This morning I woke up at 6:30 and dragged myself to the City with a hangover (courtesy of the Warriors) and in the midst of sideways rain caused by gale force winds.
I arrived at the tallest building around, rather wet, collected my bib and timing chip (after multiple attempts and a relocation of the registration tables to somewhere dry), checked my gear, and then proceeded to climb to the top of the building, 52 stories and 1197 steps. This was the 2012 American Lung Association Fight for Air Climb, and I participated as part of the Bank of America Community Volunteers team courtesy of a TNT ski buddy. We were the third team to climb after the firefighters and CrossFit. Many of the fire fighters climbed in full gear - I cannot imagine how much that weighs.
I obviously hadn't trained for this event and was rather nervous about how difficult it was going to be, but it turned out to go much faster and easier than I had expected. I finished in under 13 minutes. At the top, there were spreads of bagels and fruit, a DJ, and amazing views, looking down on everything else around. There were a million volunteers for this event and they were fantastic.
I had worried about claustrophobia in the stairwell, but it was rather big, and they stagger starts by 8 seconds so there were never all that many people around. The elevator ride back down was much worse.
Overall, it was a fun time, and I am sure it would have been even better without the terrible weather and consequent clusterf*** surrounding registration, as well as all the people packed into the lobby creating a din. It was so much nicer to be on top. I would definitely do this event again, and so should you!
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