< Previous30 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 31 FEATURE ••• Dickinson native Stephen D. Holmes, a licensed attorney and Galveston County Commissioner for Precinct 3, isn’t your typi- cal elected official. Holmes, 55, who was a standout athlete on the football and baseball fields and bas- ketball court at Dickinson High School, as well as a football star at Rice University, is an avid runner and has completed 28 mara- thons to date, he said. He got the bug for running marathons after attending the Chevron Houston Mara- thon to cheer on his two sisters and a cousin more than 20 years ago, he said. “After seeing them and all the other run- ners compete, it gave me the motivation to want to complete a marathon,” he said. In preparing for various marathons in any given year, Holmes tries to get in four runs a week, gradually increasing his distance as the marathon gets closer, he said. Holmes has a daily early morning running routine and recommends anyone contem- plating a marathon to develop a training schedule and stick to the schedule as much as possible to prepare, he said. “My longest training run before a marathon is around 18 miles,” he said. “I’ll begin to taper my running distance two to three weeks before a marathon. My best piece of advice is to not worry if you’re not a fast runner as you’re only competing with yourself.” Among other races over the years, Holmes competed in the Chevron Houston Marathon 14 times — 13 years consecutively — and in 2017 completed 12 marathons in 12 different cities. “There’s nothing like running a marathon and the adrenaline it gives you,” he said. “I plan to keep participating in marathons as long as my body will allow.” – Angela Wilson photos by STUART VILLANUEVA Galveston County Commissioner Stephen Holmes has completed 28 marathons. “There’s nothing like running a marathon and the adrenaline it gives you. I plan to keep participating in marathons as long as my body will allow.” STEPHEN HOLMES32 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 ••• Galveston resident Justin Serrette always has been driven by goals, he said. He likes having a long-term objective. So, when his wife started running about eight years ago, he soon followed. Serrette found his perfect pursuit — some- thing that required consistent work and prac- tice to achieve his goals of running marathons in Boston, Hawaii and Houston. But after a lymphoma diagnosis in 2017 and a long road to recovery, Serrette takes even more meaning and pleasure out of running, he said. “Running helped me a lot,” he said. “Men- tally, I’d received a setback and was inching forward. Literally, I started out slowly walk- ing, then moved to running a bit and then finally running again.” The year the University of Texas Medical Branch physician was diagnosed with lym- phoma began normally enough, he said. Serrette in January that year ran the Hous- ton Marathon, a yearly tradition for him, and was feeling good, he said. “It wasn’t the fastest ever, but I felt pretty good,” he said. But Serrette noticed the lymph nodes in his neck and elsewhere were swollen and, shortly after the marathon, he developed pain in his left thigh, he said. Doctors eventually determined Serrette had a tumor in his left thigh that was about the size of a volleyball and he began chemo- therapy, he said. The chemotherapy wasn’t effective, and he soon was placed into a clinical trial. Early in the process, Serrette told his wife and doctor he planned to run the Houston Marathon like he always had in January, he said. “They both thought I was crazy,” he said. The pain in his left leg became excruciating during his recovery — Serrette could hardly use his leg for months — and even when the tumor eventually went away, he had to work to regain muscle in his leg, he said. Serrette worked with a trainer to regain strength and begin walking again, he said. As the months went by, Serrette slowly be- gan running again for short stretches. “I did one, long run, but had to run it in stretches,” he said. “I’d run slowly for five min- utes, walk for a minute, and then run again.” That year’s Houston Marathon was far from Serrette’s personal 3:04 record, but he participated as planned, he said. “It was just gratifying to get back to doing it, getting back to normal life as much as possible,” he said. Serrette has been given a clean bill of health in subsequent checkups and contin- ues to run marathons — even venturing to run one with a friend in Honolulu, Hawaii. He’s planning to run a marathon in Chica- go in 2021, he said. “For me, running is like therapy,” he said. “It’s my meditation and quiet time. It allows me to slow my brain down and reset each day.” – Matt deGrood FEATURE “For me, running is like therapy. It’s my meditation and quiet time. It allows me to slow my brain down and reset each day.” JUSTIN SERRETTE photo by JENNIFER REYNOLDS Justin Serrette started running more than eight years ago and has run marathons in Texas, Hawaii and Boston.34 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 FEATURE DR. ADVENTURE Friendswood doctor combines adventure travel in Nepal