525,600 Stairs

Ok...I love the RENT Musical. I think the music is great and it has a great message. Well since I moved to Philadelphia, I often feel like I am living the famous RENT Song, 525,600 Minutes. Why you may ask? Well because I live on the 3rd floor (or the Penthouse as Sara calls it) and I have something like 32 stairs to climb before I get up to my floor. About 3/4 of the way through the second set my quads and calf muscles start burning like none other and sometimes I think I might not make it. It is even worse when I have laundry because you have the added weight along with less maneuverability and you can't see where you are going. Basically, what I am saying is that if I don't have great legs by the end of this year I am going to be disappointed. Climbing these stairs multiple times a day is bound to have an effect....right?

I thought I would share my stairs with each of you. If you are lucky enough maybe one day you can climb them too...

Staircase Number 1



Staircase Number 2



Now, at the top of our stairs, there is a drawing that Sara (my lucky Penthouse buddy) and I have affectionately given different names to. I call the painting Man on Fire and Sara calls it Man on Top of the Mountain. Either way he is our inspiration for when we get to the top of the stairs...almost like he is greeting us and congratulating us for making it. It is very motivational at times. You can probably see why we have different names for him if you look at the picture below. He is probably standing on top of a cliff with water behind him but hey...water...fire...it is pointless when you are climbing 525,600 stairs.



As a tribute to Man on Fire/Man on Top of the Mountain, Sara and I took a picture on the top of the mountain we climbed last week in upstate New York. This mountain was a 2 mile hike up pretty much on rocks the whole time...it was pretty tiring. We thought the picture would look nice in a frame sitting on the bookshelf at the top of the 2nd set of stairs. This way our smiling triumphant faces can greet us along with Man on Fire/Man on Top of the Mountain. Take a look...