CN Tower - Check!

My son and I climbed the CN Tower this weekend - again! 

It's a tall tower. See how it towers over the rest of the city?
Photo source.

That's 1,776 stairs, folks. 144 flights. Sweaty work. This was my third time, his second, and we both PR'd :-)

28:50 for me; an outstanding 21:02 for the boy!

Have to say - I was pretty nervous going into this as I haven't been specifically training for it. I used to take the stairs to my 7th floor office every day, but had to stop back in December when we moved to a building with locked stairwells.

So I was pretty much hoping that this winter's boot camps and C25K would get me there.

And they did!

I shaved just over a minute off last year's time AND had enough energy left over to say "OK!" when my son suggested that we jog back to the subway afterwards. I'm calling that one an NSV.

This has become an event that I to use to monitor my fitness levels - not just my finish time, but also how I feel afterwards. It's been very gratifying to see an improvement from year to year.

For my son - last year, he wasn't old enough to go it alone and had to stick with me. He was really nice about it, but definitely felt that he was held back by going at his mother's pace (um, thanks, kid). He was really eager to see how he could do on his own this year now that he's old enough to fly solo.

Turns out that he's a powerhouse! Said that he took a brief break at the 96th floor but otherwise went straight to the top. Shaved 8:33 minutes off of his "waiting for Mom" time. Huh - guess he really WAS holding himself back last year!

I'm crazy proud of him. And grateful. Grateful that he's a fit kid, grateful that he looks at challenges like this as fun, and grateful that he does stuff like this with me.

To you parents out there - how do your kids stay active? Mine are pretty active but balk at most afterschool & weekend lessons/leagues outside of Guides & Scouts - they really prefer to have their free time to ride bikes, kick a ball around, go for hikes and so on. This past weekend, they tried to teach the dog how to hula hoop - which meant that they spent a lot of time hula hooping to show her how it works. Whatever keeps you off the couch and outdoors, right?

In other news - I've been gaining and losing the same 3-4 pounds all winter and I've had enough. Time to recommit to weight loss. This was a good week of gigantic salads for lunch, portion control at other meals, no idle snacking, and tracking everything on myfitnesspal. Let's see how long I can keep this up - would be great to smash through this and hit the next milestone.

Here's this week's recap -

Saturday - CN Tower climb in the morning; slow jog to the school playground in the evening then walk back (2.6K round trip). Slept very, very well afterwards.

Sunday - Rest day.

Monday - Curves circuit integrated into a boot camp = 50 minutes of pure awesome. Then a very slow 250m at the pool. My arms were very, very tired!

Tuesday - Rest day. 1K slow walk with the dog.

Wednesday - 2K dog park walk after work, then later Stella and I went on our first real run in a while. Did 3 sets of 10s and 1s, covered 3.6K.

Blackberries take terrible pictures after dusk. And the flash makes the dog squint. But then we ran, and it was a good one.

Thursday - Another Curves circuit integrated into boot camp for 60 minutes. Sweaty, hard and hilarious.

Friday - Rest day. Should have gone for a run but the legs just weren't willing.  Instead, my husband dragged me out to help my daughter make a new addition to our family zoo. Meet Cinderella and Cocoa:

The pets outnumber the humans now. At least these don't shed.

CN Tower? Check!

Before - (almost) too excited to be nervous

We did it!

Dragged ourselves out of bed before the sun was up.

Had a quick breakfast, then went out in the gale-force winds, lashing rain and freezing cold.

(It's true! The weather was wild!)

Checked in, checked our coats and hit the start line. GO!

This was my second time doing the CN Tower Climb - did it last October too - and my son's first.

I was pretty nervous about this one - after making him audition, I knew that he could do the climb but was worried about how we'd do together. Would he be able to go so fast that I'd struggle to keep up? Would he be able to go so fast that he'd be annoyed with me? Would he start so fast that he'd burn out part way up?

Turns out - we did amazing.

He paced himself really well, climbed strong, took short breaks with me when we needed them - and finished smiling.

Me too :-)

I never felt like I was racing to keep up with him, and he says he didn't feel like I was holding him back, aside from needing a few more breaks than he did. Nice comfortable pace for both of us.

As they say, before you know it, you're at the top. It really is amazing to watch 144 flights of stairs fly by.

We were both thrilled with our times, too.

Me for a few reasons. I finished in 29:59 - which is my personal best! It also means that I met my big hairy scary goal of under 30 minutes - just barely, but I did it! Finally, I'm very, very proud to say that this was 4:38 faster than my time from just 6 months ago.  Seriously - the new Curves and Zumba are doing amazing things for my fitness.

My son finished in 29:37. He's delighted that he did it in under 30 minutes, and also that he beat the times from both of my climbs :-) And as I told him - the first time you do an event, you automatically PB!

