Takin' to the Top!

On Saturday, I joined my team of fellow CrossFit women and our friends to take on the American Lung Association's Fight For Air Climb at the Frost Bank Building in downtown Austin. This race was a climb up 30 stories, 60 flights, or 672 steps if you're counting. :) The event raised money for research and treatment of lung disease - something that hits really close to home for me.

My goal was to come in under 7 minutes. I set this goal with having climbed that many stairs only once. I challenged my teammates to do the same, and come race-day, a few of us agreed to shoot for sub-6 minutes. (CrossFitters always make it interesting with a little friendly competition!)

Coach Megan Parsons led our team up the stairs, following the team of firefighters from the Round Rock Fire Dept. I went next, and Whitney Frakes started behind me. Once we began the climb, I was happy to have these ladies there to push me to keep my pace. It was a SHOWOUT sandwich!! :) We all made it to the top in with awesome times - Megan got sub 5 minutes, I came in at 5:20, and Whit finished just behind me. It got pretty tough after floor 20, but I just kept going - taking it 2 steps at a time (thank you long legs!!) until I got it done.

Later on that day we recieved word of the final results. Serveral of my teammates had done really well and I ended up placing 1st in my division (I even got a medal! :))! I'm so proud of us for crushing our goals!!

At the top of the climb, we were greeted by some familiar faces - Lauren, Diego, and Stacy from CrossFit Central. It was great to see them representing the double C's at the event and spreading the word about CrossFit. Megan and I were approached by some of the firefighters who had started the climb ahead of us (some of whom finished behind us!). They asked how we prepared for the event and we replied, "we CrossFit"! I saw quite a few people visiting with the folks from CFC at their table - I hope we were able to recruit some climbers to join CrossFit.

All in all, this was a great experience. Thanks to my teammates for motivating me to push myself and to all of my friends and family who supported this cause with donations - the event raised nearly $100,000!