A Sunday Adventure

Sunday was the 2005 Vertical Marathon. The vertical marathon is held annually at the tallest hotel in Asia, Swissotel The Stamford. It is a race up 1,336 stairs to the top of the building 73 flights up! I had heard about it earlier in the year while touring with Betsy's Mom, then later with my parents and decided I was going to run it, so for the past few months I have been training. Most of that training has simply been to always take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator (when possible). I realize that to some of you that doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you visit friends that live on the 13th floor it means a little more!

On Sunday we got there at about 7:15 so I could register, then stretched and prepared for the climb. I started my climb at just after 8 am. The first ten flights weren't too bad, after that I had to really push to keep going at a good pace. At the 35th floor I took out my secret weapon, I had carried my rubik's cube with me to solve when I was working hard and wanted to take my mind off the pain. Next thing I knew I had solved it and was at about the 65th floor, it did it's job well! Upon finally reaching the top, I was treated to the wonderful view.

I was able to spend about 30 minutes enjoying the panorama and relaxing, then I began the trip back down. Of course the elevator doesn't go all the way to the roof, so I had to walk down about 4 flights worth of stairs to get to the elevator. Once at the bottom I met back up with Betsy and collected my certificate. I was quite pleased to see I had finished in under 15 minutes: 14:56! I look forward to doing it again next year, hopefully bettering my time and having a clearer day!