So, I'm not sure why but I could not get myself into training for this really. OK fine, I still hate stairs but I know their value and I know what needs to be done. Our previous vertical race experience was pretty much 2 years ago. Jeremy and I did this one (Fight For Air Climb) and the whole familia did the Climb For Air (30 Rockfeller Center). With the Fight For Air Climb, I felt like I trained decently. Not really more than that. That was a big lesson and when the whole family signed up for the 30 Rock climb, I made sure that everyone got the chance to train. Personally, I would climb during lunch at work 3 times * 7 floors. The stairs we have are UGLY and dip and aren't even and it was just dangerous but I needed. We also tried to go almost every weekend to my sisters as that gave us the opportunity to climb 30 Flights either once or twice. We also went to Adele's place and I climbed there but my guys deemed the stairs way to hot and didn't really climb. This time around, I tried to climb consistently every week at work, added a little bit of stairs on our long run by running over the LIRR and tried to go to my sister's but we just weren't going there enough.
Basically I was hoping for the best. Elizabeth always does stairs at her workplace but it's only 1 flight and she also tries to do stairs at her homecare. Jeremy has to climb 6 flights at school with a heavy bag back and forth. Jessie has to climb 3 flights at her school with a heavy bag. We didn't have the consistency of straight stair climbing (30 floors at a shot) but a lot of small intermediate stuff with some 30's done in there too.
We asked Amir to join us again (he ran with us at 30 Rock) but he didn't seem interested this time. He trained with us a little but really wasn't in it. That's ok tho. He will be missed but that's ok.
As I couldn't get into training, I also didn't get into the fundraising either. We each had to raise $ 100.00 and we (my fault) waited to the last minute. Luckily, friends really came through. Contributors included Adele, Heidi and Jeff, Gail, Albert, Jack (Boss) and some neighbors. Jack really suprised me with a $ 250 donation and I normaly would not mention it here (not a competition) but apparently he knows someone with Lung Cancer and the funds raised here were for that. I talked to him and he said "it's a real ugly disease". We are very fortunate that we truly aren't affected by this disease and from his lack of description of it, I truly got that sense. Still, a big thanks to everyone!
So, I was supposed to go at 9:46:00 followed by Lee at 9:46:20 followed by Jeremy at 9:46:40 and Jessie at 9:47:00. This seemed kinda silly to me as Jessie (and theoretically Jeremy) were supposed to always be with an adult. Would have made sense to send Jessie first followed by Lee as she in theory would be faster than a little shrimp but whatever.
I read and re-read the final instructions and they said that there was $ 15.00 event parking near by so we decided to try to leave by 7:15 Saturday morning. We managed to leave by 7:20ish and on we went.
Flew into Manhattan and found the parking lot right away. It was about 50 feet from the entrance to the building. NICE! Last time I parked 2 or 3 blocks away and it was snowing a little and cold. This was awesome. The car in front of us also had racers and we wished them luck.
We got in the building and they are still setting up. That's ok. Checked in and signed waivers again and went to find a quiet place. As we were walking, we passed by a station that was checking to see if your spine is aligned. They did this by you standing with 1 foot on 1 scale. Aferwards you check both scales and hopefully the numbers pretty much match. Jessie tried it and was only off by 1 pound or 2. That's good. Jeremy tried it and he was off. I tried it and was off by over 10 pounds. What?!? We all reasoned because I had my jeans on with lots of stuff in them and that I should try post race.
Anyway, we continued down the hall and I spotted food. We went into this little room and there were bananas, water, drinks, and bars. Took some bars and water. Meanwhile they were setting up for massages. I asked Lee if she wants to do it and she jumped on the idea so we both went. She got a female Masseuse and I got a Male. Not my perfect scenerio but whatever. Dude told me to lie down on my stomach and he went to town. Right away I felt my body completly relax. Awesome. At one point, he told me to turn around on my back and I did noticing that Lee was done. I didn't care. My guy wanted to continue? Sure...No problem dude.
Once I finished, my body was totally relaxed. It was amazing. Turns out with Elizabeth, she was asked what to work on. The person finished and it was done. Mine continueed!!!
When I went to my guys, Jeremy immediatly asked me if I fell asleep. I truly don't know. I don't think I slept. I might have. Still, I don't think I slept as much as was in a complete state of relaxation.
We went to the bathroom (Elevator upstairs) and then came back down to hang out. At this point, we also ran in to Kamen Yotov. I knew he was going to be there so I was looking out for him. I actually saw his FB post on the stair climbing page and also spotted his name on the participant list. Everyone's bib number reflected their turn and his number was number 1. Yup - Numero Uno. The guy with the biggest target painted on his back. The only one who not a hunter, rather just a hunted. The psychological pressure must be enormous especially as he was racing this.
His daughter was lucky number 13. She's pretty fast to get such a low number.
