The other day at work, I eyed the stairwell.

I haven’t done the stairs since October.  This would truly see if my lungs are improving, or if the medication is truly opening my lungs.

“Let’s not think about it.  When I am ready, I will be ready.”

I was too tired at the end of the day, so I put it on the back burner, “Maybe tomorrow.”

A little after 11a.m. the next day I ate a banana for a snack.  Then, while looking up at the clock, “Maybe I should try the stairs at lunch time?”  I have never done it at lunchtime, the sweat factor, but I have some fuel in me, not too much and not too close in time to the climbing the stairs, and most importantly not too long between snacks that my sugars will crash.

I grab my headphones. I set my timer on my phone and – I hit it.

The gravity seems lighter; my feet lift with much more ease and speed.  My lungs are keeping at pace with my feet.  No stopping, no heart rate reaching its max.

I know the first song is right around 3.50 seconds.  My pace is good – let’s keep it up. “Don’t look at the time.  One foot in front of the other.”

I pass the 5th floor, where the heat is at its most concentrated, and usually doesn’t let up until 11-12th.  Around and around, I am at the 12th floor.  I can feel the cooler air circulate easing the pass through my lungs, chilling the beads of my sweat at the exact same time.

I keep turning – 14, 15, and the 16th floor – I clock at 4.11.

My average is 4.45.  My best ever was 4.30.  I shaved off 20-35 seconds out of nowhere.

I have not practiced.  I have not climb any more than two flights in the last four months.  I do my treadmill, just as much as I always have.  I have not been training exclusively, by any means.

This means one thing only – the drug is working.

I climbed 16 floors with little effort.  I cough a couple times 1-2 minutes post after reaching the top.

I made a subconscious decision – diving into a conscious one.

My conscious one said, “Whatever will be, will be.  We can do this” – and I did it.

Who knew?