JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly 200 people ran up the tallest building in Jacksonville on Saturday morning for the American Lung Association's 4th Annual Fight for Air Climb.
The event was held inside the Bank of America building. Runners took on 42 flights of stairs, or 838 steps.
For another year, city firefighters donned their gear and climbed the stairs for charity. For those firefighters wearing an extra 40 pounds of gear, the run is quite the challenge.
"This is real training for us," said one firefighters.
"It was actually pretty good. It was a lot easier than I thought after training for a couple weeks. It was real hot in the stairway, but with the extra gear, it just increases your body temperature so you gotta be careful," said Mark Treglio, a Jacksonville firefighter.
This year, organizers raised $140,000 for lung disease research and awareness.
But the climb is so difficult, many of the climbers practice beforehand.
"This is pretty intense. We have a lot of long distance runners that do this and they're even saying this is a tough challenge but it's a great cause," said Caitlin Worthington, a runner.
"I started out fast today so when I hit ten, I felt it. Just got to keep pushing through," said Pam Ramsdell.
"It's for everybody. I can do it. 70-year-old people can do it. There's 10-year-old kids doing it," said Worthington. "Everybody can do it. We've had practices for this leading up to the last six months. It's tough but you can do it."