Extreme Momentum

Those words ring loud and true when you work in healthcare. You’re always trying improve people’s lives, but what you’re really doing is postponing the inevitable–death.

While losing someone in their golden years is hard, it’s much easier to accept as part of life.  They’ve enjoyed life and now it’s time to move on.  However, subtract a few decades from someone’s life expectancy and things get harder.

I lost my mom to cancer when I was 16. She was only 44. As a teacher, pastor’s wife, and mother of 2, she was exactly the type of person others admired.  I was always amazed by not just the difference she made in my sister and I’s lives, but how many other lives she touched through her teaching, mentoring, and friendship. She actually kept teaching fulltime about one month until her death, which shows just how much she enjoyed teaching. People always ask, “Why does someone that young have to die?” We don’t know.  Having studied cancer for many years, I know why on the molecular level but I don’t know why on the spiritual.

These questions hit me hard again this past Friday.  I found out that Dr. Hartigan, the surgeon who had repaired by collarbone after my crash in May (you can see his handiwork on my blog’s background), passed away this week from adrenal cancer.  He was only 40. I was very shocked since he had looked to be doing fine during all of my visits with him.  In fact, he usually had 1-2 surgical residents in tow and was very animated explaining my case to them. You could tell how much he loved teaching.  It’s amazing how you would never have expected that this was a man deep in the throes of fighting cancer. However, I knew someone wrong when I went in for my final followup last week and the staff said he was on indefinite medical leave.  The look on their faces told me everything. Sadly, he lost the battle.  The similarities between his life and my mom’s was very similar, which is probably why learning of his death hit me.

I’ve posted a copy of his obituary below from the Chicago Tribune website and remind you to enjoy life while you can, because we all know that Life’s Too Short.

Dr. Brian J. Hartigan 1968 – 2008
Orthopedic surgeon, teacher
Northwestern University medical school doctor was president of his practice in Chicago and an award-winning educator

By Trevor Jensen
September 25, 2008

Dr. Brian J. Hartigan spelled out his desire to be a doctor in crayon when he was just a boy. Drawn to the complexity of hand and wrist surgery as a medical resident, he was a popular teacher at Northwestern University’s medical school and president of a Chicago orthopedic practice.

Dr. Hartigan, 40, died Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after a yearlong struggle with adrenal cancer, said his wife, Pamela. He lived in Glenview.

After receiving his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Hartigan completed his internship and a residency in orthopedic surgery at Northwestern, where he was a chief resident in 1998. He then attended a fellowship in hand surgery in Cincinnati.

The 27 bones of the hand and wrist were compelling material for a physician of Dr. Hartigan’s meticulous nature, said his wife and a colleague.

“It allowed him to do things to reconstruct and help people,” said Dr. Charles Carroll, who taught Dr. Hartigan at Northwestern and was a colleague in his practice, the Northwestern Orthopaedic Institute. “The complexity of it, that attracted him from a thought process.”

“He always said ‘Everybody needs their hands,’ ” his wife said.

A teacher at Northwestern since completing his fellowship in 2000, Dr. Hartigan was patient and compassionate with students and residents, and developed a curriculum in hand surgery that Carroll said will probably be used for years to come.

“He was able to make topics come alive,” and he spoke to fledgling physicians in a manner “appropriate to their level of understanding,” Carroll said.

Dr. Hartigan was given the James K. Stack Teacher of the Year Award at Northwestern’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in 2004. Last year, the group of nine residents he worked with gave him their Tenth Man Award, presented to the doctor who they felt best helped them through their residency.

Dr. Hartigan was born in Evergreen Park and grew up in Olympia Fields before his father, an executive with Amoco, was transferred to the East Coast. He was barely in grade school when he decided he was going to be a doctor.

“We have him writing in crayon that he wanted to be a doctor,” his wife said.

Dr. Hartigan went to high school in Maryland but returned to the Midwest to complete a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As an intern and resident, he volunteered on the medical staff for football at Evanston Township High School and North Shore Country Day School, as well as at the Midlands Wrestling Tournament at Northwestern.

Dr. Hartigan also is survived by two sons, Connor and John; a daughter, Hannah; his parents, John and Cecelia; a brother, Michael; and a sister, Laura Lukas.

