Just some odds and ends and jokes

So the odd part is that I was upset yesterday, even though I am crazy for feeling this way, but when I saw the published list of stair climb finishers, there were about 4500 participants and there were 15 who finished slower than I...... BUT I have gotten over it today after thinking about where I was a year ago so I know it was a dumb thought, but I wanted to capture it in words for future use....

step back in time abour 6 years ago, I hurt my back and somehow ended up stuck in bed, unable to lift my big ole self up into a sitting position. I live alone, but there was a phone beside my bed, so I could have called for help, but I was too proud, or didn't want to alarm anyone, or didn't want to go through the shame of having someone come and break into my apartment to "save" me. Well after 3 days of not moving, no food, no water I started to feel a bit weak and decided to try one last time to get up. I managed to get into a sitting position but realized I was too weak and couldn't get up, so I ended up calling my Dad to come save me, which he did and everything was fine.

Fast forward to my stair climb....I'm certain my Dad was terrified I was going to have a heart attack, but he just kept saying be careful, be careful...... So I was taking to my younger sister yesterday and she mentioned she has been battling vertigo, and I mentioned that I have had that before...... note the BEFORE, not now. So tonight my Dad calls and asks if I am alright because somebody mentioned that I am feeling a little dizzy after my climb- OH FFS...... On one hand I am sad that my 74 yr old father still has to worry about my health, but I the other hand I want to say please give me a little credit here..... show a little bit of faith in me...... I told him I am fine and in fact I have already began training for my triathlon....... wait until I invite him to my boxing match- lol, that will get him going- haha

Anyway, as per usual, I don't know where I am trying to go with all of this but I just wanted to let it go from inside of me and move on.

1 hour, 09 mins, 52 seconds of pure climbing hell!

Wowza what a challenge THAT was. A breakdown of my CN Tower stair climb is as follows:

- stopped on the 10th floor and was already feeling tired, only 134 flights left to go
- stopped on the 20th and for a split second thought about turning around and going back down
- stopped on the 30th and thought that my lungs were going to explode, pain in my lungs was tremendous - cursed myself for all the damage done from smoking for so many years.
- stopped on 40 and realized that time no longer mattered, this was about pride and just completing this climb
- decided to break down the floors in 5 flight sets with breaks after each set
- got into a rhythm from from 40 to 72, the half way mark. High 5'ved my climbing partner at the thought of actually climbing that high. Tried not to think about still having 72 more to go. At this point our ears started to get plugged because of the altitude.
-72 to 100 was a bit easier. Decided that instead of thinking about doing another 44 floors, we would concentrate on doing 8 sets of 5 flights and just count down from 8. This worked tremendously.
-made it to the top...... I think the cruelest part was they stamp your card at the top and you think you are done but then you have to climb another 10 flights to get out into to tower. It was awesome coming through the door though, drenched in sweat, to the cheers of the crowds at the top.

To me the best part of the day was the people. Everyone on the stairs was cheering everyone else on, it was lovely to see and to be a part of. Fellow blogger CD Blueberry often talks about "not fitting" being a bigger person, and today everyone fit and that was fantastic. Just as a side note, the best part of the day was meeting a young woman who stopped to rest with us at about floor 110. She was in obvious pain and I asked if she was alright. She said she wasn't sure if she could continue for another 34 floors and I told her we were breaking it down into sets of 5 flights and surely she could do that 6 more times.... So she kept pace with us and we helped each other out. When we stopped on floor 130 she told us that she was fulfilling a promise she made to her mother a few weeks ago when she died of breast cancer. She promised her she would complete the CN tower climb. This totally inspired me to push hard at the end and get up there with her and that totally got us to the top where she thanked me for helping her through when she thought she wouldn't make it.

I have attached some photos of the day and have included some pictures from the top looking down, just so you can see how high we really were(note: the official height from the base up to the main deck of the tower is 342 metres (1,122.0 ft).)

One week until I climb- and last week in review

So by this time next week, I will be writing about my experience climbing the CN Tower. I feel very calm and confident about this challenge which actually is the biggest victory for me. I know I will make it, even though I know it won't be easy, I know I can do it, and this change of mind set is really amazing. This week at the gym I will be doing the stair climber on Monday, once again doing the equivalent of the tower..... Wednesday boxing (conditioning) and Friday the bike. Other than that I will make sure I am eating well this week, no eating out, no alcohol, and get lots of rest.

Last week was a disaster food wise, I think I ate out every night for a week. Luckily, my weight has not sky rocketed and I did try to make healthy choices at most of those meals.

Fitness wise, I am happy to report that I was able to actually spar with my trainer on Friday. He donned his boxing gloves and started teaching me blocking techniques. After getting clocked in the nose 2 times, I certainly understand the value of learning how to block punches. My trainer felt bad about connecting with my nose on two occasions (even though it didn't really hurt, but don't tell him that-lol) so much so that he texted me in the afternoon to see how my nose was..... I replied not to worry, I was fine...... and then added that the Dr. said the broken nose would heal nicely and the black eyes should be gone within a few days- hahaha, I am such a shit!

