The Presidents Column
Although the passing of the
spring equinox did not bring promise of blue skies and warm temperatures, many
a hearty soul continued to train with a hope of better things to come. Well, now that May is here, I think the cool,
wet conditions are behind us and we are, indeed, in store for better
weather.
March and April witnessed a
number of very successful events. The
Goode What Goes Down Must Come Up on March 4 was great fun, according to Coach
Loy. Congratulations to Jerome and his
staff of volunteers for another successful event. Of course, Wendy Golden was extremely active in her
activities. She organized a Leukemia
Society 5K in conjunction with the April 2 Lynchburg Extreme Festival. And she hosted the April 15 Dash for
Cash. Again, congratulations to Wendy
for a job well done and thank you to all LRR members who supported Wendy’s
efforts either through participating or volunteering. For the more extreme individual, Odyssey Adventure Racing hosted
their first year 2000 season event March 11 and 12 in Big Island. The conditions for this Odyssey One Day
Adventure Race truly made it extreme – at times the winds were 40 mph with snow
up on Apple Orchard Mountain. Finally,
Dr. George Wortley presented an extremely interesting talk on running injuries
at the April meeting. For those who did
not attend, maybe we will be able to get George to provide a repeat performance
in the fall.
The summer months are very
active for the club and I encourage all members to get out and enjoy the
fun. The Forest 5K has been organized
again this year by Jerome Loy for May 20.
Leslie McPhatter will host the CVKA 10 K on the Memorial Day weekend. The Lynchburg Track series, organized by
Bret Bowman, begins on May 30. Again,
for those who are interested in the extreme, Odyssey Adventure Racing will host
their four day Mega Dose Adventure Race beginning on May 25. I understand that LRR club member David
Horton has a local team entered. Good
luck Dave!
See you on May 9 at Monte
Carlo’s.
Come along and bring a
friend for an evening of shared stories, experience and wisdom with other
runners.
Walter
Rawle
President
1999 LRR OFFICERS
President Walter Rawle
Vice President Darrell Wargo
Secretary Nancy Saunders
Treasurer Wendy Golden
Membership Mary Ann Craven
Equipment Larry Haak
Newsletter Vic Galan
LRR
HOTLINE 582-8000
For information on club
activities, area races, etc., call the Lynchburg Roadrunners Hotline.
LRR
WEB ADDRESS
http://FACULTY.randolphcollege.edu/PSHELDON/RUNCLUB/
The Milepost is provided on
the Web through the generosity of professor Peter Sheldon as a community
service of Randolph-Macon Womens College.
Next
LRR Club Meeting
Tuesday,
9 May, 2000
at
the Monte Carlo Restaurant
Old
Forest Road
6:30
Diner
7:00
Meeting
The program for the May
meeting will be a presentation on nutrition with Lesley McPhatter as guest
speaker.
The June meeting will be
held at the Monte Carlo Restaurant on Tuesday 13 June 2000. The program for the June meeting will be a
presentation on self massage as it relates to running with Jim McFarlane,
proprietor of Muscle Therapy, as guest speaker.
MEETING MINUTES
The March meeting of the Lynchburg Roadrunners was held on
Tuesday, March 14, 2000, at Monte Carlo Restaurant with dinner orders taken at
6:30 PM. The business meeting followed
at 7:00 PM with Walter Rawle presiding over the meeting.
Treasurer's Report - $1,192 (as of 2/16/00)
The scheduled speaker for
the evening, Dr. George Wortley, was not available and has been rescheduled for
the April meeting. It was reported that
Jerome Loy held a successful race on March 4, 2000. Eighty runners participated in the "Goode What Goes Down,
Must Come Up Four Miler" with thirty finishing within one minute (+/-) of
their predicted time.
A suggested donation of $50
will be given to the Oakland United Methodist Church for providing the site for
the Goode race (voted and passed).
It was reported that David
Horton held a successful Holiday Lake 50K++.
One-hundred and two runners finished the race. Many Roadrunner members participated in the event.
Walter Rawle completed the
Seal Adventure Run on March 4, 2000. He
finished second in his age group.
Walter also reported on the outcome of the Odyssey Adventure Race.
Bret Boman has gotten the
chromomax repaired, but more paper needs to be ordered for it.
Mary Ann Craven is
producing a children's race calendar that will feature youth running events.
The members voted to reimburse
Pat Draney in the amount of $200 for t-shirts that he ordered for the club last
year.
