Spiderman

Spiderman was my favorite superhero when I was a child. When I was riding my bike around town, climbing trees in woods behind my house, or standing on a second or third floor, I would envision myself leaping from the tree or building to another building in an effortless single bound. Spiderman made its debut in comics in 1962, created by Stan Lee. Spiderman was able to make long leaps with the use of webbing shot from his wrists. He could also easily scale the sides of buildings with suction like grip. In real life there have been several attempts by amateur dare devils to copy the abilities of spiderman. An early attempt at wingsuit flying was made in 1912 by Franz Reichelt, who leaped from the Eiffel Tower wearing his combo invention of parachute and wing, which was an early precursor to modern wingsuits. In the early '90s, the modern wingsuit was invented by Patrick de Gayardon of France.In Batman comics, Batman's cape acts like a wingsuit, allowing him to glide over large distances in the air. In 1981, Dan Goodwin wore a Spiderman suit, and used suction cups and sky hooks to scale the tallest building in the world at the time, the Sears Tower in Chicago. While the wingsuits are extremely dangerous, they have been perfected to the point of allowing the wearer to travel up to 16 miles horizontally, while maintaining precise control. As I proceeded into the realm of amateur racing, like marathons and triathlons, I came across some new type of races that allowed you to climb the stairwell of skyscrapers. My first race was a 42 story building in Tampa. I really enjoyed practicing for this because it is the closest thing in Florida to mountain climbing. You run straight up to the top without stopping, but the stress on your knee and hip joints is minimal compared to running. It is also one of the best cardiovascular exercises. After my first race I was hooked and proceeded to climb the Hancock Building and the Sears Tower in Chicago. There have been other structures like the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower that I have climbed but they were on my own. The feeling of ascending straight up through the building like an elevator under your own power was empowering. As I often explain to patients how crucial vigorous exercise is to the health of the human body and spirit, I found myself telling the tale of my climb up the Sears Tower. I believe it took 22 minutes and 22 seconds. The patient was dumbfounded that I climbed the Sears Tower. Not because I did it so fast, which I did not (the winner climbed it in 12 minutes), but that I climbed it. He thought I actually scaled the outside of the building like spiderman! Since then I have to specify that I was a mere mortal using the plain old stairs with hand rails. As I am older now, I am fascinated with these people who are brave enough to put on a wingsuit and fly around mountain edges and divebomb at great speeds. They must have been like me when they were a kid, dreaming of leaping and flying. Perhaps they actually jumped out of the tree, while I always chose to take the stairs.