After all this, we found a spot to chill out. The kids and I got ready and I checked in my bag with all of our stuff. Lee refused to check in her bag and book since she "had" to finish her book. Had to...! Right next to us, a boxing gym set up a 5 minute boot camp area. Jessie and I were watching them do this and decided to do it as well. Coach Nelson was leading this but his people weren't exactly getting it so we told him we would come afterwards and participate. I'm glad. There are good reasons and bad reasons why we should have done this minutes before the race and ultimatly I'm glad we didn't do this tight before.
Jessie and I went to see Kamen take off and eventually Julie also. Runners every 20 seconds. Easy peazy. Still, I realized that they were ahead of schedule and I got my guys up and ready. Triple knot laces and psyched. Gum in for me and last blowing of the nose. My sister and nephew were going to meet us afterwards for a little bit so I let her know we are going soon. She decided to try to meet us around 11. My guys didn't want to hang out too late in Manhattan as Jeremy wanted to make tennis at 2:30 and it was unclear if Jessie would go to gymnastics at 1:30. Later she decided not to go. They would miss swimming but once in a long while is ok.
We're on line and the line is moving fast. I'm up. Twenty seconds to go...I get the all clear. I walk fast to the staircase, swipe my right arm across the timing table, hear the chirp and I start climbing as I hear "GO! from the marshall. Right away I feel awesome. I'm climbing like crazy. Soon I pass my first victim. Fortunatly that awesome, crazy feeling didn't last. I made it I think to the 5th floor before reality set in. Wrong pace buddy...Not happening.
That's ok tho. Still, I'm moving in the right direction (UP!) and still passing people. This climb had 3 rest stops where if you get off the course, meaning out of the stairwell, you can get some liquids. I skipped them. Didn't train with it and wasn't going to now.
The thing about stair climbing which the "normal" people don't know is that it's an intense effort for a very short distance. Your legs (quads, hamstrings, calves) are burning while you are more and more becoming oxygen deprived. I mean you gasp, throat burning etc. And of course your heart rate is sky rocketing. Actually, it would be very interesting to wear my heart monitor next time. Not sure if I will actually do that but it would be interesting.
Right before we started, Jessie asked me if I think Kamen and Julia finished already and I replied that they are already finished and are resting and perhaps have already even left...Yes - they are that fast and they did start approximatly 30 minutes before us.
Anyway, the race itself is kind of monotonous as there is no view, nothing new to see. Just the same old stairs over and over. The only 2 different things are the people you encounter (pass) and of course the volunteers who were amazing. Jeremy and Jessie thought they were way to loud but I thought they were great. Actually, whenever I saw the volunteers, I told them that my 2 kids are coming and asked if they can cheer for them. The first time I saw the volunteers, I actually didn't have a voice. I croaked to them asking them to cheer. Had to clear throat a few times before they understood "Jeremy and Jessie".
So, I talked to people (of course) as I passed them, thanking them for moving out of my way and of course encouraging them and I talked to the volunteers but I was using that as a distraction because I was worried about my guys. Ultimatly, it's their race and they gotta do their own thing but I still worry. Same goes for when I run with my friends who don't consider themselves as runners. You people didn't know that, did you?
Anyway, I reached the 25th floor and I thought "1/2 way there" until the realization that the math didn't make sense and by the time I could do the calculation, I was past the 30th and I knew I was more than 1/2 way.
Anyway, whenever anyone does a race, they would like to PR. It's true and anyone telling you otherwise is lieing to you. I mean, you might realize that it's not going to happen but you secretly deep down inside want that damn PR and this was no different. I wanted to beat my time of 10:10 but I knew it just wasn't going to happen. I was suffereing way to much.
Still at the 50th floor, I was at 9 minutes and immediatly a speedy calculation was being done. Let's just face it that at that point it would have taken me a few seconds before I could answer how much is 2+2...Still, I realize that I do 7 flights at work in about a minute so while I couldn't really do the math or go fast, maybe just maybe I could PR by a second. I tried and tried. Suddenly, without realizing it I was going up the last flight. They took a picture of me as I was coming up. I was looking down and working hard. Lee thinks it's a horrible picture but I don't. It was a candid picture. A true picture of what was going on. I gave it all that I can and it showed. Judge it for yourself.
Crossed the finish line without a clue as to the result. Finished and walked a little. Changed course to get water and paper towels to blow my nose. Breathing back to normal, I went to the "door" and got my phone ready. I didn't know how long before I should expect my guys. Still, the camera part is working and BAM! There's Jeremy. Got a quick pic. As he passes me, he says that Jessie right behind. What?!? Got that picture too....
Waited a little for Lee but she didn't come up. Can't get lost on this course so what's going on? Meanwhile, I'm still coughing...Everyone was coughing but I can't seem to stop. Next to the bounty and water, they were giving cough drops and I asked Jessie to get me 1. She got me 2. Two different flavors...But that didn't bother me. Did eventually help but not right away.