The April meeting of the Lynchburg Roadrunners was held on
Tuesday, April 11, 2000, at Monte Carlo Restaurant with dinner orders taken at
6:30 PM. The business meeting followed
at 7:00 PM with Walter Rawle presiding over the meeting.
Nineteen people attended
the meeting.
Treasurer's Report - $499.57
It was reported that Reed
Finley made a contribution of $150 to the Lynchburg Roadrunners for the club's help
with the VES Arctic 10K.
It was reported that Wendy
Golden held a successful "Spring Fling 5K & 1-Mile Children's Fun
Run" at the Lynchburg Extreme Festival on April 2nd.
Lesley McPhatter is
requesting help from volunteers for the "Memorial Day 10K for Central
Virginia Kidney Association" on May 29, 2000.
A very interesting and
educational presentation on "Running Injuries" was made by Dr. George
Wortley. Topics that were covered
included overuse injuries, the kinetic chain concept, intrinsic causes,
extrinsic causes,
training errors, principle
of transition, forefoot, heel pain, lower leg pain, knee pain and injury
prevention. A question-answer session
followed.
UPCOMING RACES
May 6, Izaak Walton
Park Triathlon, 400 meter swim, 10 mi. bike, 3 mile run. 8am start.
$40 before May 1. For info:
www.lynchburg.net/latc
Lynchburg Triathlon Club.
Applications are available at Bikes Unlimited, CMT Sports, and the YMCA.
May 6, Farmville SCH Heart of
Virginia 10K,
8:30 am, Info: Sandy
Cook (804)315-2490.
May 6, Virginia
Western Community College - 5K,
For info: Gary Adkins (540) 857-7298.
May 13, Special Olympics Torch Run 5K,
For info: Star City
Striders
May 18, Percival’s
Island 3 Mile Run, 5pm Downtown Lynchburg, For
info: call Gary Taylor (804)845-5338 or on the Web at www.sportscapital.org
May 20, Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon,
1K Swim, 20K Bike, 5K
Run. For info: Virginia Amateur Sports, (540)343-0987.
May 20, Jefferson
Forest High School - Forest 5K, Info: Jerome Loy (804) 586-5193, (804)793-3409.
May 29, Downtown
Lynchburg - Memorial Day 10K for Central
Virginia Kidney Association. 8am.
For info: Lesley McPhatter
(804) 384-9009 (h), (804) 947-5981 ext. 116 (w),
e-mail:
lmcphatter@lynchburgnephrology.com
May 30,
Lynchburg College Track -
Summer Track Series. Continues every Tuesday through June 27. For
info: Bret Boman (804) 385-8107 (h)
June 3, AEP Festival Run 5K and 10K,
8am. For info: Jim Lovell (540)985-2429, or http://striders.roanoke.edu
June 15, Percival
Island 3 Mile Run, 5pm Downtown Lynchburg, For
info: call Gary Taylor (804)845-5338 or on the Web at www.sportscapital.org
August 19,
Pakersburg, West Virginia 1/2 Marathon
Sept. 23, Lynchburg Virginia 10-miler & 4 mile Run
www.sportscapital.org/10miler.
Nov. 18, Roanoke Star City 1/2 Marathon , Info: (540)966-RUNN.
Nov. 18, Richmond Marathon, $35 through Sept. 16, Info: (804)673-RACE or
www.richmondmarathon.org
NEWS BITS
Sports Hall of Fame
On Thursday, April 6,
2000 Steve Bozeman was inducted into the Sports Capital Hall of Fame. Steve was inducted for his achievments as a
long distance endurance athlete, which includes a world record 11 Double Ironman
(4.2 mi. swim, 224 mi. bike, 52 mi. run) Triathlons. He has also completed 152 marathons and 52 ultramarathons (50+
miles). Congratulations Steve.
Lucky Duct
Problems with plantar
warts? Here’s what to try next before
you consider costly remedies such as surgery, burning, or freezing them
off. Apply two small pieces of duct
tape, one layered over the other, to the wart area. Remove the tape after a week.
According to Runner’s World advisor, Rick Braver, D.P.M., the tape
solution may work by softening the wart, which breaks down the cell walls of
the wart virus.
RACE RESULTS
Bozeman Trails
The yield from seven weeks
of racing on the Bozeman Trails looks pretty impressive.
