2013 Willis Skyrise Stair Climb

2013 Willis Tower Skyrise Stair Climb
Sunday November 3rd 2013


Justin Stewart
1st Place/2,300
13:29

Race Morning 4:00 a.m.
This race is always interesting waking up for because it lands on day light savings time. Woke up around 4 to get a shake out run in. Ran easy just shaking the legs out, getting the blood flowing for 10 minutes. Got back to Jesse's house and stretched out then ate some breakfast.

Race Recap
I went into this race pretty confident, relaxed, and in shape.  This race comes at a weird time of year for me as far as stair climbs go. This year I was ready due to the fact that Ive been training for the 12 hour stair climb. The strength that I have gained from those long hours in the stairwell paid off.  When we were lining up I really did not want to go first. I climb better when I know I have to catch people and it keeps me motivated to climb and catch the next person. I usually go first but this time I was stubborn and started 4th in line behind Jesse, Oz, and David Tromp with Tim Danahue and Gorge Hermann right behind me.  I had a game plan of working into the race and thats exactly what I did. I remained focused on keeping a nice uptempo pace the first 50 floors then working into it if I was feeling good. I didnt know much about Tim but I knew he trained with Sproule so I knew he had to be good. Tim caught me by floor 15 or so and was moving but I never lost sight of him. He was breathing quite heavily so I stayed calm and hoped he wouldnt be able to keep that pace.  He later faded around 70 were I passed him back.  He had huge long legs and it was hard for me to get around him, his 4 steps equaled my 3. From 75 ish on I was all alone and focused on picking up the pace every 10 floors and putting as much time as possible between me and everybody else behind me. The last 20 floors I caught myself really looking at my watch quickly on the landings because I was really wanting that record. At floor 94 I glanced and saw 13:01 and thought damnit....but I could still get in a solid PR. The last 10 floors I actually had what I would consider a sprint finish in the stair climbing world.  I was really moving and grabbing the railings for everything I had left. Stopped my watch and saw 13:29 and was pretty pleased considering my finish and time from 2 years ago was 14:49 and 10th place. 2 years ago I had a rude awakening with this tower but this year I was ready and more prepared.  Then I just played the waiting game on finding out everybody else's times.  Overall I was really happy with my performance and time and effort I put forth in this race. I really wanted that 13:03 record but itll have to be next year. I know what I have to do. My 13:29 ties for the 4th fastest time every ran up in that race with some pretty big names in the sport next to me, which is a good feeling.


Results:

http://theracershub.com/results_view.php?id=2270&result_type=file&PHPSESSID=ef4d91f7d52c7742bfb9e65f174413b9