I’m paricipating in a Fight For Air Stair Climb for the American Lung Association. Nine hundred and fourteen steps, forty-two floors.
During the weeks leading up to this climb, I find myself doubling up stairs at every given opportunity. Staring at them as if they are both friend and enemy. Remembering the feeling inside of the stairwell, the way your eyes flicker up to a number. Floor 21? Halfway there.
The reason I do it: the gratitude I feel for my breath. My dad, who has struggled with asthma his whole life and had a near-fatal episode because of it. The funny thing about him is, he doesn’t talk about it. The tightness. The experience of having asthma, however common it is, absolutely limits you in ways people don’t always see. But you’d never know, with his general athleticism and dedication to hard work. Holy shit, it’s inspiring.
Our lungs are something we rely on constantly, something we take for granted until we can’t. And still, people ignore what we know, push past the warnings, act like breath is endless.
Selfishly, above all, I’m compelled to do this to prove something to myself about my body and what it can do. Watching the look on people’s faces when I tell them about this climb is priceless. I’ve always loved (in a more body-conscious way) the mantra of “take the stairs whenever you can.”
But forty-two floors of them? That’s another beast entirely.
What started in fitness for me as a “am I skinny enough?” check, has evolved into a “am I strong enough?” check. And god, do I love being strong enough. I’m charged up just writing this. The pre-race adrenaline is enough to send me flying, but pace will always be key during those first ten floors.
This is the first time I’m participating solo, which is an odd feeling. Next year, I hope to be with a group again. There’s something untouchably motivating about that, watching the legs of one of my coaches a couple steps ahead, trying to match her, fully aware I wasn’t there yet. She finished at 9:06.
I finished at 9:11. Not to hype myself up too hard, but that’s roughly 100 steps per minute. Sustained over 42 floors (which is the real killer! not just the steps, but the continuous climb + oxygen debt).
My goal is try to meet that, or beat it.
Nine hundred and fourteen steps to find out.
and if I can’t, that’s a data point for next year.
Thoughts?