Bank of America Climb Fight For Air Climb, 42 Floors, 84 Flights of Stairs, 577 Ft. High

If you thought a stalk on big game was tough, try this!  Fight for Air Climbs are unique fundraising events for the American Lung Association. They usually happen in prominent skyscrapers, stadiums or arenas and involve climbing multiple steps. Sometimes called a “vertical road race,” teams and individual participants can use the event as a fitness target, as a race, with you challenging yourself or you racing against other people, or as a great way to be active and meet new friends. American Lung Association Climbs are also a wonderful way to support someone who has lung disease or as a memorial to someone who has passed away. (http://www.lungusa.org/donate/events/fight-for-air-climb/ )

This climb took place at the Bank of America Building in downtown Tampa, FL. It’s a total of 42 floors, 84 flights of stairs, 577 feet high, and 950 steps.  The reason why they call it Fight For Air is because you literally are doing so. I completed four trial runs prior to the actual race. After each trial run and including the race day, I, along with everyone else who participated, developed a nasty cough from breathing all the contaminants in the stairwell that lasted for at least three days. These stairwells are not ventilated nor do they have air condition. You realize once you have completed the race just how precious it is to breathe clean air .

Above  is a series of pictures my wife took of me during my warm up and then a couple of me finishing up the race.  The initials under my eyes were in honor of two very close veterans of  both my family and my wife’s family who passed away from lung cancer. B. S. stood for my Great Uncle Bud Strickland and R. M. was my wife’s grandfather, Robert Morgan. They were two angels with me every step of the way.

What would have topped this race off, would have been a trophy bull elk broadside at thirty yards. The real challenge would have been to make an ethical shot while the lactic acid was running through the muscles of my body. This race is a full body challenge because you are pulling and pushing with your upper body as you are driving each leg in front of the other. Hunting is a full body muscular strength and endurance sport. You must be in great shape as a whole to endure the unexpected.

Final Results:
I came in SECOND overall with a time of 5 minutes and 35 seconds out of over 600 participants and FIRST in my age group of 18 to 29 year olds by an entire minute. Also, not to mention I had the obstacle of passing over thirty people throughout the stairwell. They also took the three fastest times of your team and averaged them out, which put us as a team in FIRST PLACE with an average of 6 minutes and 26 seconds. This is just an example of putting your training to the test. It takes a ton of strength and full body muscular endurance to accomplish this task just as it does stalking a big game animal. But trust me, the animal you are after is built for the land and knows that land like the back of it’s hoof.  Below is the link to the final results. Hunt Strong, Train to Hunt!

Click on the link to view the final results:  http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2010results/ALA%20Climb%20Tampa032010.html

Wachovia Financial Fight For Air Climb, 55 Stories, 110 Flights of Stairs, Miami, FL

This was the second Fight For Air Climb by the American Lung Association I participated in. This climb took place down in Miami, FL.  at The Wachovia Financial Center. All of these climbs are for a great cause raising money for the American Lung Association. With lung disease on the rise, they are fighting for research that will find a cure for tomorrow. They are fighting for those who can’t quit smoking and those who shouldn’t start. They are fighting for lungs that burn from ozone rather than from exercise. They are fighting for asthma education to stop children dying from asthma attacks. They are fighting for laws to improve air quality both inside and out.

This climb was 13 floors higher and 26 more flights of stairs than the Bank of America Building in Tampa. I became good friends with some Sarasota County Firefighters, Erich, Jason, and Jessie, who climbed the BOA with me and we decided to go down to Miami for the challenge. In this particular climb, I had to climb as an individual, therefore, I would not be able to qualify as a team.  Challenge is an understatement! You would think 26 more flights of stairs would not be too bad right, WRONG.

I had a month to train for this event and I knew I had to at least finish the race around 8 minutes and 30 seconds in order to place based on previous year stats.  I factored in the stair master with two thirty pounds weights, one in each hand, for twenty minutes up to 110 stories at least twice a week into my workouts.  Nutrition is always one of the most important pieces to the entire puzzle, it’s what fuels my body so I can maximize my potential to perform at my best.  Therefore, every food item I consumed between fats, carbohydrates, and protein had to fit the puzzle correctly. The difference between this race and the last is that I did not have the opportunity to do a trial climb before hand, so  I had no clue what to expect. There were two runs across the building that I knew of and once you returned to the next stairwell, the direction of the stairwell changed direction. This is no different than a stalk up a steep mountain side, after all, that is probably your first time stepping on that particular terrain underneath your boots.

Team SCFD came in FIRST as a team dressed in full gear with Erich finishing in FIRST overall, Jessie in SECOND, and Jason in FIFTH among the firefighters division. They are the real heroes who put their lives on the line each and everyday. I can tell you this, if I were ever caught in a fire, I would want one of them to be on call to save me.  I came in FOURTH overall out of over 700 participants and THIRD in my age group for males under 29 years old with a time of 8 minutes and 34 seconds. By the 30th floor, my legs started going numb, but it was all I could do to just to keep pushing and pulling myself up one flight of stairs at a time.  It is amazing to me how you can push yourself when you really want to accomplish a goal. Between the second and fourth place finishers, there were only nine seconds between us. That will not slip my mind in the next race. If I were hunting against them they may have been able to get to that trophy big game animal 9 seconds before me, but would they have had the strength to draw back and hit the vitals?

Click On the Link Below to see the Final Results:
http://fleetfeetorlando.com/races/climb-miami/climberagegroup2010.html