March 17, 2012: American Lung Association Fight for Air Climb in Milwaukee, WI
Official Time: 11:51 minutes
Official Distance: 47 floors = 94 flights = 1,034 steps
I signed up for this charity climb after my friend Heather expressed interest in training for it together. There was a minimum donation that was required to climb, which was fairly easy for me to accomplish. I got an email a few days prior to the climb with my climb time, which was mercifully late in the day. Check-in was super simple, it took only a few minutes, and it was really well organized. Only complaint is that they ran out of small t-shirts and most of the food by the time we climbed.
They took climbers to the stairs in groups of 20 or so, and then started everyone up the stairs 10 seconds apart. That helped keep congestion to a minimum, however the stairwell was A LOT narrower than I expected it would be, so it was still hard at times to pass people. It was also really muggy and hot, but you can't really fault them for it since it was an unseasonably warm March day, and stairs just aren't built with proper ventilation for physical activity. Lots of people were having trouble breathing, and I quickly realized after a few flights that I would be walking, not running, the stairs. Volunteers were great, and had cheers, water, and fans ready for us when possible.
Personally, the climb seemed to go by really quickly-- I was surprised to find it only took me 12 minutes to finish. I guess I expected it would take a lot longer for some reason. My pace seems SUPER slow though compared to the winning male who finished in 6 minutes... and then he climbed it 5 more times... Crazy! On the other end of the spectrum, I saw a fair amount of people climbing with inhalers or canes, which was also very inspiring to me.
Overall, I HIGHLY recommend trying a climbing event sometime, because it's a unique challenge, and if it's for a charity, that's an added bonus! Personally, I probably won't do this event again, just because it was too long of a drive to Milwaukee for just 12 minutes of event.
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| After the climb! |
