This afternoon, I completed my OVER THE EDGE rappel for Special Olympics NM at the NM Bank & Trust Building, 320 SW Gold. It took about 15 minutes or so.

Turned out that the building is 16 stories high, not 14 as I originally thought !

I needed a lot of extra preparation to keep myself calm, including visualization and deep breathing -- which I did at home for an hour before going downtown.

When I got there, a former military rappel master - now with the NM State Police - strapped me into a full-body harness, and gave me a pair of gloves and a helmet.

Fortunately, I was able to practice by going off the third story of a multi-level parking garage next door to the building. The scariest part there was stepping over the railing onto a narrow ledge.

Then, when it came time to rappel off the roof, toughest part was NOT stepping over the side of the building backwards and sitting down in my full-body harness.

No, the toughest part was pushing the lever to release the rope. The lever was a bit stiff (for very good reason), and I was doing it with my non-dominant left hand while bringing up more rope with my right hand. About 2/3 of the way down, it was hard to move my hand, and I had to stop frequently to let it rest. AT that point I lost control and my body was gently moved to touch the building!

It took some doing to regain control, but I did it!

Special Olympics will accept contributions to support rappellers for the next 90 days. You are welcome to donate on my personal page, www.firstgiving.com/JaneBlume