Step by Step

In its industrial era, Pittsburgh working class often lived on the tops of the hills, commuting down to the factories on the riverbanks via extremely large sets of stairs. Hidden gems of the city's pragmatic past, there are 712 sets of stairs (totaling 4.5 vertical miles) in the city today. During some of my outdoor stair workouts, I've encountered some intriguing discoveries. Many of these steps are considered on paper as true streets. Don't try to mapquest on the South Side Slopes, as the software engine may lead your car to a left turn down a staircase. I even stumbled upon the occasional house whose only access is the stairs--no alley, no street--just the stairs (imagine carrying groceries).

This photo above is Yard Way, which has 317 stairs.

Here's a few other staircases I tackle.

The picture below shows one of the many staircases with an official street sign.

Unity in the 'Burgh

Today was our Pittsburgh Support Group Meeting. The Unity Walk consisted of a tour of our basic science PH Research facilities. Everyone loved to see the "laboratory side" of research.-- to meet the scientists who first develop new treatments-- to see the type of work we are supporting in this fundraiser.

Today celebrated the adventure...just see the picture above (Kilimanjaro a la cupcake).

Today, we raised over $3000 for Path to a Cure, which translates to 6K with the match. Woo-hoo!

Many hospital staff generously created extravagant gift baskets and donated them to our Path To a Cure Gift Basket Raffle. People volunteered to staff the Raffle table, selling tickets all week. The Support Group drew the winners today. I am humbled by the benevolence and enthusiasum of my friends and colleagues.

Here's a crazy group of loony-tunes

The Support Group had many questions about the climb. I also got a few critical suggestions that I plan to use on the mountain. One gentleman's wife with PH recently passed. He is donating her miniature (lightweight) pulse ox to our cause--so that at the summit we can document the severity of our oxygen desaturation (we anticipate our O2 sats to be in the low 80s, and heart rates to be 120-140). There was enough generosity and inspiration in that room to move a mountain... or at least, to climb one.

My 2 year-old son and his friends at daycare made these adorable African safari artwork for the Unity Walk! (the lion's mane are paper cutouts of all their little hands!)