March 19, 2016 - After 10 weeks of training, the day was finally here for the Fight For Air Climb. Like last year, it was just me and my Long Time Climbing Partner (LTCP) participating in the event. Our start time was 11am, but we decided to meet at 10am to see if we can sneak in early to beat the crowds. When we got there, we realized that it wasn’t going to be as crowded as last year, which is a little disappointing since it’s such a great event for a great cause.
After checking in at the registration booth and pinning on our assigned numbers and tracking tags, we took the escalator to the bottom floor where the line was. Last year, the line was so long, it snaked around the floor. I’m not sure whether this is because we sneaked in as part of the early pack or there’s just a lot less participants this year, but the line was short. We quickly moved down the hall, coming up to the starting point. LTCP and I were discussing our strategies. He was planning to skip steps on every 10th floor while I was planning to skip steps at the final 8. We eventually came to the cemented holding room where they did final checks to make sure our tracking tags were working. It was freezing in there. I shouted, “It’s soooo cold!”, wrapping my arms around my body and hopping around to warm myself up.
Once their checks were complete, which only took less than a minute or two, we were instructed to start our climb. LCTP went before me and they held me back for about 30 seconds before I got my marching orders. Remembering my mistake from last year when I bursting out of the gate and hit a wall at floor 12, I just decided to climb at an easy pace and build up as my body got warm and loose.
The stairwell was relatively clear (compared to last year). People who started before me were already walking at floor 5. I kept my head down to avoid looking at them or the floor numbers on the walls. I got really distracted and discouraged last year when I caught a glimpse of the floor number and realizing I was so tired and had a lot more floors to go. And seeing others stopping makes me want to stop too.
As mentioned, I hit a wall at floor 12 last year, but when I got to floor 11 this year and my feet were still moving, but getting heavy, it was such as encouraging meeting.
When we were in the hallway earlier, I was saying to LTCP that I wanted to hydrate beforehand because I remembered being really thirsty along the way. There are water stations around every 10th floor, but you had to step out of the stairwell and I knew once I step out, it’ll be really hard to get back in. My mouth was so parch in the beginning of today’s race. Luckily, they had someone around floor 15 passing out small cups of water in the stairwell. The quick sip of water was so refreshing, it put the life back into me.
I continued my way up the steps, never stopping until I reached floor 28 when there were a group of participants just taking up the full stairwell, just walking slowly or even stopping. I eventually found an opening and squeezed my way through.
By floor 30, I caught up to this larger gentlemen. He’s not overweight; he’s just stalky. For the rest of the race, I ran alongside him and we both were climbing at the same pace. I wanted to pass him several times, but my legs were too tired to run around him.
Minutes later, I began hearing people shouting and cowbells clamoring. Just 5 more floors to go. I tried to pick up my pace, but my body wants nothing to do with that. It wasn’t long when I saw the bright lights at the end of the tunnel, beaming from the large windows at the top floor, blinding me. I made it! I didn’t know what my time was. I knew I was faster than last year, but didn’t know by how much. At that moment, I didn’t care. I was so happy I finished without stopping.
I was looking for some water, but found LTCP instead at the coconut water booth. High fives! He suggested I must’ve improved my time this year because he thinks I only 2 minutes behind him.
The official times came out on Monday. Drum roll please. Last year, I completed the climb in 14′38″. This year, I completed the climb in 12′26″. Not only that, I came in 28th out of 73 participants in the 40-49 year old bracket. LTCP did great as well. He came in under 10 minutes at 9′23″ and is ranked 8th in the same bracket.
I have to admit, I was elated after discovering how much I improved. It goes to show, hard work pays off. But I felt I was more fit and physically prepared last year. What made the big difference this year was that I was mentally prepared. I knew what to expect. I focused my attention on myself and finishing the climb.
Looking forward to next year!
