I climbed the world's tallest building! :)

I had a fabulous towerthon in Taipei 101 this morning. I arrived there at 7.15 am, much earlier than scheduled, and picked up my race wrist-chip (No. A0111), my race bib (0103), my event singlet, my event shorts and my event tee. Changed into the singlet and shorts (great fabric!) and then had a quick chat with some of the other Taiwanese and American participants before heading to the start-line at 8.30 am. The elite team (those that were seriously competing) had set off earlier at 8 am sharp. My category was for the less competitive, but still competitive nonetheless :)

I was the third in the queue for my category, and we were flagged off at intervals of 30 seconds. The first few storeys were very tall because those were the shopping mall floors and so the ceilings were much higher. Subsequently, the storeys became shorter and thus easier to "overcome". I had a brisk walk up the building, stopping at regular intervals to take pictures and chat with the very friendly volunteers who were manning the drinks stations and the first-aid points. There were volunteers at every floor, and some of them were exceptionally encouraging, cheering all the way at every participant. :) Well done, guys and gals!

My first twenty storeys were okay, but beyond that, I began to feel rather breathless. But it's amazing how my mind can push on. I kept telling myself, there's a great view out there, up there, and I've got nowhere else to go but up! And I kept pulling myself up the stairwell with whatever strength was left in my arms.

I exited at the 91st floor, where there was a media crew waiting and lots of people cheering. It felt great! I completed the event in 22 min 25 seconds. :) As I stepped out of the stairwell onto the open-air platform, I was given a large Mizuno towel to cover myself because the winds at that height were chilly and any participant dripping with sweat could easily catch a cold up there. I then went around and took some pictures, and chatted with some of the other finishers. It was a pity that the weather was cloudy, and it was also drizzling. But there was a beautiful rainbow too. :)

Collection of the race certificate was on the 86th floor. I walked down to that storey, picked up my certificate, and was ushered to the food and drinks station there. They were serving bread, egg and mayo sandwiches, and they even served coffee! :) It was all very organised, and very well done. Great logistics! However, I must qualify, it was still rather early in the day. The towerthon was scheduled to last until 4 pm in the afternoon, and it's anybody's guess how tidy the place would still be by that time. But all the same, the place was very well organised when I was there.

Later on, I went back downstairs to the ground level to attend the prize presentation ceremony. The top sixteen winners from the men's and women's categories went on stage to receive their prizes. The fastest guy finished in 11 minutes and 39 seconds. The fastest woman took 12 minutes 55 seconds. Incredibile timings! :) After the award ceremony, there was another surprise in store. On the of the male participants proposed to his girlfriend at the top of the building and she agreed to marry him, and this was all captured on film and broadcasted to everyone who was watching the event off the big-screen from downstairs :)

On the whole, it was a fabulous race, and I felt very pleased and very happy to have tried it and completed it. Thanks to God for seeing me through this, and thanks to my SgRunners buddies for encouraging me to give this event a shot :D