Personally, every thing is going well, I am enjoying the company of friends and looking forward to getting out and mingling a bit more as the warm weather approaches.

CN Tower Stair Climb - Update

Well, I climb the tower on April 17th. I have been a bit worried because of the injury to my knee I have been unable to do much in the way of weight bearing exercise- so no stair climbing for a few weeks.... Today my trainer put me on the stair climber and I actually did the equivalent of climbing the CN Tower. I did just over 1,200 steps which I believe worked out to be approximately 120 floors..... Yipee, it was such a relief to actually do this. Took about 45 - 50 minutes to complete.

Now I am going to do the same think next Monday and then next Saturday is the real thing. I will be climbing the worlds 2nd or 3rd tallest free standing structure...... AWESOME!

Dark Day today

Today marks a 10 year anniversay in my life, but it's not a celebration. I've tried very hard to keep my NY resolution to not eat fast food, but today was a day I just couldn't fight the fight, no much of an emotional rollercoaster today, and I tried very hard to push the painful thoughts and memories down with a BK burger and fries..... Guess what, it didn't work - surpise surprise. The only way I somewhat redeemed myself was with this mornings workout, which is the hardest I have worked in the year I have been working with a trainer. I'll post more about it tomorrow.

I know I've written about my Mom's death many times as her illness has been the cause of much of my struggle over the last 10 years. My goal going forward is to focus on her courage and strengh and her *f*'d up sense of humour (which I proudly inherited) and not to dwell on what has been lost. Breast Cancer sucks!

Tomorrow is a new day, April 17 is drawing closer and those 147 floors of the CN Tower are slowing whispering in my ear asking if I've got what it takes? if I'm up for the challenge ....... My response is "I WILL BE READY SO BRING IT"

Week 2 Summary and I AM climbing the CN Tower

Unofficial weight - 242.5 - Down 7.5 since Jan 1
Burger King Challenge - 24 days down - 48 days to go
No alcohol Challenge - Not a drop since Dec 31, 2009
Restaurant Dinner once a month Challenge - I've been out 2x this month(one choice was a healthy Pho soup and the other choice was a not so healthy chicken fingers and fries and bread from jack astors. Went over my daily points but still had a good calorie deficit because of a really hard work out that day)

Signed up this morning for the CN Tower stair climb, I think I broke out in a bit of a sweat as I hit the send key to make it official. I have been thinking about all the things I have missed out on in the past, opportunities that I opted out of because I simply couldn't do them -


Climbing Gros Morne Mountain in Newfoundland(see picture above) sticks out in my memory the most, I walked about 10 minutes into the trail and realized I just couldn't do it, so while my friend carried on, I had to do the walk of shame back to the starting point, while passing all the eager climbers who came in behind me and then spent the entire day, sitting around on my ass, smoking like a chimney and feeling sorry for myself- lol

I have decided that the CN Tower is going to be my mountain, well at least until I can plan the mountain climbing trip of my dreams - which is to climb the Chilkoot Pass in the Yukon,

" In 1897 when the word got on, the Klondike Gold Rush was on. People from all walks of life, stampeded to the gold fields. The most popular route to the gold fields, was over the Chilkoot Pass from Alaska through British Columbia and into the Yukon."

Here is the link to a picture of the beauty that awaits on the Chilkoot Trail
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/yt/chilkoot/activ/activ1a_e.asp

So, life is chugging along nicely at the moment, I am positive, feeling good and ready to see that scale drop into the 230's really soon.

Fridays workout and an exciting New Challenge

Well as predicted yesterday's workout was the hardest ever but I felt great yesterday. I went in half hour earlier and did 1.5 miles on the treadmill before my trainer arrived and then we did a full hour of intense Muai Thai training. He pushed me harder than he has ever pushed me and began making me dig deeper within myself. Typically, my fears get the better of me and I decide I can't do more than this, however, I am starting to realize that I am capable of doing more, and working harder than I currently am, so this is going to be my focus for a little while.

On another note, I was reading a cyber friends blog, and she is planning on climbing the CN tower in April in support of WWF. For anyone who doesn't know, the CN Tower, until recently, was the worlds tallest free standing structure. I am going to ponder this for a few days, but I think the seed has already been planted and I may very well climb the CN Tower as well.

Right now I am telling myself "Feel the Fear, move through it, DO IT ANYWAY"

What do you guys think, lets take a poll, can this 43 year old, 250lb ex-smoker climb the CN Tower(we're talking 1776 steps, or 142 flights of stairs)?

Majority rules, and if the majority thinks I can, then I will :)