Week 4---> Climb the CN Tower

Climb The CN Tower Climb
A friend of mine mentioned I should try the CN Tower Climb for WWF and I decided- this was something I simply had to do!  I have always wanted to try climbing the CN tower and I have a passion for endangered animals.  I easily convinced a few girls, from work, to join me.  In order to register for the event we were forced you to fundraise.  I love giving money to a worthy cause but I HATE asking people for money.  I figured I would donate all the money myself, but luckily I had some fans to help me out (Thanks, Mom and Dad!).  I was really excited to climb and as the date approached I kept thinking to myself, “I probably should have trained or prepared for this climb,” but time ran out- so I headed out to the CN tower at 6 am on a Saturday morning and hoped for the best.

I arrived at the skydome at about 7:00 am. It was freezing and there was a huge line- running from gate 5 to gate 8.  It was going to be a long wait. I took a look at the groups around me.  There were some kids, some seniors, lots of adults and quite a number of athletes.  I group athletes separately only because they looked so intimidating.  They were in their running gear and were stretching while most other people were guzzling down their coffees or McDonalds breakfast meals.  Many of them had clearly done this event before.  I started to worry that maybe this was more intense than I had anticipated.  When my two friends arrived we started to get excited about the climb.  I let my nerves disappear and decided, “I can do this”.  After getting through all of the registration process and metal detectors- we were able to start.  Because of the recent tragedy in Boston, we were not allowed to bring cameras or cell phones in.  This, though necessary, is really disheartening.  I really wanted to get some pictures of the experience, and especially, at the top of the CN tower.  Alas, my only photos are from before and after the event.  I’ll have to let my descriptive language allow you to visualize the process.

When our heat was “released” everyone started to run from the skydome to the CN tower.  There were lots of people cheering and ringing bells. I may just be lazy- but I couldn’t help but wonder- why are we running?? We are going to be dead tired before we even get started.  Nevertheless, like a lemming, I started to run with the group.  I suppose it pumps you up before the climb starts.  After even more metal detectors etc. (inside the tower), we received our “time cards” and started up the stairs.  The stairs were not very glamorous. There was a metal gridded fence up one side, and a grey brick wall surrounding the other three.  Considering there were over 4,000 climbers the stairwell was shockingly narrow.  Each floor was labeled- which was inspiring at first, but started to get depressing.  We knew the climb was 142 floors and 1,776 steps- but when you are panting by floor 23, your optimism starts to diminish! 

When we started the race, I was shocked at how quickly I became short of breath.  For me, the first 20 floors seemed the hardest.  My calves started to pinch, I started to feel exhaustion and I had sweat starting to drip… everywhere!  Once we hit floor 40- things picked up.  I had gotten my rhythm; I felt motivated and had my breathing under control.  I only wish they could have played some music.  The sound of other peoples gasping breaths above and below is not the most encouraging sound.  Every couple of floors there would be a first aider.  And every couple of floors there would be a person (or a few) who needed to take a break.  This made for some very squishy corners.  Again, by the 40^th floor I started to think, “I could probably go quite a bit faster than what I am going”- but with the crowds, passing wasn’t always easy and I decided to remain at my steady, but slow pace.   The girls and I had a few sing alongs on the way up, and chatted briefly- but for the most part talking didn’t really make things easier.  When I do this again I think I will bring an ipod.

When we reached the top- we handed in our time cards and headed outside for some fresh air and a great view of the city.  It took us 22:42 to climb almost 2,000 steps.  I was a little bummed about our time- I think we could have gone a lot faster.   To be honest when we finished I wanted to keep going- I felt like heading out for a run or continuing to climb.  We took the elevator down- got our free tshirts, snapped a few photos and were done by just after 8:00.