I made it up for swim practice even though I did not get to bed until after 9:30 (wound up from group). I also had to overcome trying to get up with the full weight of Wally on my chest. He jumped up the moment the alarm went off and did not move even after I tried to sit up.

Anyway, it was Breast Stroke day so I just took up the caboose and did my best to try to keep up.

2300 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

Today, I am putting on my very first "Event" at 9:30 and am calling it the "Stair Down" challenge. It is something Tija, owner of Seattle Fitness and I have put together for people who have participated in the Stair Climb Challenge this summer. Below is the e-mail with all the details :) Should be fun. I am combining the Sprint and Endurance events together...
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Hi everyone!
I hope you are all resting and tapering for tomorrow's big event! Tija and I met and tried to put together an event worthy of the effort, strength and determination you have exhibited this summer. Below are the rules and descriptions of the three events (Sprint, Steady Eddie or Endurance) you can choose from. Before the end of the day, please respond letting me know which event you would like to do. And yes, if you are crazy enough to want to combine a couple of them, we can make that happen...

Participants:

• Wear clothing to sweat in! (Tija said that anyone who participants is welcome to shower in her gym after).
• Bring water bottles and a sweat towel.
• Follow the rules of the road. Stay to the right, pass on the left.
• No rests longer than 3 seconds (as in "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi 3 Mississippi"), Yes, you are on the honor system with this one.
• Have fun!

Stair Down Part I - Personal Best Climb
Everyone will participate (staggered by 1 minute). Climb to the 8th floor and back down on fresh legs to warm up and record baseline time.

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Stair Down Part II
Decide which event you will do. Sprint, Steady Eddie or Endurance.

Sprint 3x
Sprint up and down the stairs three times as fast as you can -- must be faster than your baseline time. The shortest winning cumulative time wins!
*Resting over three seconds at any point in this event is an automatic DQ.

Steady Eddie 4x
Walk up the stairs at a steady pace. The person who does this 4 times and has the least deviation from their baseline time wins!
*Resting over three seconds at any point in this event is an automatic DQ.

Endurance ??x
Just what it says. Walk up and down the stairs until you drop. Every set up and down will be recorded. Partial laps are not counted.
*Resting over three seconds indicates that you are done and every complete lap to that point will be counted.

The "Stair Down" challenge was a total blast and Tija did an awesome job of recording our stats and encouraging us. I did not win any divisions but was close with the Endurance. It finally boiled down to Michael and me and we both could have gone on for much longer but in the interest of time (and since we had already done 27 laps) we decided to break it with a sprint lap. He dusted me.

6ish Mile Stair Down @ 01:12:15