parts in the developments of the last several weeks (which are amazing, and are exponentially increasing the affect of Project 365) and without so much support I would be lost and babbling incoherently on a street corner somewhere. I can’t say enough to thank Stefanie for all her personal support and being my anchor through all this, and Stephanie for busting skulls and handling scheduling and logistics down to the smallest details.

So much for brevity.

We connected with Sherman Burdette from Fox 59 and we shot a climbing interview then headed back to speak at the bloggers summit.

I was so warmly received that it felt great to get up and share the story of Stef and myself taking on this project. I felt very appreciated and very understood as everyone at the summit has projects of their own to empower and better the diabetes community.

From the summit I went with Stephanie to Roche headquarters to meet the folks who have been putting their time and energy into creating this partnership and the website at www.stevesmountain.com. Again it was amazing to make more friends and to share the project in a personal way and really see and hear how it’s affecting folks.

Soon I will be back on the road and laboring in relative solitude again. Memories of the relationships built today will fuel me through whatever is hiding around the corner! This has been an amazing privilege.

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Detours.

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One of the biggest challenges that type 1 diabetes presents is the complete and total lack of predictability. I guess 13 years of that has been a good warm up for this project. Weather and mail have been my biggest adversaries thus far and each time it looks like we are ready to get back on the road and make our next big push, something is in the mail and it somehow it stays out in the ethers and we stay here…becalmed in San Diego, waiting for it to arrive. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just another example of life getting in the way of even your highest-ranked priorities.

So, here’s hoping that in the next few days things get sorted out and we can get out of here. The good news is that there are some new developments that may be forthcoming in the next few weeks that could make a significant impact on the project. I will, of course keep everyone posted in due time, as said developments are tied up in outside processes that are bigger than our operation.

Also appearing in the “good news” column is the fact that I have been able to catch up on editing video and I am proud to be able to share my latest offering in this blog. I know that in the big scheme of things, this delay in our plans is not the end of the world and we have to stay psyched, motivated and keep climbing.

Today we broke 20,000 feet (20,235 to be more exact) and yesterday I completed my first aid climb (using gear for upward progress, aka stink-bugging due to the gear intensive and frequently slow moving nature of this style of climbing) which is the first direct step towards climbing a big wall in Yosemite this spring, so that was another significant milestone. At the end of the day, we are still moving closer to our bigger objectives via the detour route. It’s harder to see at times but we just have to knuckle down and win the battles and that’s how we can win the war.

The need for struggle from Living Vertical on Vimeo.

This video has it’s own mini-story in it–during this trip to Bishop, I spent a bit of time thinking about the need for struggle and the importance of failing your way to success. It’s humbling–and it is tough knowing that you have a high likelihood of getting your ass handed to you both in terms of your climbing and in the eyes of people who are watching. I struggle a lot with what people think. I know it “doesn’t matter” but it sort of does too–I feel like I don’t climb hard enough to impact people who are climbers and I don’t focus enough on my diabetes to interest the diabetic community as a whole.

In life–and in climbing, you battle yourself. You learn to control yourself, your movements and your emotions by being honest with yourself. At the end of the day, everyone has to choose where to mark “”North” on their own compass. For me, being true to my vision and honest is my guiding principal and I am willing to accept the fact that what comes of this project will be powerfully effective for some and meaningless for others. I can’t try and make people happy, just be thankful for the people who get it and keep being true to myself.

In this video, I had the opportunity to face my doubts about my climbing and the challenges of sharing this project with other people. It may sound silly, but when something is this personal, it cuts both ways. The impact of it can be much more powerful, but you tend to feel a lot more defensive or protective of it.

So I am learning to let go. Letting go can help you hold on tighter, if you can believe that. Once I let go, I sent my hardest yet, v4/5.12 (nothing to write home about but for me it’s significant because this is as strong as I have ever been) and I had the privilege of sharing some of my experience of living with diabetes with some friends that we made out amongst the boulders.

