03/27/2007

Part 3 of 5

Going the distance

Climber, runner Brian Lea has eye on Mt. McKinley

BY JAMES COOK

jcook@record-eagle.com

Photo courtesy of Brian Lea
Brian Lea in Wind River, Wyo., in 2004. Lea is planning to return to Wyoming this summer for a summit climb of Grant Teton.

More stories in this series:

• TC's Thomas went from 5K to 100-mile ultra race - March 29, 2007
• Year-round training is the name of the game - March 28, 2007
• A father and daughter take on the Antarctica Marathon - March 26, 2007
• Swimmer Jim Dreyer knows the fine line between life and death - March 25, 2007

HONOR — In Greek mythos, the man who inspired the term "marathon” died right after his 26-mile run to tell of a victory on the battlefield.

To Brian Lea, the distance makes him feel alive.

Lea has completed 40 marathons, branching out into mountain climbing and road biking.

"Health has been a great benefit of doing this,” the 55-year-old electrician said. "More people should turn off the TV and get off the couch.”

He has run in the Antarctic, climbed Mount Rainier and ran a 50-mile trail run the same month he turned 50.

A bit of a pioneer, Lea was into road biking before it was popularized by Greg LeMond's 1986 Tour de France victory. He's been well ahead of the curve on the green movement — his home in Honor doesn't even have commercial utility lines and is powered entirely by solar panels and heated with wood.

And he's well ahead of most people in their 50s from a health standpoint.

"I feel I'm in as good of shape now as I was 30 years ago,” Lea said.

Having biked long distances for many years, it was back in 1984 that Lea picked up the running bug. Credit his driveway.

While running the quarter-mile round trip circuit to get his mail, he got a cramp in his leg.

That was it.

"I figured if I can bike all these miles, but can't run a quarter mile, I'd better get going,” Lea said.

The cross-training began.

Within a year, he completed the Detroit Free Press Marathon, even though he missed two months of training time with a stress fracture. This summer, he expects to pass the 35,000-mile mark in running.

He has climbed 14,000-foot Mount Rainier twice — once solo in 1998 and again in 2000 with Roger and Nate Rousse. Add in seven trips up the 14,255-foot elevation of Long's Peak in Colorado, and Lea's vertical distance is approaching his running expanse.

"He's one of those guys who when he sets his eyes on something, he just does it,” said Henry Witkop, a Traverse City native who has run with Lea for 20 years. "He's a real adventurer.”

The Long's Peak ascents are made in a single 10- to 12-hour day of climbing, getting an early start with the aid of head lamps in order to get up and down the mountain before the almost daily afternoon thunderstorms hit.

This summer, he plans on climbing the Wind River Range in Wyoming, then doing a summit climb of 13,770-foot Grand Teton. Ultimately, he wants to conquer Alaska's 20,320-foot Mount McKinley — also known as Denali, which means "the great one” — the highest mountain peak in North America.

He bikes 100 to 200 miles per week and usually goes on a trail run on weekends for an hour or two.

"I kind of got out of mountain biking because I'd rather run in the woods,” Lea said.

A business trip to help with electrical work on a research station in Antarctica even permitted him to get in a little time on some of the purest snow on Earth.

"I tried to get in some running,” Lea said, "but it's a little hard when it's 70 below and you're at 10,000 feet above sea level.”

Besides, he was there for work, not pleasure.