Climbing 52 Flights of Stairs is Harder than it Sounds

From 2010 Big D Climb(by Eye-Fi)

2010 Big D Climb at The Fountain Building

I woke up today excited about my 3rd event in my 2010 Bike Run Yoga Challenge, the Big D Climb. The Big D Climb is a 52 flight, 1040 step stair climb at The Fountain Building that benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Seven friends decided to join me today, the largest group of friends I’ve ever had at an event and we had such a great time! It was so exciting waiting at the bottom; we were all so pleasantly oblivious to what awaited us. Right before we started our climb, someone posted the fastest time, 6:20. We all looked at it and laughed. Seriously? I thought to myself, when I ran on the stair climber it took me 6 minutes to go up 28 flights if stairs there is no way I could do 52 in 6 minutes, that is insane! Congrats to “Zach” who had the fastest time, I “climbed” my own race thank you very much.

From 2010 Big D Climb(by Eye-Fi)

At 8:34 am we started the Bike Run Yoga team climb up 52 flights of stairs, there were moments of cheering, motivation, determination, feels of needing to throw up, exhaustion, annoyance for feeling so out of shape, and complete satisfaction for reaching the top.

The climb started off great, Rhonda was in front of me and I cheered her on, “Go Rhonda Go!” Then it was my turn. The guy got my D-tag to beep, “ok, go” he says and I start of running, going up two steps at a time cheering as I went. I made it to what I thought was a fairly high level and looked up, gasping for air, and saw the sign said 8. Only the 8th floor? Are you kidding me?! Fine, I think, and I keep going. Not two at a time but heck, I was still moving upward.

From 2010 Big D Climb(by Eye-Fi)

Somewhere around floor 20 – 22 a volunteer gave me water and it went down the wrong way. After that, every time I took a breath in I coughed like I was a chain smoker. Solution? Breathe through the nose, which is what we do in yoga for 90 minutes so surely I should be able to do that for a stair climb, right? Uh, no, apparently not. I noticed I was having the hardest time breathing through my nose, could be because I had some congestion from my ski vacation. (At least I will blame it on that.)

As I came around each staircase I kept seeing the stupid floor level signs and they really were pissing me off, I mean, they were increasing so SLOWLY! There were great volunteers cheering everyone on though and that was nice. At floor 25 they were shouting half way…half way I thought, man, I am about to pass out and I only made it half way? I made it to floor 26 but it wasn’t pretty. I can’t even tell you what the volunteers looked like, my eyes were planted on the stairs so I didn’t fall or trip myself.

Rhonda and I were going up together and then at the half way point she needed to take a break. I did too but I remembered what Coach Joe said at the San Diego Marathon, just keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other. So I just kept going, slow maybe but I tried to just keep walking up the stairs, one step at a time.

From 2010 Big D Climb(by Eye-Fi)

My arms started to lose feeling sometime shortly after the half way point. My mind started to think about the medics someone mentioned were at the top. At the TOP I thought, heck, I need one right now!

I lost my mind somewhere between the floors in the 30’s and 40’s, those floors at bit of a blur, probably a good thing. At one point I saw two ladies and one said to the other, “I want to take a break.” As I passed I said “I want to take a break with you too.” Of course, I kept going. I did have to stop a few times to cough. Coughing almost made me vomit the apple fritter I had before I got there. Let me just say, apple fritter does not take good the second time around.


Then, as I rounded the staircase I could hear beeping…and volunteers were shouting almost there. What a glorious feeling. When I run I usually sprint to the end but not today. Today I was just lucky to make it. As I came around the 51st flight, there was a lady taking pictures. I did my best to smile while still heaving myself up the stairs. I crossed the finish line with a time of 17:22.

From 2010 Big D Climb(by Eye-Fi)

I feel such an amazing sense of accomplishment today and feel so thankful Rhonda, Scott, Chris, Dave, Jessica, Kelly and Doug choose to run up 52 flights of stairs with me today. I am so proud of everyone, we not only did something for ourselves but we also helped raise funds and awareness for blood cancer research. It makes me proud to be able to be part of something greater than myself and I have loved my experiences with different events through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. However, I think I would rather run another marathon with them than go up 52 more flights of stairs! Man that was HARD!

From 2010 Big D Climb(by Eye-Fi)

2010 Bike Run Challenge: Join Today! 

Yoga For Beginners 

ToeSox Yoga / Pilates Organic Cotton Toe Socks (Medium, Black) 

Big D Climb - it's More than Just Climbing 52 Flights of Stairs

I got a wonderful email from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with a PDF file attached, it is the training schedule for the Big D Climb I am completing as one of my 24 events in the 2010 Bike Run Yoga Challenge.

After looking at the training schedule, I might want to rethink my strategy. The first week looks fine, it is just basic training kind of things and it says after the first week the average person should be able to complete 5 - 7 minutes of consistent stair travel. Sounds easy right? When I think about how long it takes me to go up three flights of stairs at work and how winded I am, I am thinking 5 - 7 minutes is going to kick my butt.

From Blog

But that isn't the worst part. Week 2 wants me to jump rope for 5 minutes. Just once a week but 5 minutes?! My trainer at the gym tried to get me to jump rope for just 30 seconds at a time...it was a sight to see. Picture the worst jump rope jumper and then times that by 10 and that was me. The rope would get tangled around my legs. I couldn't actually jump rope by jumping up, the only way I managed to do it was the way I did when I was a kid and it is more like skipping rope. I spent more time restarting or untangling myself. Hysterical to watch.

I was so bad at it my trainer gave up and she found a different exercise for me.

So in my true rebel fashion, I don't think I will stick to the training schedule, though it was nice of them to send it, I always enjoy knowing what I SHOULD be doing. The only correct training schedule I stuck to this year was my Team in Training schedule for my San Diego Marathon. The rest of the events I did I only half trained if at all. I never had a injury and my recovery period for most events is very short. I contribute most of my success in avoiding injuries to yoga. Being flexible makes you nimble and able to withstand many things.

Light the Night Walk - I'm Walking!

I’m helping raise money for cancer research through the Light The Night Walk on October 18th in Dallas, Texas. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is putting on this wonderful event to celebrate and commemorate lives touched by blood cancers. I first became aware of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) when I signed up to train for my first marathon through Team in Training. I originally signed up for the free training and learned so much more than how to run a marathon, I learned about an amazing organization that raises funds for important blood cancer research and patient services.

Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Many LLS-supported advances help not only blood cancer patients but those with other diseases as well. In addition to research support, the Society offers support groups, financial aid, information and advocacy programs for patients and their families.

The Light The Night® Walk is an evening walk where walkers will carry illuminated balloons to signify support and remembrance: white balloons for those who are affected by cancer; red balloons for supporters, and gold balloons will be carried by those who have lost a loved one to cancer. The Walk culminates in a community celebration with music, refreshments and entertainment-where friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers and others come together to demonstrate their support for cancer patients.

You can help support The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society too by walking, donating or both! Click her for more information on how to get involved. Light the Walk

If you can donate please do so here!