Jackson Park Cyclocross
September 21, 2008 – Chicago, IL
Masters 30+ – 13th

is theoretically supposed to be raced in cold, damp, muddy, and treacherous conditions. Yeah, if you’re in Belgium in March, but Chicago in September is a little different. The first 2008 Chicago Cyclocross Cup race was contested at Jackson Park on September 21. The course was very similar to last year with lots of tight turns, a few off camber sections, and just enough straightaways to recuperate. While the course was great, the air was something different. I chose the Masters 30+ race, which was the first one of the day. Temperatures were hovering around 70 degrees F, but the humidity was thick enough for a machete. Yeah, this was going to be fun.

About 50-60 Masters racers toed the line and found out we would be going at once instead of waves based on age group. I let other guys to the front, because I had decided to use this race as practice and focus more on Lapham Peak which was a few weeks away. I would use the first half of the race to primarily focus on cornering and my barrier technique. The race started fairly fast, but not too insane. The wet grass from the dew proved to very slick in some areas and a few racers went down. With this race surface, I was happy to have dropped my Grifos down to about 34 PSI for the race. A few guys in front of me went down.

The first lap was very easy and it was good just to get a feel for the barriers and course.  Even if you do a preride, it’s just not the same as tackling the course in a race. The spectators were great and positioned at just the right places around the course to encourage us racers.  Plus, Jackson Park was hosted by XXX Racing/ Athletic, so there were plenty of my teammates cheering me on. I would occasionally ham it up for them, especially if someone was taking photos.  I heard more than a few times, “Hey, Pete…quit smiling and get racing.”  Yeah, I know, but that’s not the game plan.

One thing that got me worried about 10 minutes into the race was my heart rate.  I wasn’t going even close to hard and I was at 190 bpm, which is near my max on the bike.  I would expect it to be a little higher in cyclocross due to the running, but it shouldn’t be so high for the pace I was going.  This was starting to freak me out, but I attributed it to the heat. I wanted to pick the pace up in the second half of the race, but I tried only see my heart rate peg out at around 200 bpm.  I sure wasn’t going to go harder and the heat was beginning to take a toll on me as the race wore on.  I wasn’t smiling much now.

I was thinking of dropping out at 45 minutes, because I had planned it as a workout.  Thankfully, I was passing more and more racers and decided to suffer through a few more laps.  Isn’t that what CX is all about? The last few laps were unnerving from the heat.  My legs felt good and I had plenty of energy, but my I was feeling sloppy. Ironically, my barrier technique kept getting better at the end of the race, even though I was more tired. I got a few more riders and ended up fighting with a few for position since we knew the race was just about over. I was happy to finish and immediately went to my car to rejoice with some nice warm water (I need to start bringing a cooler).

After my race, I was scheduled to volunteer at registration.  I remember how stressful it was last year, but the experience helped prepare me for this year. I was manning the table with Luke and Peggy.  Amazingly, we got through the crush of Cat 4s.  We ended up with over 120 racers in the 4As and 4Bs…wow!  It’s good to see CX expanding in popularity.

While working registration, I saw them post results for the Masters 30+ race.  I ended up 13th out of about 30 racers.  Not bad considering I was nearly last at the start. Now I just need to actually focus on racing and not worry about my smile.

Dousman Duathlon
September 14, 2008 – Dousman, WI
Relay – 1st – 1:15:47

Run#1 = 11:45 (6:12/mile pace)
Transition#1 = 0:36
Bike#1 = 52:39 (24.0 MPH)
Transition#2 = 0:30
Run#2 = 10:20 (5:40/mile pace)

In the week leading up to the Dousman Duathlon, Rose and I probably checked the weather forecast at least twice a day.  Meteorologists were forecasting buckets of rain, but we were hoping it would end before the race Sunday AM. Not that a couple of us old cross country veterans were getting soft in our elder years, but we do appreciate dry races.

Well, we didn’t luck out. We got up to Dousman Saturday afternoon in fairly good spirits.  We had left record rainfall in Chicago for clearing skies in Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.  We picked up our packets, drove the course, and went to dinner with friends.  By the time we left the restaurant, it was starting to sprinkle. When we woke up in the morning, it was a steady downpour.  Oh, well, at least it was rainy and 60 degrees F, not 40!

