Up, Up and AWAY!

Yesterday was the Run the Republic stair climb in downtown Denver. The event happens ever year and is a benefit for the American Lung Association of Colorado.

I've been wanting to do this event for years...since it was "Run the Register" (the Register is another cool building in downtown) and this year, I finally did it! It is on my list of Five Things To Do In 2009 and was definitely worth it!

I ran with three of my friends - Chandra, Tarynn and Ashley. Tarynn, frankly, had way more energy that any person should have at 8am on a Sunday, but as that's pretty typical for her, it did make it more fun for the rest of us! The three of them had been training pretty intently for a while and because I've been so busy with school, etc. the only "training" I ever did was walking up and down the stairs at my apartment. Ah well. Stairs is stairs, right? Sure.

Chandra and I showed up around 730am to pick up our bibs and t-shirts (which are pretty rad-tacular and I intend to wear mine on Friday for casual day) and then just sort of dinked around for a while and the three of us (me, Chandra and Todd, who was there to cheer me on and take photos) until Tarynn and Ashley arrived.

Our start time was around 830am and by 824am, we were all on our way up the Republic! Woo hoo! I started out pretty strong and hauled ass up about 5 flights before I reconsidered that strategy and slowed to a run...I mean, the thing is 56 floors, which equals 1100 stairs. There's no way I could run for that long. Not a chance! So I slowed my pace a bit and took about 5 breaks just to catch my breath. By the time I reached the top, I was convinced that my lungs were going to explode out of my chest! Seriously...it felt like I'd just smoked a pack of cigarettes (oh the irony). But the view from that high up on Denver was worth every stair...oh my word. The city is just breathtaking with that mountain backdrop we're so lucky to have! And the sky was bright blue and sunny...couldn't have asked for better weather!

Chandra made it up first, me second and Tarynn & Ashley came in behind me...we did awesome! And we all got funny little Republic medals from the Mammoth cheerleaders at the top, which was hilarious and rad all at the same time (I didn't even know a lacrosse team would HAVE cheerleaders!). We fiddled around at the top for a little while then headed back down to meet up with Todd and get our SHWAG!!!! Man, I'm gonna run more races just for the free junk at the end! We got tiny Powerades, tiny CLIF Bars, tiny recovery salads, 6" sandwiches from the Spicy Pickle (mmm!), bananas and oranges from The Sunflower Market, granola bars from ... someone, there was a photobooth...I mean, the free crap was practically ENDLESS! I loved it!

They posted our times right before we left:

Chandra came in around 13:30

I came in around 17:30 (a woo hoo!!!)

Tarynn & Ashley came in around 23:00

So we all did really really well!

And no, my quads do not hurt...yay!

Update on the Get Fit By Brit plan: going smashingly! Losing the excess poundage and gettin' me some muscles!