Corporate America Runaway

Photo: A view from the top - above the clouds!

For all Borneo Photography - click here!

For all snapshots of the Kinabalu climb - click here!

I remember this feeling…the exhilaration, the pain, the light headedness, the ache in my body, the nausea, the determination. I’m back in high altitude again. Testing my body and mind again. I’m wondering what it is about this painful experience that continues to draw me in? Whatever it is – I’m here – at 10,000 ft….again.

When Russ and I decided to go to Borneo, we had a single goal – to climb Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in SE Asia. Ever since the sad day that I was banished from Kilimanjaro due to altitude sickness, Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo had been in my sites. I thought that even though I couldn’t make it up to 19,000 ft. (Kilimanjaro), I should be able to make it to 13,000 ft (Kinabalu). I had determination – an intense determination that had been building since Africa.

However – I miscalculated one thing…it’s been 6 months since I left home. Every month that has gone by has marked the deterioration of my fitness level! I used to run 25 miles a week, go the gym twice a week to box and walk a few miles each day around NY. During my vagabonding – I am lucky if I run 9 miles a week period. The furthest I seem to be able to make it in a run is 4 miles and I have to stop and walk at least once during that! My old West Side Runners would banish me from the group if they saw me now!! I look the same; therefore, I thought as was in the same shape…but as soon as Russ and I started up the trail, I knew I was in for trouble!

Photo: Russ descending the rock face…it looks as if he is going to walk off the face of the earth!
Russ and I were paired up with an older man, Mick, from London. Mick was 64, he had a great attitude, and he knew nothing about the climb as he had just signed up for it the day before. He said that a young Chinese woman had sold him on the idea of climbing Kinabalu. She told him that it was an easy walk and that she herself had done it 3 times! He observed that she was about 3 stones overweight – so he was at least skeptical. The three of us were assigned a guide, Francis, and off we went. I quickly made some observations within the first km of climbing.
1. I’m out of shape
2. Francis has the personality of a sock
3. Mick, at 64 yrs old, was going to kick my ass all the way up the hill
4. I wouldn’t see Russ again until we met at the lodge
5. I’m out of shape

The literature about the climb said that a reasonably fit person could summit. It takes two days to make the 8.5km climb – the first is spent going up, up, up from 5000 ft. to about 10,000 ft. where you hunker down in a lodge/hut.
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Photo: Russ in the Mud Volcano

For all Borneo Photography - click here!

For all Snapshots of Borneo - click here!

Borneo…maybe you’ve heard of it - but do you even know where it is? I’m sure that if I gave you a globe you’d all have trouble putting your finger on it. What if I told you that it is the worlds 3rd largest island…are you surprised? It contains 3 countries on the island - Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Even with all of this information - I bet that half of you still can’t find it! Give up? Check out this map…this should give you some context! Borneo Map

My curiosity with Borneo started about 7 years ago when I was living in San Francisco. I had just moved to the west coast (my first big move into the unknown and out of the security of the Midwest) and I was up late one night watching television. I came across the show Eco-Challenge. It was an adventure race that was shown on some cable channel (before the phenomena of reality TV). The race took place over 3 days for the good teams and about 6 days for the slower teams. It included hiking, mountain biking, kayaking through rapids, horseback riding, caving, abseiling, orienteering, and any other crazy, dangerous outdoor sport that they could come up with. It was in a place called Borneo. I had never heard of it before, but it sounded and looked completely exotic - this sheltered mid-westerner was hooked. I stayed up that night watching until about 3AM (on a school night), utterly amazed at what these people were going through. They raced 24 hours a day, didn't sleep, they had foot-rot, leeches crawling all over their body (and into places that I can't even mention), they were living on cliff bars, and were often hallucinating due to dehydration and lack of sleep. These were the toughest people that I had ever seen in my life...and I wanted to be one of them. I was in awe of them and the dangerous, lush, jungle landscape that surrounded them. I got out the map that night and looked up Borneo - it took me quite some time to find it as I had never really heard of it before - but when I did, I knew that it would be someplace that I would visit one day.

After watching Eco-challenge, I started getting interested in adventure racing - wondering if I was tough enough to really do what those people did. My next few vacations I took were adventure vacations to test out my ability in the various activities as well as testing out my ability to 'rough it'. After sleeping in the Australian rain forest in a hammock scared to death of every noise and bump in the night, I realized that I probably wasn't cut out for the adventure racing life, but the experience kicked off my interest in travel to exotic places and smaller scale adventures. I may never get to pull leeches off my body, but I knew that I wanted to go explore, I wanted adventure, and I wanted to push myself. Shortly after I got hooked on Eco-Challenge, the first Survivor aired on television (also shot on an island in Borneo).
My friends and I would watch Survivor every week religiously - I loved the mental game that came along with Survivor, getting people to do what you wanted, persuasion, mixed with athletic activity. I was so in love with the concept of Survivor that I actually applied for the 2nd season of Survivor. I was still on a quest to be considered ‘tough’ (and I liked the side benefit of the weight loss!). I obviously never made it on the show, but I’ve been a fan ever since.

When I decided to do this around the world trip, I got out a world map, laid it on my floor, and immediately knew that I had to stop in Borneo…there was never a question in my mind. It was my ’spiritual travel birthplace ‘ - and I had to take this opportunity to see it.

On this leg of the trip I had another friend join me. After all, it is winter in NY and many of my friends were itching to get out of the cold. However, there’s really only a few people that were interested in Borneo…or even knew where it was! My friend, Russ, was ready to brave the headhunter island with me! This really marked a new experience in my traveling. Sure, I had friends join me before - but never a guy. Finally - someone to carry my luggage and to kill the bugs! Russ has been a running friend of mine for the past 2 years. I’ve trained for marathons with him (he’s super fast), and we formed an unlikely friendship through logging many miles in Central Park. I say it was unlikely because we honestly didn’t have much in common except running. He didn’t drink - I was/am a lush. Photo: Russ in China Town
He went to Bible Study on Friday nights - I went out clubbing and drinking. He loved his work - I was always trying to figure out way to get out of work. He doesn’t eat refined sugar - I put sugar on my pancakes. To top it off - I’m about 10 years older than him. But for some reason - we got along - I think we’ve both been fascinated in each others lifestyle - we both like to experience new things, and like to form diverse friendships. He’s very well traveled - so he was a great candidate for Borneo!

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