More on the stair climb....

Yesterday was an emotional day for me and it led to a bit of a sleepless night. It could have been the adrenaline from the physical activity of the day. It could have been my brain just working through some of the emotions. Whatever it was, I decided I needed to make another post about it.

First let's talk about the start of the race. I really was not ready when I found myself on the start line. I had not taken a moment to mentally prepare for the "GO". You start individually at the line and this guy holds you up for a few seconds for the gap between climbers. I was still fumbling with my iPod when he said "GO". I want to say "WAIT" but I went. I climbed and was a bit out of sorts and overwhelmed for a few flights, feeling that I wasn't going to finish and how much I was going to fail. I took my first break at some point around floor eight and had to pull myself together. I changed the song on my iPod and did a little self talk. I then started again and did pretty well until floor 20 or so. I only did a few minor breathing stops until I hit floor 26. My training had only been 25 floors at a time and it was at that point that I really had to tell myself that I could do this. It was about this point that I started taking a couple of laps at the landings every 2nd floor to breathe deeply.

Around floor 40, when I should have been happy that it was almost over, I started to comtemplate doing my breathing laps at every landing but I knew I didn't need to do that. I knew at that point it was just a mental fight. So, I kept up the every two floor mark, even if the laps at the landings became long, I still kept it up. At this point too, I no longer noticed what song was on my iPod. I was just climbing. I was just going to finish and I did. My trainer, Kristin, and a couple of others were there at the top to meet me. I knew they had finished well before me but I did so appreciate them being there. I even let her hug me, sweat and all. (If you know me, you know I am not a huggy person, especially when sweaty.) I had made it! How fast, I had no idea but I was pretty share I had come in around my goal.

I realized at some point last night that in my post I never officially stated what my time was. I talked about surpassing my goal but not the actual time. Now there are people that I did share both my goal and my actual time with. I tried to figure out why I would share with some but not with others.

Although I am very proud that I did this climb, I guess a bit of me was a bit disappointed that I could not even target a "normal" time. You see, my target time for the climb was somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes and I completed in 29:04. This is more than twice as long as the average person on my team. BUT it is faster than the time I thought I was going to do.

It is also amazing that I even attempted to do this. It was not that many years ago that I would have been gasping just climbing to the third floor apartment that my friends had. I would not have even thought that 56 floors was a possibility.

Next year, I am going to work on this and have a goal of cutting 5 minutes off of this time. I think that is in the realm of possibility. I will do this again and I will improve my time.

I do want to note that I was on a team for this climb. Everyone on my team was very supportive and I do appreciate that. I also raised more money for the American Lung Association than I thought was possible. I have some very generous friends. I also had so many friends that were supportive in so many ways. All in all, it was a good day yesterday....a very good day.