Rose and I were racing the relay. She would run the first 2 miles, I would bike the next 20 miles, then she would run the final 2 miles.  Considering I only had to wait about 10 minutes in the rain for her, and she would have to wait about 50 minutes for me, you would think I had it easier.  Not really.  Running in the rain is a lot more enjoyable then biking, especially on a technical course.  Rose kept pleading with the night before to take it easy on the corners, because she didn’t want me to hurt my clavicle again.  I told her that wasn’t a problem considering how chicken I was in dry weather the week before during the TTT.  Besides, we were just doing this race for fun, right?

It’s hard for a couple of people who are used to winning races, to just “take it easy”. We know what it’s like to be at top form and cross the finish line first.  Our fireplace mantle is covered with enough trophies and medals to make most martial arts schools jealous [Ed note: While Rose has more hardware then me, I’m still faster]. Let’s face, we both wanted to win and knew we could, even if we didn’t really talk about it.

Despite the rain, the duathlon had about 600 racers out of over 800 registered entrants.  Like most multisport races, people started in waves.  Rose was in the second wave of runners, so I knew I wouldn’t have many people on the bike course.  After Rose started, I hung out in the transition area stretching next to my bike.  There were a few other relay teams, including one guy who had brought his trainier into the transition area and was spinning to stay warm.  Damn, why didn’t I think of that!

Rose came through as about the 20th runner out of the first 2 waves.  I was pretty excited, since that put us in a good overall position and I knew she’d be even stronger on the final leg with her current training levels.  Starting the bike was quite interesting.  I took it easy to get me legs warmed up, and my brake pads weren’t working at all on my ZIpps in the rain. I settled into a tempo pace and focused on passing the solo racers who were using the first few miles to refuel for their bike legs.

The bike course ended up being about 21 miles and was absolutely beautiful.  It followed narrow township roads, through rural farms and subdivisions.  Lots of turns and rolling hills.  Just as you powered up one hill, you’d have a blazing descent followed by some tight turns.  I was riding my Isaac TT bike with a disc, because there were enough flat stretches.  However, a standard road bike would have been better for much of the course.

I was moving along pretty well and passing other riders.  I had one younger guy from Mesa Cycling on a relay team fly by me at about 28 MPH, but I knew his runner was slower so I wasn’t too worried. My mind was so focused on the riders and road, that I didn’t bother with monitoring my PowerTap.  I was having fun (sort of).  I wasn’t in the typical TT pain I face, but I wasn’t going easy.  The rain and technical features made this course fun.  The 20 miles went by quicker than they would in most races, but they still took a toll on my body and could feel the fatigue the last couple of kilometers.

I came into the last transition trying to figure out what to do.  It was a good 100 yards from the dismount area to our handoff spot, and I did not want to walk with my bike (we couldn’t ride through the transition).  Well, it’s CX season.  I hopped off my bike, shouldered it, and ran through the transition area.  Rose grabbed the chip and took off.  At this point we were probably about sixth overall. I quickly checked my PowerTap.  Amazingly, I had averaged 24 MPH, which I knew would be one of the faster bike legs but there had been faster cyclists and we needed a strong run from Rose to place well.

I threw on my rain gear and went to watch the finish.  The first couple of guys crossed the finish line, but I knew they were solo racers.  Then Rose came in.  I think the announcers were completely amazed that it was a woman.  They thought she was the first solo female, not a relay member.  She had run the fastest second leg of the day. Even as a relay runner, she received tons of compliments for her fast finish. We were both happy to have placed so high and were pretty sure we were the top relay team.

were really excited during the ride home. Not only had we done well, but the Dousman Duathlon was a wonderful race.  The staging area had ample parking and bathrooms and even had pancakes after the race.  The race staff and volunteers were friendly, and they deserve huge kudos for spending their Sunday morning in the rain.  After having done USAT events, and experienced multisport sticker shock, it was nice to do a lower key event with a very Wisconsin attitude.  We both look forward to doing some more of these in the future, especially now that we have a title to defend.

When we got home, we anxiously awaited the results being posted online.  Thankfully, prelims were posted later than night.  We had finished third overall and were pretty sure we were the first relay team.  Sure enough, the official results confirmed our victory a few days later. Not bad for our first relay together.

Well, we now have hardware on the fireplace that we can both claim, and we still have some space left on the mantle for more. [Ed Note to Rose: Sweetie, I still have a ton of high school medals in storage, but I’m sure you’ve still got more than me…:)]