Vertical Dash

A team of us got together to do the "Vertical Dash". There was some people from my church and some people from my work. It was quite the mix of people. There were all different levels of fitness but there was one thing everyone had in common. Everyone on the team had an incredible heart. We won the "Top Team Fundraising Award" The 6 of us raised over $500 for the American Diabetes Association.

This is a picture of us before the race.

Just to put things in perspective- this is a picture of the building we climbed. There are 38 floors in this building. We climbed all but 4 of them. I think Marilyn and Deborah did the math and it was 28 stairs per floor for the first 7 floors and 22 stairs per floor for the rest. That is 790 stairs. I want to mention that the stairwell did NOT have airconditioning and it was terribly humid.

We lined up and my nerves started kicking in. They started everyone 10 seconds apart and our team was somewhere pretty close to the end. As we got closer to the stairwell- we could see the people who had been at the front of the line coming back down. The super duper fast people get to go first. The fastest guy ran up all 34 floors in 3 min 38 secs. That is CRAZY!! Did I mention it is 790 stairs. The fastest girl did it in 5 min 11 secs.

They counted me down and up I went. I did pretty good for the first 7 floors and then I took a break. I knew that I was going to have to pace myself but I wasn't prepared for how hot it was. I started up the stairs again and I think I made it up to the 11th floor before my lungs were screaming again. I think the last of the people behind me passed me while I was there. That means I had to go up the next 23 floors knowing that I was going to be the last one up. I pretty much knew that going in but I really thought I would be higher up before it happened. When I got up to floor 17- I wanted to quit. I was huffing and puffing, I was overheated and I was frustrated. God gently reminded me that I'm not a quitter anymore. I pretty much stopped and took a breath every 2 floors from 17 to 26. At floor 24, I leaned against the wall and thought "COULD A GIRL GET SOME WATER". I was kind of surprised that there wasn't anyone on the way up with some water or at least coolers or water bottles on some of the landings. I remember leaning against the wall- stretching my legs and trying to regroup thinking that if anyone was watching cameras in the stairwell that they would be sending an EMT to rescue me sometime soon. I was looking pretty rough but I was determined not to give up.

When I got to floor 26- I saw a full bottle of water on the bottom step of the next flight. At first I thought it was a mirage but I went over and picked it up. I thought "My God in heaven had someone put that bottle of water there" but I looked..and the seal had been broken. I could almost hear nurse Leanna telling me about all of the cooties that would be on that bottle so I set it down. I almost wept. I knew that I only had 8 more floors so I took the next 4 all at once. When I got to 30 I finally knew I wasn't going to die. I took the time to catch my breath and went up the next 4. My team was AWESOME!! Of course they were the only ones standing around up there because I was the last one up but they applauded loudly for me when I made it. I was sooo proud of myself for getting up those stairs. It was a realization of how much harder I need to work to get in shape but it was such an awesome reminder of what I can do when I put my mind to it.

Did I mention that all I wanted was some WATER!!!!! Apparently they ran out at the top and my reward for getting to the top was some luke warm orange vitamin water....EEWWWWW!!! Don't get me wrong...I sucked it down!! =)

Marilyn and I had joked on Thursday night about whether we thought we could do it in less than 20 minutes. I told her that my best time so far had been 25 min but I was going to shoot for 20 minutes. These are the results of our team: (did I mention how awesome they are)

Deborah Doss- 7 min 14 sec - 8 out of 90 girls- 33 out of 128 overall

Mark Patterson- 8 min 25 sec- 28 out of 38 men - 64 out of 129 overall

Marilyn Humphrey- 10 min 23 sec - 55 out of 90 girls- 94 out of 128 overall

Meagan Patterson- 12 min 32 sec- 74 out of 90 girls - 115 out of 128 overall

Megan Bishop - 16 min 56 sec- 84 out of 90 girls- 125 out of 128 overall

Holly Waugh- 20min 32 sec- 90 out of 90 girls- 128 out of 128 overall

Now...I am fully aware that I was the last place FINISHER...but I WASN'T in last place. I know of at least one guy who quit!!! I AM NOT A QUITTER!!!!

I almost made my 20 min goal and I am cursing the fool who set their water bottle down on the 26th floor. They made me waste at least 32 seconds trying to decide if I should drink their water!! Curses I say!!

Here is our after picture

I am already looking forward to next year-- Want to join us???