Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey barely had time to catch his breath after running the Boston on April 17 before catching a flight to Kathmandu in Nepal.

He was about to tackle an adventure he had dreamed about since he was 12 and had gone with his mom to the movie “Everest” — climbing the tallest mountain peak in the world.

Bailey, 36, had been training for months: spending one to three hours a day, six days a week, on the stair-stepper gaining a minimum of 3,000 feet each day, lifting weights, engaging in high-intensity workouts, cycling, hiking and running.

In January, he climbed the 23,000-foot-high Aconcagua in Argentina, the tallest mountain in the Western hemisphere.

His online LinkedIn profile touts his experience in business development, community outreach and “running 100 miles without passing out.”

As committed as he was to making this trek, however, he was equally committed to performing his mayoral duties and not missing a council meeting.

“I’ve never missed a vote in my 10 years on the council, let alone a meeting, and I’m not about to start,” he wrote in a Facebook entry that he posted during his expedition. “So, at 3 a.m. on Wednesday morning Nepal time (about 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, San Diego time) I’ll be calling in on a satellite phone.”

In so doing, Bailey thinks he may have convened a public government meeting at the highest altitude ever on land. Could that be some sort of Guinness World Record? He is checking into it.

“I wouldn’t have done the trip if I couldn’t have fulfilled my oath,” Bailey said of his mayoral responsibilities.

One of his research friends informed him that, if he reached the summit, he would be only the third person known to have completed the Boston Marathon then climbed to the top of Mount Everest in the same season.

But getting to the top of Mount Everest, eclipsing 29,000 feet, requires more than months of physical and mental preparation and stamina. It requires cooperation of the wind and weather (which generally only happens in May), expert guides, lots of luck and good health.

About eight days into the journey to Everest Base Camp and beyond, Bailey developed a fever. He fought it off with medicine and pushed on, but two days later the fever returned, along with aches, chills and a tremendously sore throat.

Richard Bailey rests at the Sherpa village of Dingboche, 15,000 feet high, a popular place for Everest trekkers to layover and acclimatize.

(Courtesy of Richard Bailey)

Instead of hiking from the Base Camp to Camp 1, then to Camp 2, en route to the summit, Bailey took a helicopter to Kathmandu to try to restore his health and strength, before rejoining his team of about 20 hikers and their guides.

As he waited for his flight, another helicopter passed overhead to Camp 2. Its mission was a grim reminder that the Everest climb is only a heartbeat from tragedy. The helicopter was recovering the body of 69-year-old American climber Dr. Jonathan Sugarman of Seattle, whose death later was attributed by his family to suspected sudden onset of altitude-related illness.

This has been a brutal year for Everest climbers — at least 12 have succumbed and three more are reported missing as of May 26.

At Kathmandu, Bailey was able to call his mother in San Diego providing her with much-needed relief. She had heard a news report that an “American climber” had died and, with no details, was understandably worried.

After a week of illness and recovery, Bailey flew back to base camp on May 10 and was heading out that night on foot. Winds had been buffeting the summit at 100 mph, so the Sherpas hadn’t been able to install climbing lines to the final destination, however, a window was expected to open soon.

Bailey still had to acclimatize by hiking up to Camp 3 at nearly 23,950 feet, then returning to base camp, then climbing back up. The climbing is done at night because it is colder, with less danger of avalanches and ice falls than in the warmth of the day.

Bailey was confident the name of his Sherpa, Karma, was a good sign. Plus, he had been blessed by a Tibetan lama at a monastery they had passed, he carried two saints climbing medals given to him by his aunt and wore a coveted C4 shirt from a Coronado-based foundation serving Navy SEALs.

But all that karma was not enough.

He woke up at midnight realizing he had overestimated his recovery. The fever, aches and debilitating muscle fatigue returned. Doubt crept in. Five days of extreme exertion lay ahead.

Nevertheless, Bailey began the expedition.

By the second check-in point, however, his legs were cramping and his energy flagging. He feared he would be moving too slow to make it out of the icefall danger zone before the warmth of the sun hit.

He and his guide returned to Base Camp where Bailey collapsed into a deep sleep still wearing his climbing clothing.

He likes to refer to Muhammad Ali’s version of an old quote: “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

Having to turn around and walk away from his dream still keeps him awake at night.

The Coronado mayor headed home in disbelief and disappointment, but he plans to return, if not next year, in 2025. “The mountain is still there. I can’t live with this unfinished goal. It will make the summit that much sweeter when I get there,” he says.

He arrived home on Monday, May 15, just in time to make Tuesday’s council meeting in person. What he longed for most was hugging his mother, seeing friends and heading to the beach.

Bailey describes the life-and-death challenge as cleansing because it focused him on the basics — eating, drinking, sleeping and surviving — and taught him to appreciate the special things in life.

He repeats the quote of an anonymous climber: “Mountaineering is a way to remind myself that what I’m really looking for is already at home.”

Meanwhile, other challenges beckon from Bailey’s adventure to-do list. He’d like to enter another Ironman triathlon and run another Boston Marathon. He intends to climb the tallest mountain on all seven continents and, eventually, take on the Explorer’s Grand Slam — conquering those seven peaks plus skiing to both the North and South Poles.

“But first,” he says, “I have to get back to Everest.” After, of course, several more City Council meetings.