Feb. 19 Myrtle Beach Marathon - Steve and Debbie - 3:48:56
March 18 Virginia Beach Marathon- Steve and Debbie-
3:51:45, Debbie 6th 45-49.
April 2 Lynchburg Duathlon 1.5 run,14 mile bike,1.5 run- Debbie- First woman overall 1:09:52. ( Steve directed this event so he couldn't
participate)
April 8 Lejeune Marathon- Steve and Debbie- 3:59:44 Debbie First 45-49
Lynchburg area athletes
also had a great March/April early Spring season.
March 18, Virginia
Beach, Marathon & 8K
It was the usual windy but
cool (not cold) day at Viginia Beach this year. Good marathon weather, except for the wind.
Marathon Results
Age Grp Overall Name
Time
17 71 MATTHEW
RIPLEY 3:00:28
25 107 GRATTAN
GARBEE 3:07:51
2 179 TERRI
RIPLEY 3:18:37
7 306 HORACE
ELLIS 3:31:23
8 315 LISA
HANNELL 3:32:00
20 330 JIM
WEIMER 3:33:00
84 484 ANDREW WILDS 3:45:12
6 588 DEBBIE
BOZEMAN 3:51:45
44 589 STEVE BOZEMAN 3:51:45
98 623 DARRELL
BOSIGER 3:54:32
23 627 DAN
HEARN 3:54:50
105 654 TIM
COURVILLE 3:56:26
88 655 GEORGE COOK 3:56:27
106 656 ROBERT
COOK 3:56:27
24 743 TERRY
GROW 4:02:48
61 808 RICHARD
STONE 4:08:44
130 866 CLINTON
CLAPP 4:13:33
136 891 JOHN COOK 4:15:31
48 942 CHRISTY
HOWARD 4:20:34
49 943 DONNA
LEE 4:20:34
38 972 KRISTEN COOK 4:22:29
46 1123 WENDY
GOLDEN 4:35:08
113 1247 WILLIAM
COLEMAN 4:52:09
180 1279 MARK
SLOMAN 4:56:00
183 1292 JOHN
BARNARD 4:57:55
17 1326 JEAN
STONE 5:04:24
88 1327 ROBERT
BROOKS 5:04:24
123 1385 LARRY
SCOTT 5:21:22
99 1460 WENDY
WILLIAMSON 6:01:01
8K Results
Age Grp Overall Name
Time
10 127 RONNIE
WRIGHT 35:54
21 429 KELLIE
CRAWFORD 39:18
22 430 LYNNE
HART 39:18
29 341 TOMMY
CRAVEN 42:31
34 382 PAUL
STARKE 43:53
36 390 ROGER
AKERS 44:09
15 412 JOANN
LUCY 45:00
113 440 JAY
GARBLE 45:51
20 457 MARY
ANN CRAVEN 46:21
18 502 JOHN
BILLINGSLEA 47:43
52 545 LELAND
GAMMON 49:21
39 635 CONNIE
JALL 55:09
40 636 PEGGY
GAMMON 55:09
April 8-9 Sixth Annual
Umstead Hundred Mile Run
PETER WORFORD RUNS 100
MILES
in the outstanding time of
23 hours and 9 minutes. He finished 15th among 54 finishers.
Dr. Bernie Davis, also of
Lynchburg and a veteran of four 100-miler completions for ten starts,
accompanied Mr. Worford from mile 61 through mile 90 of this, his first hundred
mile run.
Competing in the 50-mile
race at Umstead, REBEKAH TRITTIPOE finished 3rd Female in 9:08:30. She was 13th among 93 finishers.
April 15, Forest, Leukemia Society “Dash For Cash” 5K Congratulations
to Wendy Golden and the following LLRC members who participated in this worthy
cause.
Darrell Wargo 17:53
Peter Worford 19:27
Robert Cook 20:05
Donna Lee 22:44
Terry Grow 24:08
Alan Jones 26:28
Tommy Craven 27:47
Becky Jones 29:10
MaryAnn Craven 29:52
April 17, Boston
Marathon
A strong contingent from
the Lynchburg area braved headwinds of 7-12 mph anf temperatures in the upper
forties throughout the race to finish strong despite the throngs of runners and
admirers.
