I did it

Sunday morning, at around 12:35 a.m., I took the elevator down to the B1 level, crossed the hallway into the stairwell, did some calf stretching, then clumped my way slowly up the stairs to see whether I could make it from B1 to 14 in one go, no stopping.

I did. So suck it, doubters!

I admit I sat and rested at the top, and I waited for a heart attack or some attack of lightheadedness or something, but all that happened was that my heart, which had been beating fast, started calming down as I got my wind back.

So I now know I can indeed go fourteen floors without stopping. And I also know I really need to work on my strength, which was much more of a problem than my cardiopulmonary fitness. I felt weak while walking up the stairs; my thigh muscles (on both sides of each leg—quadriceps and biceps femoris) bitched constantly after the first few floors. I hope the walk along the Nakdong River will help strengthen my legs. While the first major hill I face on the walk can be avoided by taking a tunnel through the bottom of the mountain, I think I might go over the mountain instead. We'll see. One more major hill after that, then as commenter Paul pointed out, there's a hill just outside of Andong City, but since I'll be traveling eastward at that point, it won't be much of a hill for me. Going westward is another story.

This is going to be a weird walk, taking everything backward up to Sangju. Then at Sangju, I'll pick up the trail I'd done in 2022. The route will be slightly different this time because I've picked different places to stay. But the end at Andong Dam will be the same, and that's an awesome place to finish a long walk.