Climb for Life Training

With my stair climb race coming up, I've been training pretty intensely. As most of you know, I am taking part in the race up the Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh as part of a fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In addition to my hilly runs and my "new buddies" at the Y (the Stepmill and upright bike), I have found a new secret training spot:

7.5 floors of dark, musty, beautiful stairs. Running up all of them 6 times is about how long the stair race is. It's not long, so I normally do all the floors 15+ times (113 floors), two steps at a time which the exception of a couple runs up sideways, backwards, and some three steps at a time. Today I made things a little more fun by doing 38 floors wearing a 20lb. weighted vest (up and down in under 14 minutes). 

 

It doesn't always feel fantastic, but the entire time I'm in that stairwell, I'm thinking of Rachel. Not only do I want to do this race to raise money to help find treatments for her, I want to win this race for Rachel. Last time I did a race for CF it was a 5k and I came in second overall and won my age group. Any time I'd start to get out of breath or tired out I just say to myself, "This is what she feels all the time, and she pushes through it, so do the same." Reminding myself of her strength is what helped me in the 5k, and I know it'll help me as I try to win this stair race.

I got a call from the Western PA CFF chapter yesterday and they told me that they need more runners for the race on October 16. Let me know if you're interested. But if you don't feel like running up 720+ stairs, you can help me out by donating at my fundraising site: www.cff.org/LWC/JonnySlick   

I've already raised $725 and I'd love to make it to $1000...help me if you can!