Stephen Shepard 2:56:58,
Michael McPhatter
2:58:08,
Andrew Wilds 3:32:56,
Craig Miller 3:36:34,
Jim Weimer 3:39:12,
Lisa Hannell 3:39:15,
Michael Paling 3:42:42,
Lesley McPhatter 3:45:07,
Bernie Davis 3:53:40,
Charles Rolf 3:55:32,
Sue Jones 3:55:52.
DISCOUNTS
The following businesses
offer discounts on select items for
your patronage. Please ask which items
are discounted when you stop by and see the good folks at:
Bikes Unlimited - 10% on select items.
Dr. Frank Villa - 10% on all eye glasses and exams. (Does not include disposable contacts)
Outdoor Trails - 10% on select items.
CMT Sporting Goods - 10% on all running related apparel and shoes.
Lynchburg Orthopaedic
Lab
10% on Orthotics
1919 Thomson Dr.
(804) 846-1803
The Coach Says:
The winner says,
"It may be difficult,
but it's possible."
The non-winner says,
"It may be possible,
but it's too difficult."
Compassion
Climb 2000
By
Dr. Frank Villa
The knock on the door of
Kibo Hut came at 11:30 PM Nairobi time.
We had spent the previous three days in
slow steady climb from Kilimanjaro Park entrance at 6,400 feet above sea
level. Poli poli, climb slowly, was the
goal each day. Acclimatization by
limiting elevation gain to 3,000 vertical feet per day has been shown to lessen
the risk of altitude sickness. Years
earlier, Sir Edmund Hillary had attempted to climb to Mt. Kilimanjaro’s summit
in one day, only to be carried down by his porters after suffering from the
debilitating effects of acute mountain sickness. In the process of acclimatization the twenty climbers who
comprised Compassion Climb 2000, had traversed tropical rain forest, moorlands,
and eventually barren rock desert that lead to Kibo Hut. The temperature had dropped approximately
three and a half degrees per thousand feet gained. With a light snow falling and the temperature hovering around the
high twenties the Compassion Climbers set out in the early hours of leap day
Feb.29, 2000 to summit mount Kilimanjaro at 19,340 feet, the roof of Africa.
Compassion Climb 2000 is
the first in what is hoped to be an annual fund raising event on each of the
seven continents to benefit the disadvantaged of tha continent. Pledges were solicited by each of the
climbers, either as a lump sum or per vertical foot of elevation gained above
sea level on the climb. This year’s
funds are to benefit a new eye hospital to be established in Burkina Faso, West
Africa. Because thi years’ climbers
included Dr. Douglas Villella, my optometry school roommate, current president
of VOSH/PA (Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity) and instigator for my
participation in the climb, funds will also be sent to The Vincent Pescatore
Eye Clinic in the Peten, Guatemala. Doug has worked tirelessly for the last
five years establishing a permanent eye facility in this isolated jungle region
of Guatemala. I had been on the first
mission trip to establish this clinic five years earlier. Guatemalan peasants had hiked days to
patiently wait in line, five hundred at a time, to have their eyes examined.
Largely through his efforts a permanent eye clinic with in country doctors,
versus just intermittent mission clinics has been established.
On the previous day’s climb
from Horombo Hut at 12,340 feet to Kibo Hut at 15,40 feet, we had seen the
changing faces of Kilimanjaro. In an
area known as the saddle, located between Mawenzi Peak (16,000 feet) and
Kilimanjaro, a sudden hale squall had dampened and chilled our pleasant trek up
the mountain. The storm that broke with a horizontal velocity that left the
leeward side of the boulders dry forced a small group of hikers to form a
platoon to block the force of the storm. The sudden force of the storm,
combined with our desire to be out of the pelting hale, created a group
hallucination, where several rock monoliths had the desired appearance of the A
framed huts that had been our lodging the previous two nights. As the trail rounded a curve and started to
elevate out of the saddle between the two mountain peaks, the storm ended. So did that days trek, because just ahead
lay Kibo Hut.
While Mandara Hut and
Horombo Hut had been cramped, basic but aesthetically pleasant respites from
the day’s hiking, Kibo Hut consisted of three weather beaten stone buildings
befitting the stark rocky dessert at the 15, 400 feet elevation. Another added bonus of this elevation was
that this was a dry camp. Where the previous huts had been situated near
glacial streams. For the eighteen
climbers left it would be a very brief stay.
We would basically repack, eat, repack, attempt to get four hours sleep,
and then venture out to summit one of the tallest freestanding mountains in the
world. We had lost two climbers at
Horombo Hut one day earlier. One due to
general physical conditioning, or lack of it.
