Day 30 - Step Up Event

Today was a big day for me, I conquered the Kohl's Step Up For Kids, half climb of the AON building (refer to blog post, "Day 7" for the basics). Following is a recount of this first time climber's experience...

With 40 flights of stairs ahead of me, I took a moment at the base of the climb to make sure my I-pod was well prepared for the journey, and before I knew it, I was off. By floor 17, I thought, "Wow, this is real, I can't believe I'm doing this!" and that's when the real huffing and puffing started. At floor 20 I thought, "Thank goodness, I'm half way done!". At flight 23 I found a lost child and worked with another climber to help find her mother, and then continued onward and upward. I must have looked pretty pathetic nearing floor 29 as another climber offered what I hope was encouraging words followed by the "thumbs up" signal but between my I-pod and what seemed to be my heart pounding in my head I couldn't hear him and really, he could have told me anything so I just smiled and said "thank you!" as he passed me by. The landing at level 32 found me thinking, "Hell." Yeah, that's about all I thought at that point and at floor 35 I began the countdown in my head, "Just 5 more to go!". I think it was at staircase 36 that a father carrying a new born up the stairs lapped me, and I just had to laugh and remind myself today was about completing the task, not about time.

As I neared 40, I could hear the music blaring encouraging me to climb faster, so I did. I stepped through the doorway at 40 feeling super-accomplished. I took a moment to drink some water and cool down and was relieved, I was done! Of course, after standing around for a minute or two in efforts to catch my breath, a gentleman told me I had to step across the time clock to allow the timing chip on my shoe to calculate an end time. I had to laugh and again remind myself that this was all about finishing and not about my final time, right!? Fear of stairs conquered, blog updated, and now I think it's time for this blogger to conquer a nap!