Climb to a Healthier You!

1. We noticed that there are more people in the stairwell than normal-- even at 2am!
2. We are slowly improving!
3. Some of us were sick but we still tried our best, while others pulled us through and increased our totals....
4. We had a contest to see who could climb over 100 floors first. The winner was our colleague, Bill McMullen! Go Bill!
5. My calves each gained an inch of girth.
6. The second week was much easier for our team in terms of breathing and leg soreness. We're getting in shape!
7. After seeing our overall rank from last week, each of our team member increased their efforts. Also two of our most active members who were out of town the previous week returned this week and helped the team more than double its tally for the week.
8. We had a couple of people out sick but still improved our total from last week. A couple of team members increased their steps to beat their last week's total.

Dear Stair Challenge Leaders & Participants,

Week 2 of the 2009 Stair Challenge is now complete. It has been another fabulous week of climbing, with over 105,000 flights climbed since the beginning of the challenge – give yourselves a pat on the back!

Congrats to team “AND we're a MESS” for climbing the most flights (415 per person) last week! This is a new weekly high, beating last week's 355 flights/person. And, the team that has improved most from week 1 to week 2 is .... (drumroll, please) ... "Med Everest" with 162 flights/person! Your prizes will be delivered to you this week.

For more updates, quotes, and a listing of the top ten total and most improved teams from week 2, visit http://urmcstairs.blogspot.com.

Best of luck with week THREE. Please report your week 3 tallies by Saturday, March 21st at 12pm. It's any team's game next week...work those calves, quads, and glutes!

The 2009 Stair Challenge Committee

Week 2: Most Improved: Top Ten Teams (# of floors/person IMPROVEMENT)

1. Med Everest +162
2. Pharmacy 2 +109
3. Mighty Flightys +86
4. Stair Pushers +84
5. AND We’re a Mess +83
6. WDIT +74
7. Systems Go Up and Down +73
8. Basement Critters +72
9. SOB’s +71
10. In Step +57

Week 2: Top Ten Teams (# of floors/person)

Dear Stair Challenge Participants,

Congratulations on completing your first week of the 2009 Stair Challenge! It’s been a fantastic week, with over 50,000 flights of stairs climbed – way to go everyone!

Congrats to team “Pharmacy One” for climbing the most flights (355 per person!) last week! Your prizes will be delivered to you this week.

Also, please note that due to feedback, we have extended the date and time of the weekly reporting deadline to Saturdays at 12pm. Please submit your team’s weekly tallies by this new date and time.

Click here for overall results from week ONE.

Best of luck with week TWO. The competition is looking fierce…. Keep it UP, climbers!

The 2009 Stair Challenge Committee

1. “One team member started out the week with two days of ZERO, but ended the week with 100 flights! We're very proud of her...” – Med Everest

2. “It is amazing how this competition has motivated our team. We are also doing a Biggest Loser competition with another group in our office. It will be interesting to see how all these floors help us next week during the weigh in!” – Stairwell Shakers

3. “Some team member are complaining of calf pain ” – West Wing Warriors

4. “I told my team mates I was going to place chocolate bars on the 3rd floor of the building, it's the only way I can get them to walk up to the 3rd floor, kidding!” – Stair Pushers

5. “We huffed and we puffed but we made it through the week.” – Huff & Puffers

6. “Going down uses a different set of muscles and is it's own kind of exercise.” – Psych Steppers

7. “The incentive of this challenge is great! I notice that I make a point of taking the stairs, where I would have taken the elevator a week ago! Thank you!” – Interpreters in Motion

8. “Stair climbing sounds easier than it actually is !!! However, despite our aches we are ready to tackle the stairs again next week.” – The Stream Team

9. “We are becoming aware that we have more opportunity to use the stairs than we realized.” – CAP Climbers

10. “One member of our team did 150 in one session, finishing the final flight backwards!” – Well U Hot Steppers

An astute Stair Climber noticed that the "leave a comment feature" wasn't working. Well, that should be fixed now! So post away.
We'd love to hear from you.

(Don't forget to submit first week totals by tomorrow evening 8pm!)