MIND over MATTER

Mark Heppe knows what it is to rise up.

The Plains doctor has conquered 21,000-foot mountains in foreign elevations like Ecuador and Chile, as well as local feats like Mount Rainier. He’s an accomplished triathlete, having completed four Ironman races, which comprise a combined distance of 140.6 miles (2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles cycling and 26.2 miles running).

More difficult than any of that, however, is that he has had to rise up from devastating injury.

This is where Mark Heppe reveals his take on the human condition of commitment and rising above the odds.

His surgeon told him he would never run again after a devastating ice climbing fall and subsequent injury in February of 2004.

When the accident occurred, Heppe and his climbing partner were climbing local spot Rainbow Falls, described by Heppe as “one of the better ice climbs in all of Montana.”

“We were on the second pitch and I was attempting to lead it,” he said. “We were maybe 150 feet off the ground and the rocks were soaking wet. It was a warm day and I’d had to climb through run-off and melting ice and the first pitch.”

He and his climbing partner had to scramble up some 500 feet to get to the ice on Rainbow Falls.

“I’d climbed through the running water. I was shivering so much I could hardly keep myself on the rock,” Heppe said. “I got so cold I basically just peeled off the rock, off the snow and fell.”

Heppe then hit a ledge with his right foot and felt it snap before falling to a second ledge, shattering his left foot.

“From there I just fell, a free fall until the rope became tight. So I had a couple of impacts before the end of the rope,” Heppe said. “So I was never in danger of hitting the ground, but I hit the ledges and, had I not hit the ledges, I wouldn’t have had any injury.”

Heppe said he distinctly remembered passing out twice from the pain. His partner took him to Clark Fork Valley Hospital and former colleague Dr. Joe Nicoletto gave the initial examination.

“I showed up at the emergency room and [Mark] and Joe Nicoletto were discussing what to do,” Heppe’s wife, Tari, said. “He was acting like another consulting physician, showing no signs of pain or anything.”

The Heppes then drove to Ronan, where a foot orthopedic surgeon was practicing and had the expertise to treat Heppe’s injury.

“It was a long case. Six hours of surgery. Ten screws, five in each foot and four or five months in a wheelchair,” Heppe said. “It wasn’t clear at the time if I could run again. He always assured me I’d walk again, but not run. He advised me not to run. It’s a specific injury, very devastating as the bone tends to die. But honestly, all I could think about was getting back and doing another Ironman. It wasn’t clear to me if I’d ever climb again, but I was committed to doing another Ironman.”

For the first two years following the accident, Heppe could not run. Each time he tried, it was too painful. It wasn’t until Tari got him a treadmill for Christmas in 2005 that Heppe considered the possibility of trying to train again. He found that running on the treadmill was significantly easier on his feet. So he began, ever so slowly, to run again. The first day, he could only go for five minutes. The next day, he went six minutes. The day after, seven. From there, he added a minute a day until some months later, he was up to three-hour runs on the treadmill.

Heppe then set a goal to compete in a Half-Ironman in order to further build up his training to get back into a full Ironman race. He competed in the Troika Half-Ironman race in Spokane the summer of 2006.

“That went OK,” Heppe said. “It had been my tactic to spend another year training from a half to a full Ironman. I had always done the Ironman Canada, which is the only Ironman race in Canada. There are only 25 Ironman races in the world, and each act as qualifiers for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. You have to place in the top three of your age group to go.”

In 2007, Heppe attempted to make his full Ironman comeback.

“He did the swimming, which went well, then the biking, and then he got to the running…and then we went to lunch,” Tari said.

“That’s the only race I have never finished in my life,” Heppe said. “In training from the Half-Iron to the full, I had developed a serious running injury that I needed to rehabilitate, but I was determined. I wanted to get to Hawaii.”

Heppe derives his inspiration from others as well as his own childhood disappointments. Growing up, Heppe felt he was not athletic and graduated high school with a mentality of non-athleticism. He wasn’t a “jock,” but rather, found camaraderie with “geeks,” when really he just hadn’t found the right sport.

Heppe discovered rock climbing in college and found his athletic niche. It wasn’t until the ‘80s that he discovered that endurance sports, such as the triathlon, were also something for which he “had an aptitude.” But Heppe is as much humble as he is logical, saying he actually is an average, “middle-packer” triathlete.

“I really do have average capabilities,” Heppe said. “At the peak of my training, I did some testing and found what I had always suspected – my physiology came in right in middle ground.”

Despite being “modestly endowed” in terms of athletic capabilities, Heppe insists there is more to this journey of recovery from injury to getting back into his great love of triathlon racing. He seeks to inspire other people.

“I honestly believe people grossly underestimate what they’re capable of physically and otherwise in their lives,” Heppe said. “We sell ourselves short. But, when given a dream and the desire and the will to do it, we are capable.

“I figure if I can pull something like Ironman off, with modest abilities, that could help inspire others. I meet people all the time that are far more capable than myself who say no way they could ever conceive to do an Ironman or climb 21,000 feet, and I beg to differ. I think that given enough commitment, honestly, you can achieve anything. We’re all capable of so much more in so many ways.”

After his first attempt at Ironman Canada in 2007, Heppe got back to training and rehabilitating. The following year, four years after his devastating climbing accident, Heppe started and completed the full Ironman Canada race. Then he did it again in 2009.

“I’ve been on hiatus since 2009, but the desire still burns to get to Hawaii,” Heppe said. “I had hoped to return to the Ironman on my 60th birthday – that’s this year – but haven’t had time for training. But I will be coming back soon.”

Between working as an ER doctor in Libby and building a house in Noxon, training for another Ironman may prove difficult for Heppe, but he firmly believes that where there’s a will, there’s a way. He also hopes to get a local triathlon club started and help others train for triathlon races offered in Montana.

“Many people harbor this secret desire to do a triathlon,” Heppe said. “But then say, ‘oh I can’t do that.’ They can. It’s never too early or late to aspire to be a triathlete. We have a lot of local running talent, it’s just a matter of getting on a bike, going to the pool – when it opens – and putting in training time. A lot of races occur in late summer.”

Having been a former certified triathlon coach, Heppe could be the one to lead local athletes to their first triathlon. As for climbing again, Heppe has made progress. Just last month, he tied in for the first time in exactly eight years. Heppe and Tari were visiting their daughter and son-in-law in Tennessee when the opportunity for a climb presented itself. Heppe took it. He climbed a 5-10 with his daughter, who led the rope from above him.

“It was a good rope belayed by my daughter from above, she wouldn’t let me fall on my feet. But oh, it was mighty good to be back,” Heppe said. “I am so blessed to have recovered as I have. It’s more than reasonably possible to expect.”

Defying reason and logic with something as simple as determination is something many can learn from with the telling of Heppe’s unlikely journey. It makes one wonder how we all rise up each day. Ask yourself, what have you done lately?