too many stairz It all happened rather by accident.  Jason and I had just come back from a lovely brunch of bacon and eggs when we were greeted by two fire trucks directly outside of his building.  Normally people are concerned when they see fire trucks parked  in front of their home. However, Jason’s building has regular visits from the fire department about every three weeks.  They’re usually caused by residents burning their dinners or drunk wedding guests thinking the rest of the building would like to join them in greeting 3:00am with a smile.  The alarm going of at a perfectly reasonable 1:00pm seemed like a treat!  The only problem was Coffee Table the Cat had been visiting Jason because of some kitchen renovations at my house and much like his mom (me), he doesn’t like loud noises.  Jason was pretty worried that CT was going to be frightened by the fire alarm.  I suggested CT is a cat and that he would just deal with it.

This, my friends, is why Jason is slowly replacing me as the favourite.

After a few minutes of anxious waiting, Jason announced he was going to check on CT and make sure he was okay.

“You can’t. The elevators aren’t running.”

“Yes, I can.  I’ll take the stairs.”

If Jason lived on the 4th floor, or even the 10th floor, my next comment would never have left my mouth.  However, Jason lives on the 40th floor so I just couldn’t help it…

“Are you out of your mind???”

I timed him.  He made it in 8:17 seconds.  I was impressed.  My cat, however, was asleep.

But it was a good workout.  This weekend, Jason did some training and thought strapping a pack filled with 40lbs of water and climbing up and down all 55 &1/2 floors of the building would be good training for hiking the Bruce Trail.  I was performing in Montreal so I didn’t get to witness this feat, but from the state of Jason’s legs when I returned, he was correct.

Now as the “rocker” on the HWSR* trip, I don’t actually have a whole lot of training.  I do some hand exercises.  I practice my scales.  I sing in the shower and to my cat.  But for the most part, I don’t have a whole lot of preparation.  So, as an act of solidarity to Jason, I announced I was going to climb to the top of the building as well.  I didn’t find Jason’s response of “Oh yeah?” accompanied by a subtle smirk very encouraging, but I’d already said I was going and I didn’t want to seem like a wuss. And really, if Jason could walk up and down with 40lbs on his back, surely I could go up carrying only my iPod and my pride.

The following is a synopsis of my journey:

Floors 1-10:   “This is easy.  Piece of cake.”
Floors 11-13: “Mmmm…cake. After climbing 55 stories I bet I’m allowed to eat some cake. Cake, cake, cake. I like cake…”
Floors 14-20: “Ok, Swanny.  Pace yourself.”
Floors 21-25:  “Video Killed the Radio Star is amazing workout music!”
Floors 26-28:  “I wonder how long it would take for somebody to find me if I passed out in the stairwell…”
Floor 29:  “What the heck!? I’m not even at 30 yet!? This sucks.”
Floors 30-32:  “Where is my inhaler?
Floors 33-34: “I think I’m getting altitude sickness.”
Floors 35-41:  “This might just be the worst idea I’ve ever had.
Floors 42-44:  “Why!?!?”
Floors 45-50:  “Oh, the humanity!”
Floors 50-54: “Please just shoot me now.”
Floor 55: “Oh hey!  I made it.  Well, that wasn’t so bad…*cough*gag*collapse*”

Ok, so I have a ways to go before I’m even close to being in the shape Jason is.  But I think it would be fun to walk with Jason on the trail for at least one day.  I think,  if I were to walk with Jason for one day, he should sing a song at one of the concerts.  It’s only fair, no?

What do you think?