An Unusual Win!
I am two weeks out from the Pittsburgh show. I feel very calm & comfortable right now with my progress. I am not anywhere NEAR where I want to be, or need to be, yet. But I am pleased with & proud of my progress thus far. I can see BIG changes & am definitely in the best shape of my life. It gives me hope that my best is yet to come, with lots more hard work & great nutrition!
This morning, I participated in my first stair-climbing race! It was the Fight for Air Climb here in Columbia, SC, benefiting the American Lung Association. We have South Carolina’s tallest building here in Columbia–only 25 floors! No skyscrapers here! The race was up the stairwell to the 25th floor. A lot of firefighters participated in full gear–wow that is impressive!
I actually thought it would be easy for me, as I do SOOOOO much cardio with plyos, running sprints, bleachers, etc. But the local high school where I run only has about 20 rows of bleachers & 40 steps. So I have to run up, then down, up, down, etc. Let me tell you, 25 straight floors of steps with no rest intervals is a whole different ballgame! At the end of the climb my quads were screaming, & I felt like I had been through an hour workout. I had no idea what my time was. They had a cool timing system. We wore a chip on a wristband, & we passed it above a sensor as we started & again at the finish. So it recorded everyone’s individual times.
I had set out to win it—because I can’t do anything without my competitive spirit kicking in! 
And I accomplished my goal! I won my age group (40-49)! Yay! I didn’t win Overall–the girl who won that was a machine, & had done a lot of stair races. She was awesome. But I DID have a better time than the under-19 winner! LOL! I was so excited, & I really enjoyed it.
I ran the race in 4 minutes 18 seconds. I took off way too fast, missed the second step I took & twisted my right ankle. It took me about 3 flights to shake that off. I was trying to run & take 2 steps at a time. Bad idea. I learned that you need to pace yourself from the beginning! At least until you work up to the level of effort required. That 4 minutes felt like a brutal hour-long leg workout!
I was proud, happy, & had a lot of fun–we were even dancing afterward with the firefighters! We did the Cupid Shuffle & the Cha Cha–my favorites! My legs were still feeling it even a couple hours later! I am definitely going to try to incorporate some serious stair-climbing into my workouts in the future. It would HAVE to help with quad separation!
Be Defiant!
Christy
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