Got up super early this morning and did a few rounds of the stairs....

For those of you unfamiliar with my neighborhood, I live in the valley of an escarpment and there are varying sets of stairs across the city to allow pedestrians to easily access what we commonly refer to as "the mountain". I live about six blocks from a set and I like to try and do 'em every once and awhile.

There are 317 stairs in total and I know this because someone has kindly numbered each and every step. This particular set also gradually ascends to about an 80 degree angle, which makes the last 100 steps murder (not to mention the descent, when your legs go all wobbly doodles...)

So there I am at 6:30 am in my sweatpants and my new 20-minute-challenge Running Room hat, making my way up the stairs. It's finally getting hot in the So'oh, so I'm all sticky and sweating my cheeks off (literally...) My t-shirt is sticking to me, and conveniently I've forgotten my Kleenex (Mother Nature hates me this time of year and my allergies are out in full force.)

Needless to say I was a big 'ole hot mess. But I did them. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Three times quickly. And the best part? I listened to this song the entire way down that last time:

"Jump in the line, rock your body in time..."