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Fitness Buff Will Run Santa Monica Stairs 100 Times to Celebrate 31st Birthday

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Photo by moyogo via Flickr

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Hey, what did you do for your 31st birthday? Did you drink as if you were turning 21 and then wake up face-down on a strange mattress with little more than a vague, depressed notion of where you were?

Or, did you make like Matt Richter-Sand, a personal trainer and founder of NX Fitness, who plans to celebrate the big 3-1 on Saturday, March 16, by climbing the Santa Monica stairs 100 times?

Yep, totally. Us too.

Richter-Sand is undertaking what will be a record-breaking number of climbs for this particular staircase to raise awareness for the American Diabetes Association. His company is already a supporter of the ADA, and he explained that he came up with the idea for the stair-climb -- which, incidentally, is the equivalent of climbing the Empire State Building ten times -- during his regular stair-related workout.

"I train with a guy out there a lot," he says, but until now, he's only ever done 40 rounds of stairs. That said, he's approaching his upcoming endeavor with a sense of humor.

"It will be interesting," he says. "It's like the anticipation of running a marathon...you're kind of wondering why you got yourself into this in the first place. It might take all day, but I'm sure it will be fun."

You can catch Matt out there starting at 6:30 a.m. and possibly -- according to him -- going for the whole day.

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