2012 Presidential Towers
2012 Presidential Towers Stair Climb
4 x 45 Floors=180 floors
1st Place
15:41 (New Course Record)
Splits: 3:28, 3:59, 4:05, 4:08
Another great weekend of racing in Chicago in the bag. This was the final race for me until November when I tackle the Willis tower once again. One factor of this racing scene that sits heavy on my mind is my points total as of right now going into an unofficial off season of stair climbing for me. In the U.S. there aren’t very many stair races in the summer. Yet in Europe their climbing season is in full swing. To be competitive points wise on towerrunning.com I had to build my points as much as possible so that the Europeans couldn’t gain ground in the summer time when Im not racing. With the new factor points and ranking system I feel it favors the Europeans more. I say this because for one there aren’t as high of factor races over here in the US as there are in Europe. Granted they may have a deeper field of competitive athletes in races across the board but that’s not to say some of the best in the US couldn’t compete if not win over in Europe. While all of the master races over here in the US are 1.5 factors with the exception of ESBRU which is a 2.5 factor, most of the races over in Europe turn up factors of 2.0. As a top athlete in the US in this stair climbing sport I have earned 666.6 points heading into my hiatus until November. I feel this total might not hold up come August. I am so concerned about this because usually in August they select the top 3 ranked in the world for an all expenses pain trip to Bogota, Columbia where the World Cup Championships are held. I would love more than anything to compete there at that race with that type of competition. So far this season my only downfall that would hold me back from competing there is my results at the Empire State Building Run Up where I finished a disappointing 17th. I didn’t receive the amount of points needed to build a more comfortable lead over my European friends.
None the less against all this I feel I have had a stellar season as of yet. This will be my first full year of stair climbing as well. In my first full year of racing I have…
2012 Stair Climbing as of yet
2nd Place 300 Lasalle Tower Chicago, IL 58 floors
1st Place Bop to the Top Indianapolis,IN 37 floors
1st Place Bop to the Top (Triple) Indianapolis,IN 3x37 floors
1st Place AON Chicago Chicago,IL 80 floors
17th Place ESBRU New York, NY 86 floors
1st Place Oakbrook Terrace Oakbrook, IL 36 floors
1st Place Oakbrook Terrace (Triple) Oakbrook,IL 3x36 floors
1st Place Springfield Hilton Springfield,IL 32 floors
1st Place Springfield Hilton (Ultimate) Springfield,IL 32 floors…
1st Place Hustle Up the Hancock Chicago, IL 94 floors
1st Place Presidential Towers Chicago, IL 180 floorsThe Race
Heading into the race I felt very confident and comfortable. During my warmup my legs felt great and I felt like I was in a good frame of mind to compete that day. Last year I finished second to Jesse Berg. Last year this race was only my third race ever in the new sport. This year I feel that I am twice as strong as last year and the times showed that. Last year I finished in 17:01, this year I finished in 15:41, a huge jump. In this race I had the number 1 bib which meant I was first to go up. I was fine with this but I knew I had to keep the pace moving not knowing what the others where doing behind me. Going into the first tower of 4 I wanted to keep a good tempo but nothing all out. With a time of 3:28 for the first tower I think I acheived this, not too fast but just fast enough to keep things moving. Got done with tower 1 and I was feeling good. Took the elevator down and got the start line of the second tower, took 3 minutes or so to rest then got after it. I went up the second tower first as well. I wanted to be under 4 minutes. I knew it was going to be hard to stay under 4 but I just wanted to stay on a good tempo and push the last 10 floors. Finished in 3:59. Heading into the third tower was a longer run portion before you enter the tower staircase. Jesse Berg went first then I went. I sprinted the run part because I knew I could make up time on this part. Passed Jesse even before we got into the staircase. Just stayed mentally tough on this tower because it really started hurting half way up. Finsihed in 4:05 Headed into the last tower starting to feel it but I knew Jesse was close in time and I past years have shown he is strong in the last tower. The last 15 floors of 45 really started to hurt and I was shutting down, just grinded it out to the finish. Finished the 4th and final tower in 4:08. 15:41...I saw that and was in disbelief. I was in more disbelief when I realized Jesse was only 2 seconds behind me with 15:43. We really brought out the best in each other this race.
It was so nice in Chicago later that day I decided to go to the beach to get in a run, a 7 mile run that this. Really felt great.
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