I had heard of these being a big deal in other cities (you know, the ones with sprawling skylines and tons of skyscrapers?) but I never even realized that Detroit had one of its own and apparently, it has been an annual event for the past few years. On March 4th, you can become either a hard core stair-climbing competitor, ready to elbow people out of the way as you round the corners, or just a casual climber out to support a great cause in the 'Fight for Air' Stair Climb at the GM Renaissance Center. The event is a fund-raiser for the American Lung Association, with money raised going towards education, research, and advocacy for pulmonary diseases and conditions such as asthma, COPD, and lung cancer.
The full climb is 70 flights, for a total of 1035 steps (and an elevator ride back down, which I imagine will smell really awesome); a half event is also available. They even have a Firefighter Full Gear Challenge, where participants are timed during their climb to the top in full firefighter personal protective equipment. You can join either as an individual or as a team, but each participant is responsible for the registration fee and raising a minimum of $100 in donations.
Kind of a nice change-up for runners or athletes looking for a slightly different type of event to participate in rather than your typical 5K. And to give you something to work towards and feel inadequate about, apparently the fastest time logged is less than 6 minutes. I don't know about you, but my quads and lungs are buring just thinking about that.
