By Greg Cummings

With only two ascents remaining to reach 1,400, I started up the Incline yesterday (Aug. 17) morning just after 4 a.m.

In an effort to benefit Change4Diabetes.org, I began this journey on the first day of fall 2013, so this was the 330th day in a row in which I hiked the Incline a minimum of two times per day, averaging 4.25 times per day.

I made ascent 1,399 alone, in the dark, and did not feel well. At the top, I checked my blood glucose (as always) and it was 42, which is about half of low-normal, and that’s enough to make you feel ill, especially when ascending the Incline. I ate some sugary carbs, took some pics, enjoyed my final view of the city lights for a while. I began the descent, and eventually began feeling better as the blood glucose began to rise. Ideally, a person with diabetes would eat the carbs, give themselves about 15 minutes for their glucose to return to near normal, then continue…but “ideal” isn't always realistic.

While nearing the base of the Incline, I passed my lovely wife, Alison Cummings, who was on her way to the top. She wanted to be there when we arrived for number 1,400. At the bottom, three of my buddies were waiting, Gary Olson, Ed Baxter, and Steve Stermer. As I was wearing a GoPro, we waited for the sun to brighten the sky before beginning ascent number 1,400. It’s always nice to hike with friends and ascent number two felt so much better than the previous one, as my glucose remained near normal. I would guess that about 80 percent of the ascents during this event were made alone, so this was a treat!

We reached the top in 36 minutes, which is blazing speed for me right now. During the first five or six months of the event my times were consistently in the low to mid 30s with occasional dips into the high 20s. But in the last few months, I was consistently in the high 30s, low 40s, and sometimes higher. A few days ago, one ascent took over an hour…l was EXTREMELY exhausted!

We talked a lot and the time slipped by. Suddenly we were standing on top...and number 1,400 was in the bag!! The long journey was over and the relief was palpable! For 330 days, I avoided significant injury, illness, and had made multiple ascents every day.

My event was intended to last for one year, but the rebuilding project cut it short by exactly five weeks. However, there are no hard feelings as I know the need that exists, as the Incline is in significant disrepair and the project has my full support!

It was awesome to hang out at the top for a while with Alison, Ed, Steve, Gary, and, wouldn't you know it, we found Clovis picking-up trash at the top, too!

A BIG thank you to all the people that donated to Change4Diabetes.org as this effort is all about funding a Practical Cure for Type 1 Diabetes. I am sad to say that if not for my friends on the Incline, the giving for this cause would be almost non-existent. I am as disappointed as can be in people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes (about 28 million in America alone) that have given almost nothing to our cause, one that is dedicated to improving their quality of life!

My frustration is GREAT and there will be more said about this another time! FYI, almost anything that helps a person with Type 1 diabetes will find its way to help someone with Type 2 diabetes, but the reverse is not true. So being that this effort is about helping Type 1s (those with juvenile diabetes, an auto-immune disease) the results are likely to help Type 2s (an illness that is generally preventable and caused by poor lifestyle choices). I’ll stop for now.

So the effort to hike the Incline 1,000 times in one year turned into 1,400 ascents in 330 days. For verification, pictures were always taken at the top (of me holding a sign with the ascent number on it) that are date, time and GPS stamped. I also took pics at the bottom to verify that I made the descent and didn't sit at the top all day just taking pictures. Unfortunately (for many reasons), there are probably at least 20 times that I forgot to take pics at the bottom ... as there were so many distractions and things to remember with managing the diabetes, etc.

I say all that because the effort bypassed the previously “accepted” world record for number of vertical feet climbed in a year, by roughly two and a half to three times. And I still have five weeks to add elevation climbed (anywhere, not on the Incline anymore) to the current record before the year comes to a close on the final day of summer, Sept. 21. So we will see how things progress…  I know this is long, but so was the journey! There are lots more stats I can throw your way, but we’ll save that for another time.