(Jim's inspirational story was also used in the "letter from the editor" section by Editor-in-Chief Tom Deters, as a classic example from the "Tough Guys" feature of which this was a part.)

Jim Huebner, 53, is a self-proclaimed "pitbull hanging on the ankle of life," but he didn't always have such a fierce grip. More of a party animal than an athlete, Huebner, at 28 carried 207 pounds on his 5' 5" frame.

Perusing a self-help book, Huebner came across the teachings of the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Their concept of Arete--of accomplishment, of being the best you can be--became his mantra. "I looked at myself, naked, in the mirror and decided that was definitely not the best I could be!" he laughs.

Running became Huebner's medium for change. Dressed in a trench coat and Converse All-Stars, he self-consciously but steadfastly, did laps under the cover of night, struggling with each sluggish yard. "I'm just an ordinary guy with no athletic ability who put his mind to it," he insists. "I educated myself on nutrition and on physical fitness ... and I stopped thinking against being fat and started thing for being athletic." After several years, he trimmed himself down to 137 pounds and built himself up to running 10k races and eventually his first marathon--a birthday present to himself at 41. After he did his fourth marathon in 3:40, he felt his limitations evaporate, "I knew I could do anything."

In 1989, he was seduced by a TV special on Alaska's Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America. Living in "horizontal, blue and hot" Florida, he was fascinated by the icy, white, vertical landscape. After two years of endurance workouts, weight training and winter survival programs, he was ready to tackle the 20,320 foot mountain. Battling frigid winds, storms and fatigue, he made two grueling attempts that ended at 16,000 feet, his progress blocked by weather and dangerous conditions. But Huebner hung on to his dream, and on his third try in as many years, he and his team reached the summit. He was exhausted and exhilarated. He was 50. He was the best that he could be.