Mind over Matter

Mark Heppe, M.D. of Plains knows what it is to rise up.

He’s a climber who has conquered heights of 21,000 feet in foreign elevations like Ecuador and Chile as well as local feats like Mount Rainier. He’s also an accomplished triathlete, having completed four whole Ironman races, which comprise a combined distance of 140.6 miles of swimming (2.4 miles), cycling (112 miles), and running a marathon (26.2 miles). Despite his athletic endeavors, he has had to rise up from devastating injury.

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

“My surgeon told me I would never run again,” Heppe said of the injury that was the result of a fall while ice climbing in February 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,” Heppe said. “We were maybe 150 feet of 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 part of Rainbow Falls.

“I’d climbed through the running water. I was shivering so much I could hardly keep myself in the rock,” Heppe continued. “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 and then fell to a second ledge and shattered 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.  Once his partner took him to Clark Fork Valley Hospital, former colleague Joe Nicoletto, M.D. gave the initial examination.

“I showed up at the emergency room and he [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 Heppe’s 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 literally could not run. Each time he tried, it was too painful. It wasn’t until Tari got him a treadmill at Christmas 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 5 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 complete 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 that summer of 2006. 

“That went okay,” 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 world champion Ironman 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.”

The place where this determination comes from for Heppe is a paradoxically-charged culmination of inspiration from others as well as an influence of disappointment from youth. Growing up, Heppe had felt he was not athletic and graduated high school with this 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 for him.

Heppe discovered and got involved with rock climbing in college, and had found his athletic niche. It wasn’t until the 80s he found that in endurance sports, such as the triathlon, was 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 devastating 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 in the Ironman Canada in 2007, Heppe got back to training and rehabilitating. The following year, 2008, four years after his devastating climbing accident, Heppe started and completed the full Ironman Canada race. Then 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 in 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. The summer is approaching fast, after all. 

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, as well as ask ourselves, what have you done lately?