Five minutes, two seconds. That's how long it took me to run 30 flights of stairs (618 steps) Saturday morning for the 2013 Climb Ms: Power Up the Tower race at Winston Tower in downtown Winston-Salem. 

Let me say this about the race: "Ow." 

Team Erica captain Ron BookerFive minutes isn't very long, unless your thighs are screaming at you, your calf muscles hate you and by level 11 you feel like you've been hit with a lifelong smoker's cough. (The dreaded "dry lung" that occurs when running in a low-humidity environment like a stairwell.)

For all that, this was a FUN race. Climbers started in the basement level of the parking garage of the tower and then charged up the stairs to the finish line on the 26th floor.