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| Sears Tower 2009 |
Goals, purpose, ambition and motivation…we all have them.
They just take different forms for each. In the late 90’s was the first time
that I had heard of the ‘sport’ of stairclimbing. Often when you mention to
people that you’re ‘climbing’ the Sears Tower, they think your scaling the
outside. No, actually we’re in a boring stairwell.
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| LA Bank Tower 2009 |
My start in this
sport finally became serious in 2005. I had just turned the ripe old age of
47…the age of my mother was when she died of cancer. ‘The Beast’ as I now call
it is the Firefighter Stairclimb at the Columbia Center in Seattle and is a
fund raiser for the Lymphoma/Leukemia Society. I thought, “What a great way to
honor a great woman”. So I began my training on our ‘Stairmaster’ at work and
then on weekends I would awake early enough to climb ‘Big Pink’. Now more than seven years later my legs continue to carry this body up
Big Pink’s 45 floors 2 to 4 times every weekend, now eclipsing more than 27,000
stories.
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| Portland FF 2011 |
It has been a wonderful way to conclude my career, as the
training has given me the necessary edge to keep up with the ‘young pups’. And
though I think that I’ve ended my firefighter climbing events, in which you’re
climbing in full turnouts, with SCBA (over 55 pounds) and breathing air, I hope
to continue this odd sport which today encompasses more than 200 events a year.
I’m always looking for training partners. Funny…very seldom
do I get any takers. So…next time you happen to find yourself at a ‘high rise’,
try taking the stairs for 10, 20 or maybe a 103 floors. You can do it!
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| '1st Place' for Masters...yeah old dudes! |
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| Empire State Building 2012 |
Note: if you’d like to consider this sport then check out
towerunning.com. Even one event to say, “I did it”, you’ll be glad you did. And
then again...you may never do anything like that again:)
The song that I selected for this blog is ‘Gravity’ by Shawn
McDonald. “Gravity is pulling me on down”. When you’re climbing…going straight
up…you so much want to stop. Yes, gravity is pulling me on down. What drives
me? Those with cancer do not have stopping as an option. It is pulling them
down as well, but they persevere. So I climb…I persevere…not giving way to
gravity. Shawn also says, “I don’t want to lose my sight of You”. Keeping my
sight on the goal. His goal...not mine!
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