week 38_101 Stair Climb (2011)

I am really behind now on the blog - Wow!!!

I guess the lazy days of summer have caught up with me ~ not to mention the heat!

So, like a heat-crazed, slightly mad person, I signed my husband and I up for the TAIPEI 101 2011 stair climb on one very very hot summer day! Our office had joined a group together for the challenge, and as ominous as those 2,046 steps sounded - it was somehow exciting at the same time. Could we do it? Could we climb the once tallest tower in the world?!


Team Gerock!

I think we were both quite nervous and excited when the day finally came along (the day after the Dragon boat races). We geared up and stretched extra and walked the 15 minutes from apartment to the bottom of the tower. The rest of our team slowly gathered along the sidewalk - pinning on our race numbers and putting on our wrist chip, which tracks your time from start to finish line.

At this point I was actually pretty eager to start! I had psyched myself up enough to get the adrenaline flowing, and just hoped that I would be able to give it a solid effort, even if I had to bow out before reaching the 91st floor!

Sadly - one of the final steps, we filled out the health certificate to get final approval to enter the race. When I checked the box for "Asthma", thinking I was just being honest and of course I also had an inhaler with me for good measure... the on-site doctor told me in his limited English that I could NOT enter the race! No, I could not just try and stop when it was too much. No, my inhaler did not remedy the situation. I was surprisingly pretty bummed that I would now have to miss out on this adventurous event! I had mostly been looking to the story I could tell my kids about the hot summer day we tried to climb TAIPEI 101...

The bigger team

...but I guess the hubby will just have to tell that story to the kids! He got to go for the climb with all of my co-workers without me, ha :) I think he is even considering entering the race again next year!

While the team climbed the tower, I watched the big screens at the ground level featuring the contestants as they reached the top. The professional athletes had AMAZING times - reaching the 91st floor in less than 15 minutes. I am certain they were taking the steps two at a time at a running pace.