Having disappointed by the failure to secure a registration for Sundown this year, missing the OSIM Triathlon, and the ugliness of Std Chart’s Finishers Tee, I decided to commit suicide by signing up for something different…The Swissotel Vertical Marathon!
Well, training has been met with some hiccups, mainly, my block is only 12 storeys, and Swissotel is 73! So scouting around, I manage to find a 25 storey building to start off my training. BOY, I realised what I was in for when I ran to the 15th storey….legs started to lose strength and I found myself unable to stabilise and slowly felt the strength of my legs ebbing away. I had to slow down and I walked and occasionally ran up the rest of the way.
At the 25th, I stretched a little and started to enjoy the nice cool breeze and view on top. But I must press on! I went down and attempted to run up again. This time, my legs started to give way at the 7th or 8th storey…all the lactic acid was swelling up in my legs and it felt like very little blood was in my legs. I succumbed to walking the rest of the flight of stairs instead.
Well…5o storeys only and I was flat out. I might just consider buying a ligher shoe and eating more carbs for the vertical marathon. Hmm…well, only one month to go, hope I dun die halfway up the Swissotel!
I’m gonna continue training, tweaking here and there. Hopefully can go all the way, finding my own pace, without stopping, at least for 50 storeys before I try the full 73 storeys.
UPDATE: I finished in less than 30 mins woot! not too bad for an overweight guy with wobbly knees on his maiden attempt at it. btw, the view on top is FANTASTIC.
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