Situation in the Bunker Hill Monument + recent stair tallies

Tuesday 9/8/26

On Saturday I was coming back down the stairs of the Bunker Hill Monument after having gone up them ten times, and there was a woman who had just fainted. She was with her husband who was trying to steady her. You could tell from her eyes that she wasn't quite all the way back yet from where she'd gone. I stopped, of course, and tried to help. They weren't far from the top, so I relayed that information and told them to wait there and I'd go and tell a ranger and bring some water back.

Got to the bottom and exited the Monument and went into the lodge to find a ranger and procure some water. I told the ranger at the desk what had happened and he said that they don't have any water and asked me to point out who the woman was on the video monitor they have with a feed from the observation part of the Monument, which I did.

There's a defibrillator at the top of the Monument, but no water for potential emergencies at the bottom? Does this seem logical or prudent? Actually, it wasn't until the other day that I realized there is a water fountain in the lodge. The bathrooms there are closed to the public, and they're barricaded off, so you might think--as I did--that you couldn't enter that part of the building, but you can, and there's a water fountain back there.

Alas, it doesn't work. Well, water comes out, but you'd have to put your mouth on the spigot or else try and use your hand in order to be able to drink any. Regardless, there were no bottles or cups that I could use to bring back any water to the woman at the top of the Monument.

I hustled up the Monument again, where the woman was sitting on a bench recovering. She was sweating profusely. It was rather humid. These weren't elderly people or individuals in bad shape. It's simply what can happen.

I explained about the water and asked if there was anything I could do. I got up there pretty quickly, and was a trifle out of breath as I began speaking. They thought at first I'd gone and made a second trip for the only time in my life, doing something crazy on their behalf, but I explained, no, I did this every day, which is why I knew something about the risks of not being properly hydrated. I had consumed about a liter of coffee that morning and only a few sips of water, but the spirit of the statement rings true enough.

Then I asked if I could be of any help with them going down. They were very polite and thankful, and I just reminded her to hold the railing the entire way--which is something I try and do even after all these years; you don't want to get cocky in there--and got back on my workout way. I did stick around until they came out, to make sure there were no problems.

I haven't reported much in this record about recent stair-running efforts in the Monument. There were the back-to-back weeks of forty circuits. That was good. That took us to the week before this past week, in which I did thirty Monument circuits after running 3000 stairs at City Hall on that Tuesday before the Monument reopened on Wednesday.

There were also 100 push-ups per day, with three miles being walked on three of those days, and six miles walked on each of the two others. Five circuits of stairs were ran in the Monument for the first four days, with ten then being run on Sunday.

Then I didn't run any stairs anywhere for three days, which took us to last Thursday. I've been a bit inconsistent with push-ups of late, but I did 100 that day (and there was a 200 push-up day somewhere in there recently), walked the three miles, and ran ten circuits of stairs in the Monument. This was followed up with six more miles and five additional circuits on Friday, then I started to get into it pretty good.

On Saturday, the morning with the woman who fainted, I did 100 push-ups, walked three miles, and ran twelve circuits of stairs in the Monument. That's a nice number. As I mentioned, it was humid, but not nearly as humid as it's been.

Having done the twelve, I had a goal for Sunday, that being thirteen circuits. Twenty-five circuits makes for a big fitness weekend. I did indeed run these thirteen circuits of Monument stairs, in addition to doing 100 push-ups and walking six miles.

That means my circuit totals for the last four weeks have been forty, forty, thirty, forty. Twenty-five is a nice number for a week, so this is some decent effort. My times haven't been great, though. Actually rather poor. Lots of room for improvement. Still, you're doing okay with those numbers.

I'm up to 670 circuits since March 11, which doesn't count the workouts at City Hall. No pain, no soreness, no stiffness, no nothing, but there isn't supposed to be. I should feel afterwards the same as I feel going in, or as I felt when I was ten-years-old.

Speaking of which...

There was this little girl--maybe eight-years-old--who positively flew up the stairs on Sunday! I got out of her way and she blew past me! Granted, I was on my ninth or tenth circuit by then, but I'm not sure it would have mattered. This kid was a feather with legs going up the stairs, calling out their numbers to her parents behind her. "I'm at stair 150!" and "I'm at stair 275!" and "I'm at the top!"

I was very impressed. It was also nice that her parents let her do her thing. Oftentimes parents will take out their lack of fitness on their child who wants to try and bound on up to the top. They'll use their kid as an excuse, too. That they need to be go so slowly because of safety, and that's not mom or dad's real reason usually. It's because they're struggling and they don't want to admit it, including to themselves. But they know.

Also haven't noted where things are at alcohol-wise. Sunday marked 3703 days, or 529 weeks, without a drink.