He's already wondering about how he'll do in next year's Climb, when he'll be old enough that we won't have to stick together on the way up.


My daughter (7) has also started talking about wanting to try the Climb in a couple of years.

Does this mean that I'm going to have to do this event EVERY year? :-)

Showing off our t-shirts & soaked from the rain - April 2011

The best part?

After crossing the finish line, he told me that he feels like he can do almost anything now.

Giving him the opportunity to feel this way was one of the best experiences I've had as a parent.

Watching someone get a glimpse of their own potential? I don't have the words to describe how awe-inspiring that is, and how grateful I am that I was there to see it.

I know what he means - I felt exactly the same way after getting to the top of the top of the Tower last year. That feeling is what got me to finally sign up for my first 5K, and has led to me signing up for all my other events since.

We're doing a 5K together next month. Wonder where else this will take him?

Here's this week's recap:

Later that day...

Saturday - CN Tower, followed by a trip to the hospital. My Zumba-dancing, bike riding, gymnast of a daughter twisted her ankle...by walking across the playground (??) after school yesterday. We thought it was just a bit tender and went home for RICE, but it was swollen and very sore this morning when she got up. Nothing broken, happily - she just needs to stay off it for a day or two.

Sunday - Recovery day. Lots and lots and lots of relaxing.

Monday - 1.25K walk in the morning; Curves after dinner.

Tuesday - Rest day. Sort of. Spent the day running around at work and driving kids places after school.

Wednesday & Thursday - Nothin'. Work has been crazy busy. Didn't even make it to Zumba. Not good.

Kite master! At the park - April 2011

Friday - Good Friday holiday - Took the kids to the park to fly kites and play frisbee, then went out to my SIL's for our nephew's birthday. We all the kids for a good hike through the forest near their house. A most excellent way to end the week!

Don't fall in! April 2011

What I'm reading this week - Huh. Nothing. Tried to read Freedom by Jonathan Frantzen but found the characters so unlikeable that I couldn't get into it. Tried to read The Carnivore by Mark Sinnet but couldn't get into it either. Anyone have anything good to recommend?

I DID IT!!!!

View from the parking lot - 7.30am

I finished the CN Tower Climb!! 144 flights, 1776 stairs!

Weeeelllll - actually - let's set the record straight. There is an extra flight at the beginning before the official start, and ELEVEN more flights AFTER THE FINISH LINE that they don't tell you about...ACK! By my count, it's 156 flights and closer to 1900 stairs. WOW.

I didn't really have a goal in mind aside from simply being able to finish. After that, I figured I'd be happy to finish in about an hour...and ecstatic if I could finish in about 45 minutes.

Well - I surprised myself. Not only did I finish, but I made it to the top in 34:39. Strike this one off The List!

I was TERRIFIED in the morning before I started. So nervous!

During the climb, I took it slow and steady...started to get out of breath at the 20th floor, started to get heavy legs at the 50th floor...but took a break every 7-10 flights to catch my breath and bring my heart rate down a bit...and like they say: the next thing I knew, I was at the top.

I did it!

I've got to say - crossing the finish line was an absolutely overwhelming experience. I signed up to celebrate the positive changes that I've made, and finishing taught me just how far I've come. Two years ago, walking one flight of stairs made me breathless. Now? I'm amazed to find myself looking forward to next year's Tower climb to see if I can beat my time, and I've signed up for a 5K power walk in December.

Here's how this week went:

Saturday - CN Tower Climb :-) Followed by a hot bath and then a drive to my mom's for birthday dinner for my sister and I.

Sunday - Recovery Day 1. Feeling fabulous - yesterday's bath was a good idea. Took my kids to a pool for an hour. Did a few slow laps and treaded water while they splashed around.

Monday - Recovery Day 2. Ran errands with Lynda at lunchtime - about a 1.2K power walk. It's always a POWER walk with Lynda!

Wearing the official t-shirt - October 2010

Tuesday - Recovery Day 3. Another lunchtime power walk with Lynda, about 1.2km again. Curves workout after dinner.

Wednesday - OK, recovery's over. Stairs to 7 in the AM.

Thursday - Stairs to7 in AM, walk around the block for an AM fire drill, walk around the block and stairs to 7 at lunch. Curves workout after dinner.

Friday - Crazy day. Managed a walk around the block at lunchtime. Oh, and the parade of treats started last night. Sigh. I'm going to need some serious willpower to keep from hitting the halloween candy too hard.

What I'm reading this week: Angry Fat Girls by Frances Kuffel, focusing on herself and 4 friends and their cycles of losing and regaining vast amounts of weight. She raises an interesting point that for every 25-pounds lost, people who have been overweight for a long time need about a year for their emotional maturity to catch up to their new size - i.e. it takes time to learn normal social judgements, and it takes time unlearn the habit of emotional eating as a response to stress.