Phil and I woke at about 7 AM and made a protein and carbohydrate balanced breakfast: scrambled eggs with cheese and whole wheat bread with grape jelly. I may or may not have snuck in a small bowl of Apple Jacks as well! My scheduled start time was 10 AM and Phil’s was 11 AM, so I didn’t feel bad about eating a large amount of food – I figured it would be mostly digested by the time of the climb.
We left around 8 AM and made it inside the tower around 8:40. The buzz inside made me even more excited for the climb. Participants who had already completed the climb were walking around with their medals. None of them looked too worn down, so that encouraged me. We picked up some coffee at Corner Bakery to give us a bit of a boost, then checked my bag with my sweats and jacket at the gear check. We asked the information table if Phil could start with my 10 AM group instead of waiting until 11, and they said that wasn’t a problem. It was nice that we could start the same time – but I told him I wasn’t going to wait for him during the climb, and I didn’t!
We got in line around 9:30, and realized we didn’t have to officially “wait” until 10 – they kept advancing the line, allowing climbers to enter 6 seconds apart from one another. By 9:40 it was my turn to get started!
This being my first stair climb, I had no intention of running the stairs – I was not even sure how to train for the event or if I had trained properly. I wanted to climb them at a steady, pretty quick pace similar to what I do on the stair climber machine at the gym. After my first few steps, I realized each step was probably double the height of what the stair machine’s are! In all honesty, by Floor 5 I was thinking, “I’m never going to make it!” Still I stayed focused and before I knew it, I had come to the first water station on Floor 24. Even though it was early into the climb, I was sweating up a storm and felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.
The stairs weren’t very crowded, for about half of the stairwells I was by myself. Sometimes you would come across 3 – 4 people, but usually I would find just one other climber. There were roughly 10 steps (when taking the stairs one at a time) in each flight.
There were some really cool signs posted along the way – some with information about the RIC, others telling you how far you’ve climbed compared to other famous monuments. There were signs that said “You’ve now climbed higher than the St. Louis Arch”...the Eiffel Tower...the Empire State Building...etc.
Floors 50 – 70 seemed to take for.ev.er. I remember the 60’s being particularly challenging, as I was feeling a bit dizzy and lightheaded. Once I hit 75, I knew the end was near! I powered through to Floor 80, 85, 90. By 90 I was feeling pretty pumped and wanted to try to run up the rest of the flights, but here things got a little annoying. The stairwells from floors 85 and up were much more narrow than the others, and many other climbers were starting to get very worn down. You were supposed to climb on the right to allow other climbers to pass you on the left. Well, everyone was taking up the whole stairwell! I was trying to pass people and couldn’t push through. I ran up flights 100 – 103, and as I approached 103 could hear people cheering. I hustled up the stairs and got my medal!
Photo credit goes to my cousin Rachael, who also made it to the top! Congrats! Since you so nicely photographed the medal, no need for me to go through the trouble of taking one and uploading it :) haha.
Surprisingly, my legs do not feel all that sore (we'll see what I say tomorrow!). I really feel like all the squats 4 times a week in boot camp helped strengthen them, plus my 45 minutes I spent on the stair climber a couple time a week. The cardio aspect of it hit me a lot harder. As of right now, I still plan on going to boot camp tomorrow morning. Official race results are supposed to be posted on the site this evening, so far I can't seem to find them but will keep checking!
We stayed on the Sky Deck for a little bit, taking in the awesome view of Chicago.
Thank you again to all of you who supported my fundraising for this event. The climb benefits the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. RIC provides world-class rehabilitation care to patients - children and adults - from around the globe for traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, as well as stroke and cancer.
In this month of thanksgiving, I am thankful that my body allows me to do what I did today. Walking is something we take for granted while some patients of RIC must work hard to learn to walk again or be able to do other physical movements we do without thinking. Today I thought about how so many of us criticize our bodies on a daily basis when we should be thanking it for all it does on its own and all we can push it to do. The stair climb is the last event I had planned for 2011 - I participated in the Warrior Dash, the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, and now this. Thank you, body, for allowing me to do what I have done this year!
***UPDATE*** Race times posted!!! My official finish time was 26 minutes, 51 seconds
