Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Dina breaks the record !

Congratulations Dina.. We are sooo proud of you!

Dina, like myself, is an advocate for Tysabri.

Dina Mishev was in the midst of setting a world record when she made an unusual request: eight double cheeseburgers with Big Mac sauce from McDonald’s.Turns out, she only ate two.

But that was enough to fuel her through a remarkable feat.Mishev, of Jackson, set the world record for ascending the most vertical feet by a female skier in a day Sunday when she won the 24 Hours of Sunlight at Sunlight Mountain Resort in Glenwood Springs, Colo.Mishev, 34, skinned up 34,500 vertical feet in 25 hours, 13 minutes and 5 seconds by completing 23 laps.

The previous world record was 32,000 vertical feet.The ski race entailed skiing uphill and downhill as many times as possible in 24 hours (if a participant started a lap before the 24 hours was up, she was allowed to finish it). Mishev was still in disbelief Monday after returning to Jackson.“I don’t think it has set in yet,” Mishev said. “I was focused on this race for so long, and training for so long, it hasn’t even dawned on me that Valentine’s Day is this weekend, or spring is on the way, or biking season is near.
It’s been ruling my life for so long. I can have it back now.”Mishev has been an inspiration to many after her multiple sclerosis was diagnosed in 2006. She has been determined to remain extremely active.Mishev said she had been training for the 24 Hours of Sunlight for months by doing “incessant laps on Snow King.” She had trained so hard she actually entered the event with a little too much bravado.“I was overly confident,” she said. “It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. That’s why it hasn’t sunk in yet.
My goal was to do 25 laps. I didn’t reach what my goal really was.”But her feat is remarkable nonetheless. One of the more interesting moments of the race came during lap six, when Mishev asked her brother to make a run to McDonald’s to get her eight double cheeseburgers. She only ate two.“Around lap 18, I couldn’t eat solid food anymore,” she said. “I just went to some liquids for some calories.”Mishev began her final lap just before the 24-hour mark, and turned it into a celebration.
She was joined on the final lap by her friend, Kelly Biscombe, and a personal disc jockey.An employee at Sunlight Mountain Resort learned that one of Mishev’s favorite songs is Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”
The employee then followed Mishev on the final lap, blaring the song from a boom box.“I turned the last lap into a party,” Mishev said.Mishev is hoping the significance of her feat will be realized as time passes.“It was so much fun,” she said. “I was training so long for it. Either it hasn’t sunk in yet, or it was anticlimactic. I think it was the former.”

1 comment:

Libby said...

Oh, geez, congratulations, Dina!!
This is a great story, and it gives hope to all!!