2017 AON Chicago Stair Climb

2017 AON Chicago (80 Floors)

2nd Place Overall 10:05

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi ! That was the chant to be heard from everybody this weekend at the 2017 AON Chicago Tower Run. This past weekend was full of catching up with old stair climber friends and even meeting some new ones. As usual I took the train up north to Chicago and stayed with the Berg's. Him and his growing family where kind enough to let me crash for the night and provide an amazing pre race dinner the night before. I also got to meet the Wilson family. Darren Wilson and his family, from Australia, were in town for the weekend before his big climb in NYC. I new much of Darren from the interwebs and knew he would be a formidable opponent come race day. Him and his family were kind enough to let me tag along for the weekend. It was a lot of fun meeting them, it made the negatives of the race disappear, making the trip worth it just seeing them.

Come race time I felt alright but that quickly changed just a few floors in. Typical of a stairclimb you can just tell when you're feeling good or not within the first several floors. I ended up going up first with Darren flowing 5 seconds behind. At about floor 35 or so I could hear the ring on his finger clanging. He was approaching, and approaching fast. I let him glide by me and immediately knew I didn't have the legs today to keep up. We went through half way in 4:30-35. Which in this particular tower splits are even keel. After the midway point the clang of his ring disappeared just as fast as it came. I was spent by 60 and really fell off pace. Its really frustrating trying to compete but not being able to due to coming off injury. Patience I tell myself. Yet my inner competitor wants it now. The last 20 were a disaster and a real trudge slowing to a 5:30 ish split for the back half. On the bright side I was able to get in 7 total climbs for the morning. The 7 climbs averaged out to be roughly 13:20. I felt strong on the endurance factor but just not strong on the top end speed for the first climb. Each climb was roughly 1,076 vert. ft. So for a grand total on the morning, I got in 7,532 vertical ft. of gain.

Jesse, myself and Darren

Overall, it was a fun weekend. Disappointing race but with all things considered I can't be mad. At least I have something while my ankle heals. I feel most fit on the stairs when I'm in good running form, which I am not right now. None the less it will get better with time. Also, huge shout out to Darren for setting a course record of 9:01 besting the previous by 14 seconds. Next on the docket is the US Towerrunning Championships in Las Vegas at the Stratosphere on Feb. 26th. Till then

Results: http://results.active.com/event_collections/step-up-for-kids/2016