Crossing of # 12

Well I did it. I accomplished #12 off my list; participate in the 2010 climb california, in SF for sure, but maybe another city.

Last Saturday The Girl and I climbed to the top of 555 California to benefit the American Lung Association.

Here are some stats.
The youngest climber was 6 years old. She climbed the building in 20 minutes, 46 seconds.
The oldest climber was 83 years old. He did it in 18 minutes, 58 seconds.
The fasted climber did it in 7 minutes 49 seconds. The guy who came in second was just 2/10s of a second slower. Bummer for him, but still a great feat.

My team - Team Aloha - raised $230! Woo Hoo!

I was concerned about making it to the top. I had been battling a bad cold for the 2 1/2 weeks before that. It had unfortunately turned into pneumonia. My doctor told me not to do the climb. I had to, though. People contributed to the cause in honor of me climbing. I had to at least try. Besides, I wasn't too keen on my daughter climb by herself. I knew we'd get separated during the climb, but I didn't want her to stand in line by herself.

While we were in the queue to start our climb we compared notes as to what we were rockin' on our mp3 players. The Girl chose to climb to the tunes of Brooke White, of American Idol fame. I walked up the stairs with my mp3 player on shuffle, enjoying the music of The White Stripes, Robert Cazimero and Queen with a little bit of Horace Silver and the soundtrack for Brazil thrown in.

I'm so proud of Hyla.

We hit the first step at the same time. She got one step ahead, turned around, smiled and said "see ya". That's the last I saw of her until I reached the top. Out of 967 climbers, Hyla came in 668th place. Her time was 19m25sec. Of the 22 people in the 0-18 age group, she placed 15th.

I, on the other had, did not do as well as I did last year.
In my defense, however, I had pneumonia the week before and wasn't at my best. My goal was to beat last year's time of 27 minutes, 10 seconds, but, alas, it was not to be. I came in 945th place with a time of 37m, 27sec. In my age group, I came in 165th out of 172. I'll get 'em next year.

Hubby and The Boy met us up at the top in what used to be The Carnelian Room. They arrived shortly after The Girl made it to the top. When I was at floor 26 I texted the Hubbs to tell him I was halfway there. He texted back telling me he found The Girl at the table full of carbs enjoying a snack. I figure she made it to the top when I was at about the 20th floor. When I got to the top and found the table full of carbs, The Girl ran up to me and gave me the biggest and bestest hug ever. She had a great smile on her face. We were both sweaty and bright red. It was definately a moment to remember.
 
The Girl wasn't sore at all. Of course she wasn't. She's 11. She's fit. She can run for an entire basketball game and not get tired. I knew she'd fare well. I did well, too. My legs were a little restless on Saturday night, but I wasn't sore, and I didn't get sore the next day.
 
That afternoon we drove to Oakland for a BBQ at my friend P's house. I felt a little woozy so I didn't drink any alcohol, and I felt better after having some protein - bbq pork ribs, some water and some soda.
 
I fell asleep right after we put The Boy to bed that night and slept the sleep of the just.
 
It was a pretty good day. I'm glad I got to share this experience with my daughter. I can't wait to do it next year. I hope we can grow our team from 2 people to 100, or maybe at least 10.
 
So a Big Mahalo Nui Loa to all of our donors and all who showed us support. We hope we can count on you next year, or better yet, we hope you can join Team Aloha!

Get ready to cross off #12 on my list

Pencil steady, it's almost time.

Today I took the first step in accomplishing #12 on my list "participate in the 2010 Climb California event.
I registered. I not only registered, I started a team and signed up my first team member, my daughter, my Little Miss. She'll be 11 by the time the next climb comes along (Marcy 27, 2010).

Wanna join my team? We're called "Team Aloha". Everyone's welcome. All you have to do is register, sign up with Team Aloha, raise $100 and walk 52 flights of stairs, that's 1,197 stairs.

I did it last year in 27 minutes, 10 seconds. I came in 927th place. This year I'm hoping to do it in less than 25 minutes.

Totally do-able, I think. The record is something crazy like 6 minutes 32 seconds. Last year there were all kinds of people climbing from super stair climbing athletes, to kids, to firemen dressed in full gear. I read a story about a woman who was recovering from surgery; she had a lung removed. The climb took her over an hour. Her family was worried as the waited for her and sent some medics down the stairs to find her. When they found her she was fine. She told them she was taking her time, she was going to make it to the top, just making it to the top was her reward.

If you can't participate, can you donate? Little Miss and I each need to raise $100. Whatever is donated into our individual buckets can't be transferred to another person, so please, when you donate, if one of us has reached the $100 mark and the other hasn't, please donate to the one who hasn't.

Y'know, you can always donate to both of us.  

Happy Climbing!