Lots of Stairs

A not so auspicious picture of me at the start.

Last Sunday I participated in an event called The Big Climb. This is a fundraiser for leukemia which involves climbing the Columbia Tower. Well, climbing the stairs in the Columbia Tower. It's a huge event. I guess 6000 people climbed - about 1/2 were 'racers' (timed climb) and the other half were 'climbers' who just got to the top. The CT might be the tallest building in Seattle. And it's a lot of stairs - 1311 to be exact (69 flights and 788 vertical feet).

I wasn't sure how I would do. I had lofty goals (I thought about 11 minutes would be a good time), but I was afraid there would be serious leg burn and lots of bent over huffing and 'I can't go on' puffing (a frequent Crossfit occurrence). But, in reality it wasn't that bad. I mean yes, it hurt like hell. Yes, there was serious lung burn at the top and I felt really sick. Yes, I was really tired and the entire second half really wanted to stop. But I never had to stop. I made it the entire way at a nice steady pace - taking two stairs at a time the entire way and pulling myself up with my hands. And it went by really fast!

How'd I do? Well. I did not make 11 minutes. I finished in 13:10. Which is 26% overall, 10% of females and top 11% in my age group. But, before I get too excited about any of that, I like to remember that there was a 73 year old woman who finished in 12:53. So, I'd better get practicing if I want to be that fast by the time I'm 73!!

Oh, and should anyone want to donate......http://www.llswa.org/site/TR/Events/BigClimb?px=1379461&pg=personal&fr_id=1110