Sarah Graduates!

 

This past weekend Sarah finally graduated as a fellow from the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.  This fellowship was by far the most rewarding and interesting part of her entire medical career, and has been her goal from the beginning.   They say that the spouse bears a large part of the burden when the other spouse becomes a doctor, but my part was relatively easy.  I am a little in awe of how hard Sarah worked and how tough it all was.  I think the standard medical school and residency formula is much like boot camp in the Marines, i.e, they try to completely break you down and then build you back up in their image.   It has been my observation that this system works well to produce arrogant doctors who would never dream of questioning the status quo. 

Even though Sarah knew on the first day of medical school that it wasn’t right for her, she stuck it out so that she could learn integrative medicine and have the clout and licensure to practice it where she wishes.

The famous Dr. Andrew Weil speaks at the graduation.

Almost time to walk the walk.

Waking the walk.

Sarah with her agave ‘healing stick’ which Dr. Weil presented her at the end of graduation.

Sarah relaxing after the ceremony.

In front of some prayer flags.

Dawn to Dusk

 

This past weekend, my wife Sarah Wallick entered the Dawn to Dusk mountain bike race at McDowell Mountain Park near Phoenix.  Although she has not been able to ride much the past  8 years due to being a medical student, a resident and finally a fellow, she has lately been able to put in a few more miles and this was the first race she has entered in about 12 years.  Despite this, she did great!  She won the women’s single speed race (there were only two competitors) and went about 110 miles.  That is 110 miles, on a single speed, off road, in about 9 hours and 45 minutes!  Oh, and I forgot to add that she was riding with a rigid fork and her finishing time would have put her way up in the mix if she had been racing against the guys!

Here she is at the start a little bit after 7:00 a.m.  It was chilly, about 35 degrees F.

Here Sarah is near sunset after riding around 110 miles–still looks fresh!

A powered paraglider swoops overhead as Sarah heads to the finish.

Paragliding Engineer Peak

These pictures below are of hiking up and flying off of Engineer last week.  Murray was kind enough to send me these copies.

As you can see, the hike was not too bad.  That was less than a couple of weeks ago, and Colorado just got pounded with a major winter storm so there will be no more easy walk-ups of the NE ridge of Engineer until next spring or summer.

The ‘crux’ section is dry, but the paraglider bag is heavy and bulky.

Striking a casual pose near the summit.

Almost ready to launch.  If there was no snow patch, it would be extremely tricky to launch.  The sharp edges and fixed rocks in this kind of talus eat right through paraglider lines.   If there is no snow, one might get a shot at launching, but it takes a little technique and practice and even then you have a shot at cutting your lines. 

  Sorting out the lines. 

Whoo Hoo!!!  Hwy 550 below.  I actually circled around and landed at the N base of Engineer and hiked down with Murray.  Purgatopry (Durango Mountain Resort) and Electra Lake in the background.The picture below is a couple of years old but shows the NE ridge in the winter.

Weekend in Durango

 

 

 Looking East from NE Ridge of Enginner

SATURDAY   

 This weekend found me in Durango looking for some fun in the mountains.  On Saturday, Brian Murray and I climbed Engineer Peak.  This was a break for me from the ridiculous heat of Tucson which is still in the mid 90’s, and Murray was taking a break from living in the Navajo Nation and teaching science in Tuba City.  We had to posthole through some knee-deep snow at a few points, but the hard parts were in the sun and clear of snow.  This was the third time I have hiked this peak with a paraglider on my back in the last few months.  The previous two times I was unable to fly, but the third time is truly a charm since I finally got to launch on a beautiful fall day.  Murray took some video and stills, and eventually I hope to post them here.

 

 Murray in His Natural Habitat

Murray Close to Summit

 

SUNDAY

On Sunday, I met Todd Brodbeck and Scott Frazier and we shuttled up to the Fall’s Creek launch above Durango.  It was another beautiful day and we all got pretty nice flights.  Scott tried to bridge over to Animas City Mountain, but came up a little short.  The weather was an unbelievable 75 degrees this weekend under incredibly deep, dark blue skies.  It must be fall’s last gasp as gusty winds and cooler temperatures are moving in.

 

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Todd Brodbeck Launching

 

Todd Brodbeck Looking for Lift

Found the Lift

Frazier Setting up

Frazier Just after Launch

 

    

My Feet

   

                          Brodbeck and Frazier Speccing Out While I Fold My Wing

10th Place at Hardrock 100

Yay, I had a great race this weekend and ended up in 10th place in the 2009 Hardrock 100.  33,000 feet of climbing and 33,000 feet of descending over a hundred miles.  While I am very happy about this, and happy that all the hard work paid off, to put it into perspective, the top runner, Karl Meltzer finished over 7 hours faster than I did.  So, even though 10th sounds pretty good (and I will take it since I beat many people who also trained hard) it doesn’t mean that I was anywhere close to first place.  However, the fact that top guy is so much faster than me (not to mention the top female runner as well, Diana Finkel) just means I still have a lot of room to improve!  Hopefully the next time I get into Hardrock I will be able to do even a little better.

Camping and Paragliding off of Kendall Mountain

 

Last night I hiked up Kendall Mountain in Silverton with my paraglider, a down jacket and a bivy bag.  After a not too uncomfortable night, I awoke and laid out my paraglider.  There was almost no wind even after waiting a couple of hours.  Fearful of the thermals that would (and did) pick up in the late morning, I opted for a forward launch and was airborne at about 9:30 a.m.  Since I haven’t flown in a while, I wasn’t seeking any bumpy air and thus had a relatively nice, smooth sled-ride descent.  I even managed to snap a few pictures on the way down.  All in all, the flight lasted about 20 minutes.

More Sammy at the HR100

Sammy’s Hardrock 100 Adventure

Sammy and I left Silverton on Monday evening and hiked 66 miles over the next 5 days, including the last 58 miles of the HR100 course.  Of course, it was incredibly beautiful, and I have posted many pictures of Sammy.  Most of the pictures are from the high points of various climbs, so I obviously missed some of the best pictures because I didn’t want to stop and dig out the camera.  And then there were some parts of the trail which were so ethereally beautiful that I didn’t trust the camera to capture their essence, thus assuring later disappintment when I looked at the pix.

Crestone Needle

I hiked up to Crestone Needle again yesterday.  It is a good slog for four miles up a jeep road before you get to the trailhead, and several 4×4’s zoomed by.  They are closing the road this fall, so that will probably greatly reduce the human footprint up high as many, many fewer people will head up to the Needle if they have to hike the first four miles.

Came across the specimen to the left which I have dubbed Vicodin Man.

Big Horn 100

I ran the Big Horn 100 last weekend and ended up getting 18th place.  I wanted to go a little bit faster, but I’ll take it!  I was fortunate enough to be passed by Diane Van Deren, a world-renowned endurance athlete, and she was very encouraging and carried me to the finish.  It was good to run with a seasoned pro to observe the steady pace and the very minimal aid station stops.  As always, the course was beautiful.  The lead runner, Karl Meltzer, got attacked by a moose and had to spring for the nearest tree a couple of times.  Even so, he still got some hoof marks on his hand and leg…didn’t stop him from notching another victory though!