The other to what we all feared, altitude sickness. As slowly as we had hiked the lack of oxygen
still produced a night-long onslaught of headache, nausea and vomiting that
only retreat down the mountain would cure.
With headlamp blazing and
wearing almost every article of clothing that I brought to Africa, we started
the final stage of our quest. Through
conversations with successful summitor’s of the mountain, we had learned that
hydration was one of the keys to success.
Many of our successors had reported that their water supply froze in the
pre-dawn hours. With that in mind, I
had secured my hydro pack containing a liter and a half of water under two
layers of coats. Wrapped in my backpack
was an additional liter and a half of water.
Sufficient store for most days’ adventures and about a liter more than I
had drunk on the previous days. Or so I
thought. About five hundred vertical
feet, probably no more than an hour into the climb, I discovered that the water
bottle that I had stored in the backpack had ruptured. I was still carrying a liter and a half of
water in my backpack, unfortunately it was frozen to my anorak and other goods
packed in there. Being lead by our lead
guide, Jamaica, we were poling up narrow scree switchbacks at a break neck half
a footstep pace. Even with this slow
plodding breathing was laborious. I had
learned on the previous days hiking to expand my chest as much as possible, to
draw in the largest volume of air as possible.
Combined with this I concentrated on breathing through my nose instead
of my mouth to minimize water loss.
About an hour and a half into the climb, the rear guard guides, who felt
that they required an even slower pace up the ever steepening slope, culled
three or four of the group out. The majority of this group would fail to
summit, being exhausted by sunrise.
They would end their quest a frustrated few hundred feet from the crater
rim.
At about 4:30 or 5:00 AM
the bakers dozen of the climbers, who comprised the core group, were instructed
to take another five-minute break. To
my surprise, when I went to drink from my hydro pack, I noticed that the
mouthpiece was missing. How long and
how much water I might have lost was unknown. Rather than chance spilling as I
hiked, I decided to drink what was left in the pack as quickly as possible.
Thus, by 5:30, with hours of climbing left, I was out of water. We had
traversed the majority of the scree slope and were now, unknown to us in the
dark, just several hundred feet below Gillman’s Point and the rim of the
crater. This area consisted of more
boulder climbing than the meandering switchbacks that were hiked earlier in the
evening. We had hiked through a brief
fog and light snowfall belt emerging to see the great expanse of the Milky
Way. Lucky Patton, one of the VOSH
group from Erie, PA. that I had been hiking with for the last several days,
pointed to the Southern Cross and the readily recognizable Big Dipper. The temperature reached the nightly low of
zero degrees Fahrenheit. This was a
good night temperature wise on Kilimanjaro.
Just as the headlamps were
no longer needed, the first pink rays of sunlight crested above the blanket of
clouds below, we reached Gillman’s Point (18, 600 feet). For the first time in hours we were able to
see where we were going and where we had been.
Below lay the floor of the volcanic crater. Crowning the rim of the crater were great blocks of ice. Rather than being tapered into the mountain,
as I had imagined the glaciers would be, they shot straight up with fifty to
one hundred foot vertical abutments.
After a multitude of photographs, Jamaica, our head guide looked at me
and said “ you’re strong, lets go to Uhuru.”
From Gillman’s Point to
Uhuru Peak didn’t look like more than one mile maybe two as the crow flies.
There is a 600 feet vertical elevation gain. I asked Jamaica how long it would
take us to traverse this now visible distance.
He responded a surprising two hours up, thirty minutes back. Up hill is still poli poli. The rim walk was
like a highlight film in slow motion.
Blazing early morning equatorial sun.
Bright 19,000-foot blue sky.
Clouds three thousand feet below. Glaciers projected skyward to the
right and left. Since it had been several hours since we had our midnight
snack, many of the group were starting to bonk. Low energy levels and high altitude had quite a few of the
climbers wobbling as they climbed toward the summit, myself included. I had brought what I thought was a
reasonable supply of Gu. Shared with
two of the missionaries, who looked to be in even worse condition, the supply
quickly disappeared. Out of food and water at 19,000 feet all before 9:00
AM.