Eventually Lee came up and I got a few action shots. Spoke to her and she said that she didn't want to go fast. She didn't want to have breathing issues so she decided to keep it nice and easy. Knowing that it's easy to try to go fast when going forward, she decided to mix it with going backwards and sideways. Apparently, the volunteers thought this to be pretty cool so she got extra attention.
The kids, especially Jessie, did realize the volunteers were cheering her by her name. Jeremy complained that the cheerleaders were way too loud. There was 1 major cheer zone of girls. I liked it. He HATED it! Oh well...
Once we relaxed a little and enjoyed the view, we took the elevator down, got more snacks and water and I checked in again with my sister. Going to meet them at 11 at the awards area which this year instead of the bar was a nice little pizza restaurant with free pizza. Lee loved it and ate while the kids ate just the crust. It was focaccia bread pizza. Nothing for me.
Before we went, I did ask the timer for results and also eventually checked the printed results on the wall. Both kids got 2nd for their age group so that was cool. Lee and I of course didn't place. Kamen came in 3rd overall tho they gave him first for age as they only had 1 overall winner for males and 1 for females. Julie got first for age beating Jessie. Julie told us that she was "forced" to go into a rest stop to get water. Jeez.
Other pieces of big news were Jeremy got a PR of about 2 minutes which I thought was amazing while he thought it was "whatever". He didn't seem that happy about it. I would be! Jessie doesn't have a comparison time to compare with but she did beat him by 9 seconds. Nice. Still, above all that, what was amazing to me was their attitude. Jeremy wasn't bothered or annoyed that she beat him. She didn't make him feel bad for it or anything like that. Nice. Still, later I as texting with Adelle and I told her that Jessie beat Jeremy and she asked me whether he was upset or if she made fun of him or something and I replied that she didn't and I was proud. At the same time, little miss thing was behind me shoulder surfing and she had a big smile on her face when she saw Adele's remark that it was cool. Let her be proud. She deserves the accolades for the accomplishment of doing 55 flights, for beating him and for not gloating. Very proud of both...Maybe Elizabeth and I did something right...Or at least maybe Elizabeth did something right...
I started speaking to some guy before the race and turns out he did really well too. I think he did something in the 7+ min range. The crazy thing is that he was also going to do the climb at 30 Rock which this year was the very next day. That's 66 flights. Nice. Surrounded by crazy people...
Anyway, went to hang out at the food place and we saw another girl age 10 named Jordan. She ran with her father. Last year she got an age group award and also youngest climber award. This was not her year. Nice and well spoken, it was a pleasure to talk to her and her dad. She had a funny remark worth mentioning...People at the race were cheering her and she told them that "she was slower this year since she got 'older'". Hillarious...
Not Hirsch related mentionables: First place winner was a 58 year old white guy who ran it in 7:10. Let that stew in your mind for a little bit. Not a Kenyan ; Not a 20 year old ; Not in 15 minutes. I mention these as that is the kind of stuff people guessed. Anyway, we stayed for the awards. Jessie did get 2nd and Jeremy got bounced to 3rd so we took home a silver and a bronze. The medals were actually in 3 different colors. Cool. Then they got to the firefighters division and of course people were still cheering but they did mention the first firefighter and he did it in 8:40 with full gear. That's between 40 and 80 lbs of gear. Jacket, boots and tank. Jeez. All the firefighters got quiet and we heard whispering of "Whew....That was fast".
Before we left to the food place, Jessie actually tried a firefighters hat and tank and I took a picture. After I took the picture, I realized the firefighter dude was actually supporting the tank from behind (meaning he held it up). It was heavy...
I bought a half-n-half raffle for $ 20. If you win, you keep half the pot while the other half is a donation. I'll come back to this in a minute. There were a lot of awards and I gotta mention some. First firefighter team was won by FDNY. They came in individually as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Wow. The team cup was HUGE! The 8:40 guy was of course part of this team. Kamen and his daughter were also part of a team and their team won too. He let a 12 year old boy member keep the team plaque. A plaque was also given to the team with most spirit and the table behind us got it. That included the first overall female as well. As they got the award, one of their members was bawling her eyes out. Turns out her dad just died from lung cancer a month ago. Wow. Later during the half-n-half raffle they won too. If they would not have bought a ticket, I would have won something like $ 360. Oh well... All for a good cause, right?
Lastly, the next weekend, as I was getting ready to run, I was glancing at the TV for the weather report and I recognized a face on the news. I rewinded the segment and I recognized the guy in the picture. It was one of the firefighters from the race. He looked like he had makeup which is why I recognized this NJ firefighter. He was just given 10 years in Jail for embezzeling $ 400,000. Oi...
