I’m back from my Las Vegas trip, where I competed, for the fourth time, in the American Lung Association’s Scale the Strat – a race up 1,391 steps in the tallest freestanding observation tower in the USA.
Hello again! I’ve been busy and haven’t updated this blog in nearly two weeks. Wow. Nothing to worry about – I’m taking good care of myself. But there is a lot of change coming, and I’m very excited. I’ll share everything in due time, but for now, I’ve registered for a few races I wanted to tell you about, including the longest, hardest, most challenging test of endurance I’ve ever signed up for: A SIX-HOUR STAIR RACE!
Racing up stairs is challenging. That’s an understatement, actually. It’s excruciating difficult and ridiculously exhausting. Due to the intense nature of the sport, every single second counts. My goal, when I race up a building I’ve raced before, is simple: be faster than last time. On Saturday, I had another opportunity to reach that goal, and I only had to climb 1,029 steps to make it happen.
I competed, on Saturday, for my seventh consecutive year, in the American Lung Association’s Fight For Air Climb in Los Angeles. The title for this post comes from a sign I saw on the roof after the race, which echoed exactly what I was feeling after a particularly tough climb.
I’ve been thinking lately about my very first stair race, at the Aon Center in Los Angeles. It happened six years ago, and while I can remember it vividly, it also seems like a lifetime ago.
I’ll be returning to the Aon Center a week from Saturday, for my seventh consecutive year racing up the 63-story stairwell. It will be Read the rest of this entry »
Wanna see a picture of a man pushing himself to his absolute physical limit?
I was about four steps from the finish line of Scale the Strat when this photo was taken. And those four steps hurt. Every part of my body hurt. What you’re looking at is Read the rest of this entry »
I’m famous in Portland! Check out the KGW local news piece about me that aired last week to promote the Fight For Air Climb:
It’s great! And I’m really surprised at how long it is. We filmed a lot of stuff, and I thought it would get edited down to maybe 45-60 seconds, but they used nearly everything – and the story is 3:30 long!
Some Sunday mornings are meant for sleeping in and lazing about. Other Sunday mornings are meant for racing up 200 stories! Guess which experience I had yesterday?
That’s the US Bancorp Tower, in Portland, Oregon, and I climbed the 40-story stairwell inside five times. It was quite the morning, in ways both expected and unexpected. Read the rest of this entry »
My big Parisian adventure is about six weeks away, but the Eiffel Tower race isn’t the only one on my calendar. I’m criss-crossing the western United States before and after I go to France, and I need your help!
A big hello to everyone that’s discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I’m glad you’re here.
My name is David. I live in Michigan, and I’m 41 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good – I’ve lost 160 pounds and am keeping it off! But it’s a tough road, and I need to keeping finding new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I’ll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!