The worry over supplies
disappeared instantly with the elation of reaching the signpost announcing
Uhuru Peak, the roof of Africa 19,340 feet above sea level. All possible permutations of photographs
were taken, including a large group photo on virtually everyone’s cameras by
the expert photographer Jamaica. This
occupied a rather large block of time. By the time we had satiated our
photographic desires, Jamaica looked like he was mildly worried about our
extended stay at the summit. I managed
to get some Gatorade from Dick Pyle, a chronologically fifty-year-old
businessman from Massachusetts. Dick,
who in a Dick Clark like pattern appeared to be in his early forties, kindly
offered some of the much-needed fluids.
I noticed that his supply was almost gone. I drank sparingly. On the
way back to Gillman’s Point I was surprised to see Jerry, a sixty one year old
missionary from Kenya and two other
missionaries plodding toward the summit. They looked haggard, but I supposed that we did too at that point
of our trek.
After a brief respite and
repacking, due to the blazing sun the overcoat was no longer needed, Dick and I
headed down the boulder face off the rim of the crater. Others, including the two family practice
residents, Jim and Pam, were already headed down toward Kibo. We were several hundred feet off the rim
when Doug and Bob Prazier, my roommate for most of this trip, yelled down that
Jerry was in trouble. It appeared that he had HACE, high altitude cerebral
edema. Jerry was apparently stumbling
and his speech pattern had changed. Bob
had some Dexamethasone that we had brought just incase of this emergency and
administered this with the last sips of water that they had. Then they started to slowly help walk Jerry
down the steepest part of the slope, through the boulder field. Not being able to readily climb back up to
assist them I started down to get help as fast as possible. When I reached the scree I discovered that I
could ‘scree jog’. By planting my hiking poles and extending my stride, I could
go straight down the mountain without doing switchbacks. It was surreal almost running, almost
skiing, almost falling from 18,000 to 16,000 feet in almost no time. What took hours to climb up, took minutes to
‘run’ down. At one point I slightly rolled my left ankle producing a face plant
into the very forgiving footing. No
style points there. When I reached Jim
& Pam and told them of the problem with Jerry, as well as the
dehydrated state of the rest of the climbers, they were very concerned. HACE has a 50% mortality rate. Jim tried to turn and re-climb the mountain
only to be bent over looking for air ten feet up hill. Mike, another one of the missionaries from
Tanzania, who spoke Swahili, went into the hut to rally water and aid back up
the mountain.
Eventually everyone got
back down to Kibo. Jerry was gurneyed
down to Mandara Hut at 9,000 feet. The
gurney consisted of a stretcher with a motorcycle wheel in the middle. There was a porter in the front and
rear. They literally ran him back down
the mountain. It didn’t look like a
pleasant ride. Word was that once Jerry
got to a lower elevation he improved dramatically. From this point onward the Compassion Climber group got smaller
and smaller as individuals started back toward on their journey home. Jerry may have gotten the free ride, but the
rest of us still had fifteen kilometers to go to get back to Horombo Hut at
12,340 feet. After an early dinner it
was nappy time for all.
The rest of the trip was
basically spent waiting to get out of Africa.
Our flight would not leave for two days. It gave us more time to shop and enjoy the pace of life that was
hakuna matata and to see the day to day needs of one of the poorest countries
in the world. The porters who assisted
us on our climb earned about 3,000 shillings a day, roughly $3.50 plus tips. There is a waiting list for jobs as porters.
At the Keys Hotel in Moshi,
we ran into a small group of paleogeologist who had spent the last month on the
summit doing core samples in the glacier.
They reported that at the current rate of loss due to global warming,
the glaciers on Kilimanjaro would be gone in twenty years.
Was it a difficult
climb? Not really. It is not as hard as doing the Mountain
Masochist 50 Miler. Most anyone with
reasonable physical fitness who does not get altitude sickness should be able
to summit. It was more of a physiological
challenge than physically challenging.
Summit day consisted of 10 K up almost 4,000 feet, 10 K back down 4,000
feet, followed by 15 K down 3,000 feet, starting at almost midnight. All this without the benefit of a full
breath of air. This was a full day in
anyone’s book. I did learn to respect
the need for water and oxygen.
While my personal goal of
summating and avoiding altitude sickness was achieved, the goal for pledges for
the clinics in Guatemala and West Africa fell short. Realistically there will always be needs in these two Third World
countries.
Donations can still be sent
to:
Compassion Climb 2000 C/O Dr. Frank
Villa Optometrist, P.C. 3000
State Street Lynchburg,
VA 24502
Follow these links for more: