Run to the Stars, A Journey for the Extreme Athlete

Imagine:
The night is an eerie quiet, when the only sound you hear is coming from the snow that crunches under your feet, and the melodic swoosh of the sled you drag behind.

The thoughts in your head are all you have to keep you company, as the terrain unfolds before you. You are disciplined to focus on the moment... pushing away thoughts of the miles you’ve come, and the miles yet to go.

You know -- other than a faint "blip" on a monitor, someplace far away -- there is little evidence you exist. Sometimes, when the fatigue weighs heavy, your mind takes you places you’re not, seemingly, leaving no one to acknowledge your presence.

In these vast regions of the Yukon, your GPS may transmit your progress, but the horizon looks the same as the day before... and the day before that. You are in the midst of 430 miles of the "coldest and toughest ultra-endurance race in the world", dragging a 50-pound sled, braving temperatures to -40, possessing a superhuman drive to put one foot in front of the other, over, and over, and over again... and you only have 13 days to get there.

You don’t know it yet, but just 40 miles from the finish, you will fall through some ice and have to be rescued by a fellow competitor. With no dry clothes to change into, and the clothes you wear heavy with water and ice, hypothermia will rapidly set in. However, instead of quitting, you will run to stay warm... after all, you will only have 40 more miles.

What’s 40 miles, anyway?... Heck, that’s not even two back-to-back marathons. Yeah, 40 miles, on foot, laden with ice, towing a sled... sounds like fun!

If this sounds like your kind of fun, you are in rare company. Only a handful of the world’s most elite athletes would dare attempt such an event. If your name is Diane Van Deren, you would be just such an athlete.

Diane is the sister of our friend Kathy, who is an extreme endurance athlete in her own right. Were it not for my knowing Kathy, I fear I would not have a chance to learn about the extraordinary exploits of Diane. There aren’t a lot of bleachers or spectator points defined along the 430 miles of Yukon territory, so their efforts go largely unnoticed. Because of the remote nature of these types of races, and the solitude mindset of the participants, they might not care about sharing the spotlights with Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, or Kobe Bryant. However, I believe the stark athleticism and skill these athletes possess deserve far more recognition than they receive.

As a member of The North Face Endurance Team, Diane has been so consistent in her accomplishments, she attracted the attention of scientists and doctors at the Mayo Clinic, who are interested in studying the physiology that makes her unique. In other words, what makes people like her superhuman?

The medical science community has taken such an interest that -- as I write this -- Diane is wired with several monitoring devices, in the Vacas Valley at the base of Mount Aconcagua (ah-con-ca-gwa), Argentina. Mt. Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas, located in the Andes range, rising to 22,841 feet. Base camp for this challenge is at 14,000 feet. From here, the team of scientists from the Mayo Clinic will monitor Diane’s physical changes at extreme altitudes, during her assent.

Okay, so let’s see a show of hands for everyone who understood what they just read...

Yeah, I had to read it a second time, myself... And I wrote it!

What you read was:

* Diane is starting at 14,000 feet at base camp.
(I get winded when I go from Scottsdale, in the desert, up to Flagstaff at 9,000 feet. I think I would have an aneurism at 14,000.)
* She is going to run to the summit at 22,841 feet.
(Just to help put that altitude in perspective, helicopters won’t fly that high. If you get into trouble at that altitude, no one’s coming to get you. The U.S. Air Force flies a big, goofy looking, twin rotor Chinook that can operate at about 19,000 feet, and land -- or more importantly, take off -- at about 18,000. However, unless you can get back to base camp, air travel offers limited options.)
* The distance between base camp, to the summit, and back, is 100 miles.
(That is me running from my front door to Flagstaff, and about 10 miles past.)

Knowing this information should do one of two things: it will either motivate you to get up from your desk right now, and go get some exercise... or it will make you tired thinking about it, and you will go take a nap.

If you would like to follow Diane’s progress and support her efforts, watch for the updated blog entries at: http://advancingthescience.mayo.edu/ Please wish her and her support crew safety and luck.

Perhaps, when all the data is compiled that the scientists gather from this effort, they will invent a nasal spray or underarm balm that will give people like me superhuman capabilities... but, until then, I will find satisfaction in admiring Diane’s achievements.

By the way, remember the part of the story when you fell through the ice 40 miles from the end of your race? You finished 4th overall.

Okay, so *you* didn't finish... Diane did! She was the first woman to ever complete the 430 mile event. She did it in 10 days, 17 hours. Fortunately, not all of it wet.

There is an old Chinese proverb that says: A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.

One day, if I ever have a chance to meet Diane, I will ask if she can confirm that for me.

-Bill Evans

PS: Diane has no affiliation with Applied Health Solutions... other than the obvious influence of instigating our respect and admiration for the abilities of her and her sister, Kathy, and others like them. We tip our hats...

If you would like to learn more about Ms. Van Deren, and the other endurance athletes of The North Face company, visit their website at:
http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-brand/diane-van-deren.html#/brand/?id=1&item=0/hopup/?showme=1

Article Source: http://www.diyarticlelibrary.com

Bill Evans is President of Applied Health Solutions, Inc. www.appliedhealth.com If you would like to read this full article online, please visit: www.appliedhealth.com/diane-van-deren.html

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