It's all in the journey.....

So I did it for the third time...climbed all 1776 stairs of the CN tower this Sat. This year I was on my own but I was still excited. I was up at 5am cause registration starts at 6am and I didn't want to be standing in lines all morning. So by the time I got there and everything was said and done I started the climb at 7:07am. My goal for the climb was to do it in under 30min...last year I did it in 41min. I also had already surpassed my fundraising goal of $300....I raised $315!! Due to 7 totally wicked people sponsoring me :)....so I was hoping that my luck would continue.

So if there's one thing I learned while climbing the tower, it's to not look up at the number of flights as you go up until after I have at least hit 100, so I kept my eyes on the stairs and kept moving. I ran into problems when my throat started to burn due to breathing SO hard. I had to stop for a break and I thought that was strange...it's not until after that I realized that I was getting sick, as the kids have been coughing all week and I woke up coughing that morning....and I'm now full out sick :(. So I just took it as I could and I thought that I wasn't going to make my goal time.

Now on the journey up most people don't talk to each other (unless they are with someone) they just pass the people resting on the landing and don't even make eye contact. A few times I wanted to encourage people on the way up, but fell into the 'norm' of what everyone else was doing and didn't. I saw a man who was a very over weight fellow resting and catching his breath on the landing one time and I wanted to pat him on the back and say, "Way to go, your doing awesome!" at the end there was two young girls struggling and there was only three more flights of stairs left. I wanted to say to them, "Only three more flights left ladies, you can DO it!!" but I didn't and I'm a bit disappointed in myself.......I know Meredith would have, in fact I remember hearing a story at her viewing of how her Father would get frustrated while watching her race cause she would see someone struggling and run with them for a bit to encourage them....when I grow up I want to be like that!

So I made it to the top in 25min! I was happy that I made my goal for under 30min but was not happy really with the journey up.....so next years goal is all about the journey up. I'm going to say what ever I want to others on the way up and encourage those who are struggling because what I learned on Sat is that the outcome is not as joyful if the journey there wasn't useful to myself and others :-)



'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******