Meeting At The Top Of The Stairs

I reported for jury duty at 8:00 a.m. but not a single name had been called by 9:45 a.m. I was tired of reading and coveting the laptops and fancy phones of those around me when I decided to get up and move around. Then, it hit me. I had my MP3 player and access to water. I headed toward the stairs.

My goal was to do 42 flights to mimic the Master the Met stairclimb. This guy sees me trekking up and down the stairs and asks How many times are you going to do this? I tell him that I am unsure.

At some point, I see a woman in the corridor on her cell phone. She is near the banister. I see her and she sees me. I think that I'm about 28 flights into this quest and as I'm heading up again, I'm getting ready to head to the bathroom to get rid of some sweat and she meets me at the top of the stairs with some tissue. I was unbelievably touched. She doesn't stop her conversation. She just matter-of-factly hands me the tissue. I keep going.

I also realize at this time that I am carrying goats under my arms. Goat carrying has become a running joke between Jessica, Patti and me. When we were rock climbing once, Patti said something about suspecting that her deodorant wasn't holding up. I was reading a back issue of Mental Floss and, unbelievably, came across an article about deodorant about a day after having the conversation with Patti.

3. The Roman poet Ovid preferred a more proactive solution. In Book III of the “Art of Love,” he cautions women against carrying goats under their arms.

Now, we joke about carrying goats under our arms because rock climbing will put your deodorant to the test.

I didn't care about the goat thing though. I kept climbing and, eventually, climbed 44 flights. I could have gone further but I was a mess. My back was wet. Sweat was dripping off my face. I did not have on wick away moisture clothing and it was chilly outside. As it turned out, the courtroom ended up being completely frigid. Really, I wanted to object -- big time.

While my clothing might not have been ideal, I did have on my very comfortable BOC shoes which allowed me to trek up the steps without discomfort.

I did reconnaissance for lunch and decided to go to Culinaria, a relatively new grocery store downtown that has gotten rave reviews. I almost freaked out when I saw how long the wait time was but it ended up being a much, much shorter wait. I was so glad that I took an apple and Greek yogurt to snack on because I was ravenous after the stairs.

I enjoyed being downtown as I usually do. I love the architecture and seeing one of my favorite landmarks from different angles. So, I had jury duty but I didn't take it sitting down. Yay!


(View from courthouse which had some strange barbwire-like covering over window)




Civil Courts from Citygarden



Side of City Hall


Old Post Office
What was your last encounter with random kindness?????

American Lung Association Throws Down The Gauntlet

I sometimes think that I am easily stopped in my tracks. I was going through the mail and, while not surprised that the American Lung Association is advertising for the 2010 Master the Met,
I was surprised to see a star with last year's finish time and a tag line that said Beat Your Time: 17:14.

I've done Master the Met two years in a row and I was thinking about sitting out next year but now that the ALA has thrown down a friendly gauntlet, I might very well have to participate.



And The Met, by the way, is the Metropolitan Square building in downtown St. Louis with 43 floors that will take your breath away.

'Dreathon

What's a 'dreathon you might ask?

It's probably only something that someone as batty as me would do.


I got up this morning to participate in Master the Met, the second competitive stairclimb that the American Lung Association has sponsored. I like last year's t-shirt better than the 2009 T.

Stairs are the great equalizer. It doesn't matter what your fitness level might be; going vertical for 42 levels is going to make you breathless at some point. My legs started to get very heavy on level seven.

I managed to finish in 17 minutes and 14 seconds. That's an average of 25 seconds per floor. Last year, I finished in 19 minutes and four seconds. I felt like I would finish in less time since my fitness level is better. Plus, I was 16 pounds heavier at this time last year.

Master the Met was such an adrenaline rush and since it was a nice day (and because I want to burst through the current weight loss plateau), I headed to Forest Park to walk the 6.2 mile trail.

I know what you're thinking: climbing 42 flights of stairs and a 6.2 mile walk do not make a 'dreathon. Therefore, I continued on my mission to test my stamina and swam 11 laps. And that, my friends, concluded the 'dreathon.

It was nice to be in downtown this morning when it was all quiet -- for the most part; if you don't count the 900 something climbers that were going in and out of Metropolitan Square. I forget, sometimes, how I like the architecture of downtown and I also forget how amazing the Arch is.



I wanted to get a picture from the top of the Metropolitan Square building but cameras were not allowed on the stairwell. MP3 players were actually allowed this time around. I was glad that climbers still chatted and encouraged each other despite listening to their tunes.

Check out this article about people who climb stairs regularly or for stairclimbing events.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/health/nutrition/19fitness.html?_r=1&em

And here's a stairway to health calorie calculator.

http://stairway.hc-sc.gc.ca/calcalc.aro