 

Day 2

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Climbed: Approach 1000′, The Tower 5.7 55′x2 1110 ft

Total 2215′

Injected: AM Lantus 6u Humalog 4u PM Humlog 4u Lantus 5u

Carbs: AM 55g Snacks 2x 15(halfs of a Builder Bar) PM 50g snack 10g= 145g

Sugar is trending slightly low despite a significant increase in Carbohydrate intake and decreasing insulin. No major dietary tweaks, just oatmeal, Clifbars, saltines and Nori. 

Today was a good day. Sun, warm rock, relative solitude…with the notable exception of some local yahoos who were scrambling around on the cliffs above us and were hooting and hollering about how “they put metal thingies in the rock so climbers can tie their ropes up”. Got to charge up the little GoPro camera with the solar rig which was nice after being unable to put on enough layers to keep the cold out yesterday!

I have been getting some sage advice from some of my mentors on how to survive this process–which is helpful…sometimes when I really sit back and think about what I have ahead of me I begin to freak out. When we used to do these types of climbing trips our motto was “climb until the money runs out or it stops being fun”. Now that is a little bit different. We can’t step off this ride when it starts spinning too fast.

I am working on finding the fun in what we are doing–shifting perspective. The similarities between climbing and diabetes are remarkable. Climbing is all about  controlling yourself. So is diabetes. Being forced to do something that you SHOULD do…shouldn’t be so bad right? Looking at the big picture is always going to be overwhelming…and sometimes, yeah you need to step back, take it all in and scream $@*& at the top of your lungs.

But winning the battle over this condition lies in the ability to prioritize day to day tasks. This climbing challenge will succeed or fail based on that same merit. I challenge everyone to consider the direction and the value of your days–because like it or not, those days are going by and either you’re getting better at something, getting stronger and more experienced…or you’re not.

Sittin’ on the dock of the bay (testing out a sweet new camera!)

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We have a couple days left in North Carolina–which is bittersweet. We are superpsyched to be days away from heading west together for the first time in over a year. On the other hand we have gotten a rare opportunity to see my family for an extended period, specifically my sisters family. My sister has been deployed in Afghanistan for the last six months or so and the holidays are a tough time for her kids–so it has been a special opportunity for us to be there for them and just hang out and play poker and Mario Kart with them!

We are trying to get some “work” done but we are also trying not to be glued to our computer since we are going to have to be able to balance our time online, sharing our adventure vs time out climbing having said adventure! We are also a day away from having our roof rack in place which will add a LOT of room to the Dragon Wagon which is amazing, and we also have a trailer in the works too, so there are some big items “in the hopper”.

Today Stef went out for a “girls day” with my nieces and I took the boys out fishing–and got to shoot some–and I am slowly learning the moves with that camera.

So yeah…that’s the latest and greatest from pre-project 365! Coming soon, updated Dragon Wagon graphic photos, cargo carrier updates and etc!

“Diaversary”? What?

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Some people with diabetes know (and publicly recognize) their date of diagnosis–affectionately called a “diaversary”. I had completely forgotten the month I was diagnosed, let alone the day, but after some digging and questioning I have established my own date of original diagnosis as January 16th 1999. Why should anyone care?

Great question! Personally I don’t have any use for another date to remember since I have a hard enough time managing a couple of birthdays and a wedding anniversary–but we have decided to begin Project 365 on January 16th 2012, on my 13th “diaversary”. 365 days later, upon successful completion of our project, I will celebrate!

In less than a week we will be headed for California–as you may know we are currently in New York. Sure, I am a bit apprehensive about the whole looming process we are facing and all of the uncertainty and danger and discomfort and legwork and filming and writing and promoting and editing and blogging and…I just can’t wait to be in the beautiful climate of San Diego. That is where we will begin climbing and that will be our “hub” for the first several months, so if you are in So Cal, be sure to check us out and get in touch!

I am a big believer in progression in the process of learning. What better place to start this monumental challenge than climbing where the weather is fine, the climbs are short and the grocery stores are close by! Better yet, Joshua Tree National Park is striking distance away and we will be spending a lot of time climbing there. Each climbing area is different from the next. Each has different challenges and different rewards so expect to see wildly varying terrain over the course of this adventure.

Gonna get some warm California sun!

Every day with our good friend diabetes, we face different challenges and different rewards–bottom line is that we have to trust our skill set. Know that we can handle whatever life throws at us with some grit and determination.