with medical expeditions story by JOHN WAYNE FERGUSON | photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS H arold Pine has never been to the top of Mount Everest. But Pine has helped plenty of people get there. Pine, a pediatric ear, nose and throat doctor at the Uni- versity of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, is an adventurer, teacher and doctor, often all at the same time. Since 2015, Pine, a Friendswood resident, has helped lead medical expeditions to Nepal to help provide medical care at Everest’s base camp, about 12,000 feet below the mountain’s summit. “I like to take people that are in pretty good shape and take them out of their com- fort zone and prove to them that they can do this,” Pine said. COurTESY PHOTO Dr. Harold Pine, right, holds the University of Texas Medical Branch colors at Everest base camp with his partner and medical branch otologist Dr. Dayton Young. COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 35 Dr. Harold Pine, an associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, has climbed mountains in New Zealand, summited Kilimanjaro and led medical expeditions to the Everest base camp.36 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 FEATURE On the way to base camp, Pine’s team of doctors visit remote villages, providing free medical care, including cancer screenings and skin evaluations, to local villagers. The group also built a computer lab for a village. And the team has helped treat some of the hundreds of climbers making their way to the summit each year who struggle to adjust to changes in altitude. “Once people know that you’re a doctor and that you’re open to helping, people find you,” Pine said of culture on the mountain. The trek from civilization to the Everest base camp can take up to a week, and must be made in stages to allow climbers’ bodies (Left) Dr. Harold Pine stands in front of a board in his department at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston highlighting his Everest excursions. (Below) Pine crosses 5,000 meters on his way to Everest during a 2017 expedition. Courtesy photo COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 37 to adjust, Pine said. Failure to pace can lead to dangerous situations on the mountain, including difficulty breathing and dizziness. If people fall sick on the mountain, there’s only limited resources available to help them. “People talk about going to Machu Picchu, where you can walk the really inspiring Inca Trail, or you can just take the train there,” he said “You can’t do that at Everest.” Technically, you could take a helicopter from Kathmandu to base camp, he added. But on landing at the camp, the improperly prepared would likely “fall violently ill and die,” he said. “For a lot of people, it’s quite the cruci-38 COASTMONTHLY.COM | JANuArY 2021 FEATURE ble,” he said. “Walking up a set of stairs at sea level is not that hard. Walking up a set of stairs at 14,000 feet becomes really difficult. At 17,000 feet, 18,000 feet, tying your shoes becomes a bit of a burden.” Many times during his trips over the years he has been awakened by distressed climb- ers asking him to check on people who were suffering altitude sickness. Often, the sickest people are climbers trying to face the mountain on their own, he said. The normal perils of the mountain aren’t the only dangers Pine has faced, he said. He had just landed in Nepal in April 2015 when the country was struck by a massive earthquake that killed more than 9,000 people and might actually have changed the height of Everest. Instead of going on their planned trek, Pine’s team members were thrust into first-responder roles in the devastated country. Pine, who is in his early 50s, is an avid adventure traveler and has been on bike trips through Tuscany, river-rafting expedi- tions, and, yes, a trail hike to Machu Picchu. He’s trying to visit 100 countries before he dies, he said. “I believe that travel, especially adven- ture travel, and these extreme events are extremely transformative,” Pine said. “I’ve spent a lot of my own time, money and energy trying to not just live that life, but to share that life with others.” Pine is hoping to return to Everest next year, if COVID-19 restrictions don’t stop him from traveling. The Everest climbing season normally begins in April and continues into the fall. As of November, only 150 people had traveled to Nepal to climb the mountain this year, according to the New York Times. In 2019, thousands of people made the at- tempt. It’s unclear whether travel will reopen in 2021, but Pine can’t wait for the day he returns to rarefied air, he said. “I’m a surgeon and I really need my fingers,” he said. “I don’t really need to be at the top. It’s never been about the summit for me.” COurTESY PHOTOS (Left) Dr. Harold Pine at the Everest base camp in 2017. Pine hopes to return to Everest next year, he said. (Right) Pine at the summit of Kilimanjaro, Uhuru Peak. “I believe that travel, especially adventure travel, and these extreme events are extremely transformative.” DR. 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