I Conquered The Q

As you know, today was my run. Really, my climb. The Conquer the Q race. A race up the stairs and through the concourses of the Quickens Loans Arena.

The first thing I noticed was that this race was very organized. Much more so than the only other of it's kind I had run at Yankee Stadium. This was evident as I walked into the arena and was greeted. From here, the greeters sent you to the next set of security guards, to the next, all within eye distance, before heading down to the court-level of the arena. Down on court level, at the VIP club, we were welcomed by a large spread of breakfast and snack items and blood pumping music.

As the race neared, I was excited. I felt pretty good walking around and was ready to climb some stairs. I mean, I have been practicing on my steps at home. Shea always gets excited and follows me up my first trip. After that though, he realizes what I am doing, plops down on the couch and rolls his eyes each time I return to the first floor. I wished he was there to watch, but I'd have to do it without him. 

I flew up the stairs and through the concourse, and up more stairs, through more concourse, and so on. I had a good feeling after I finished. My time was pretty good and the attendants throughout the course kept saying, "wow, you have a great stride going." I was the tenth person to start though, so they didn't have much to go by. This at least allowed me time to watch everyone else finish the race. 

After everyone completed the course they handed out awards. The top fundraiser raised $9,000. That made me feel pretty shotty for I had only raised the minimum $100. Thank to all those who donated to my collection of $100. All those being my mother and my Uncle Jon. When they got to top the overall winners, to my slight surprise, I was it for the female side. I collected my large winner's plaque and the "I conquered the Q" t-shirt.

Before leaving I was told of an upcoming race to be held in early February called Tackle the Tower. The race climbs up 40 some flights of stairs to the top of a tower that overlooks Lake Erie. They made me feel as though I must defend my stair climbing title. Looks like I've got a lot of steps to be practicing at home, and Shea's got a lot of eye rolling to do!