Last month a bunch of my friends and I signed up for what we thought was a relay race for a Vertical Marathon. Vertical Marathons are races in which you have to climb a tall building (in our case it was a 64 storied building).
We were 5 of us. So for a relay, 64/5 came to approximate 12 floors per person. 4 weeks before the actual marathon, I started training for the event starting at 5 floors a day, and about a week before, I could comfortably do 12 floors. Just to be prepared for the race, I started doing 20 floors.
Anyway, on the day of the event, we were negotiating on who will do the extra 4 floors (we volunteered the fittest amongst us!). And then we went to line up for our turn. To our utter disbelief we were told that there was no "relay" and we had actually signed up for a "group" climbing event! What that meant - each one of us had to do the 64 floors, and our group would be timed by the slowest in our group!
And then the ordeal started. What I thought was a casual 12 floor climb, turned out to be a beastly 64 floor hike. Slowly and steadily I paced myself, and I am proud to say I survived to get my first (and probably only!) Marathon medal of my life.
If there is one thing that I have decided not to ever do, it has to be a marathon. I think I am physically incapable of that kind of endurance. While, I know that if I train long enough, anything is possible, I don't fancy putting myself through the pain.
So this thing was just lucky. Now I thank my friends for being as ignorant as me and not reading the rules! Anyway, after having completed the climb, I can definitely tell you that - climbing 64 floors ain't as difficult or tiring as doing an actual running Marathon of 42.195 km.
The running Marathon is not only tougher but also longer and I believe really tests your endurance to the limit. So while I fancy my medal, I still admire all my brave friends who have run marathons!
We were 5 of us. So for a relay, 64/5 came to approximate 12 floors per person. 4 weeks before the actual marathon, I started training for the event starting at 5 floors a day, and about a week before, I could comfortably do 12 floors. Just to be prepared for the race, I started doing 20 floors.
Anyway, on the day of the event, we were negotiating on who will do the extra 4 floors (we volunteered the fittest amongst us!). And then we went to line up for our turn. To our utter disbelief we were told that there was no "relay" and we had actually signed up for a "group" climbing event! What that meant - each one of us had to do the 64 floors, and our group would be timed by the slowest in our group!
And then the ordeal started. What I thought was a casual 12 floor climb, turned out to be a beastly 64 floor hike. Slowly and steadily I paced myself, and I am proud to say I survived to get my first (and probably only!) Marathon medal of my life.
If there is one thing that I have decided not to ever do, it has to be a marathon. I think I am physically incapable of that kind of endurance. While, I know that if I train long enough, anything is possible, I don't fancy putting myself through the pain.
So this thing was just lucky. Now I thank my friends for being as ignorant as me and not reading the rules! Anyway, after having completed the climb, I can definitely tell you that - climbing 64 floors ain't as difficult or tiring as doing an actual running Marathon of 42.195 km.
The running Marathon is not only tougher but also longer and I believe really tests your endurance to the limit. So while I fancy my medal, I still admire all my brave friends who have run marathons!
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