Day 106

Hi all!! Cyn, Dona's cousin from Canada....So, Jamal, Jennifer, Sarah and I did our part this morning to provide support 365daysofgiving2011! Our goal was to fundraise $75 per person and climb the whopping 1776 stairs or 144 flights of stairs to the top of the CN Tower! Collectively, we raised a total of $540 (WOW!) proceeds of which go to WWF-Canada...an organization that works to protect and conserve wildlife, endangered species and conserve our natural habitat and ecosystem. So my cold and rainy day starts of at 6:30am today, grabbed my Starbucks on the way downtown and met up with Jen, Sarah and Jamal on Front Street by 7:30am to walk up to the CN Tower atrium to register, submit our pledge forms and check our coats. We then jogged over to the CN Tower (about 2 mins) to beat the weather and not mess up our "hair" to a cheering squad of supporters cheering us on as we headed towards the stairs. The energy and enthusiasm to support us on our quest truly was Amazing!! Wait...need bathroom check to fix ourselves and make sure we look purdy coz u never know who we'll meet along the way! lol So, we finally get to those long awaited stairs to begin our journey...We get our cards, provided at registration, punched to clock our start time and here we go! Sarah and Jamal were gone in a few seconds while Jen and I took our time one step at a time. By about the 15th stair, we were already Exhausted...we clearly haven't made it up even 2 flights and have a whole lot more to go! So, we stop off to do some leg stretches and continue with the rest of the "climbers" on our journey to the top taking breaks every so often and being greeted by paramedics every few flight of stairs should somebody need help. A nice touch was the pics up on the walls encouraging us on our climb and educating us along the way on our environment/endangered species. As we kept going the air got thinner and breathing gets a little challenging, ears start popping, pressure builds up in your head due to the altitude and lack of proper oxygen..the key is to take long consistent breaths and keep going. Thanks Jen! :) By about the 56th flight, i lost Jen who decided she was going to keep trekking on so needless, to say i took my time and clearly had the scenic route to the top which included two projectile vomits and a young lady going through convulsions that required paramedic help...yikes! By about the 134th flight of stairs, i met this lovely young lady who was cheering our group on.....by now i really needed this to complete my last stretch! I finally make it to the top of the stairs, get my card punched to clock my finish time @ 35 minutes and 11 seconds and walk up a few more side steps to finally make it to the top of the CN Tower! Woohoo!! Finally, its over and it was such a great experience that i feel like i could do it all over again! We are provided water at the top (note: no water, ipods, phones or any gadgets during the climb) and take the elevator down to the bottom. We then go back to registration to get our actual times recorded and collect our T-shirt souvenirs with our times.

Leading the pack apparently was Jamal with "20 minutes :39 seconds"...NOT! it was a typo by the WWF Staff when recording the number on the T-shirt....so Jamal "actually" comes in @ 28:39 so Sarah really leads the pack @ 25:28 and Jennifer @ 29:43! Overall, we had great laughs, supported a Great cause and will do it all over again in a heartbeat! Look out for us in a few! :)

Please see link Below to learn more about WWF-Canada!

WWF-Canada :

http://wwf.ca/about_us/

Cyn