A Very FULL Morning

Whew! What a full morning I had. I first headed down to the Stair Climb to deliver cookies for the winners and participants. There were already several members of the Rowing Club down there registering. Larry was all set up and ready to roll! More on that in a sec. Then it was up to the RAC to start the morning's activities. Laura Lenz, Dave Phillips, Todd Rowekamp and I were all heading down to the Stair Climb which was just over 3 miles from the RAC. Very pleasant running with the wind at our backs. Delightful change from last week. The only real problem was the snow melt that had refrozen. Quite slippery in spots. Had to have your wits about you as far as footing goes.

We arrived at the Shops at University Square and picked up our numbers and shed a bit of clothing as our next event was taking place in an enclosed stair well! Dave smartly had on shorts and short sleeves underneath his outer layer. Laura and I went with our long sleeves and pants. We headed over the skyway to the Broadway Plaza and no sooner found the stairwell over than I had to start. I had a 8:00:10 starting time. I had about 2 seconds to spare! There was talk beforehand about strategies--two steps at a time? Start out fast? Use the rails? Who knew. (Tom O'Leary's strategy--get 'er done, then head up to St. Paul for a bus-driven pub tour!) This was going to be a bit of trial and error. So I was second up the steps and decided to step on every step and not go out too hard. I was passed at floor 8. I could hear him coming so I moved to the left. Shortly after he passed, I could hear him verbalize how he was feeling. "I hear 'ya buddy" was what I was thinking.

I was still kind of running by about 11 floors. After that, it was as brisk a walking motion as I could muster. I encountered fireman #1 at floor 13 I think it was. So at the landing I stopped and took his picture. He thanked me. He said 'You're half way'. At floor 23 I encountered fireman #2 and also stopped and took his photo. He said 'Only 3 floors left!' Hallellujah! My lungs were screaming. I was so glad to finish. That is really a cardio workout. We were all coughing, coughing and our lungs were burning. Some of us even commented on a metallic, bloody taste in our mouths. Whew! (Sarah Shonyo--'You paid money to do this?' HA!) New RTC member Chris Koch took first place with a screamin' time of 2:29. RTC member Chris Chen was just 2 seconds behind. Chris (Koch) even took a couple of flights 3 steps at a time. I am satisfied with my 4:05, 25 seconds faster than my practice round several weeks ago.

The views from and within the penthouse were incredible. They certainly spared no expense in finishing the units. 5,000 sq. ft. each of fabulous granite, cherry and stainless-furnished living space (2 of them). The views were amazing.

Would I do it again? In a stair climbing minute ... Yes! Laura, Dave and the rowers (who climb stairs every weekend) agreed once we'd all recovered. So we hope Larry decides this was a first annual and is back next year. Thank you to Larry Pederson for organizing and for the volunteers who made sure everything ran like clockwork. Great job.

So ... then we proceeded down to Running Room and got ready run the 10K (non-timed). Laura got the last hat, so there were more than 40 runners, as people were arriving to register after we left to run a couple miles before the race started at 9:00. Chris Koch and Chris Chen were there as well, as was Jim Mason and son Jack who ran sweep at the stair climb, looking for limp bodies hanging over the stair rail ;-) Larry reported that the female winner of the stair climb, from Minneapolis, had registered to run the 10K as well so he brought her cookies down to Running Room. Above and byond the call of duty ... So much to do ... so little time! On our jaunt around Soldier's Field we saw Lisa Pelowski on a cooldown with her 2 dogs. She must have run with Mark and Bruce from the Y. Thank you to Laura for slogging around the 10K with me. My hip flexor/groin was certainly complaining to me the whole time and I had to run pathetically slow. ;-( Starting up after stopping was the hardest part. But it waxed and waned. If it wasn't for Boston coming up, I think I'd take a month or so off and let all these aches and pains take care of themselves. The good news was that my left foot didn't bother me at all. ;-)

Then ... we headed back up to the RAC via Assissi Heights/14th St. We were all commenting on the fact that we really got a workout and it felt like we'd been at it all morning! Somewhere along the way we saw Joe Lovett out running. Back at the RAC I had 15.40 miles and Dave had 15.04. We decided to call it 16 miles, giving ourselves credit for the stair climb. A workout indeed. On my way home I saw someone running west on 2nd Street very fast and fluid. Who is that??? Mike Torchia. Fast indeed. Likely heading home as home is out past West Circle Dr. I went home and plopped down on the couch to watch America's Test Kitchen on PBS and I promptly fell asleep. Ah, sweet slumber.

Complete set of photos for both of today's events on the RTC website.)

Lin Gentling could really use volunteers for water stops on Saturday mornings. I can't tell you how much they are appreciated. Thank you to Lana Lappi and Heidi Martin for being out there this morning. If you would be willing to volunteer, please contact Lin Gentling. A thousand thank yous from all of us ahead of time.

I updated Laura Lenz's photo from yesterday's post. It's a bit closer so it will make it easier for you to know who she is. Also added a photo of Carlo and Paola, who each took 2nd place in their age groups in the Antarctica Marathon .

I've had a few questions/emails lately about 2 things regarding the Fetzer 20K:
1) Where did the $500 prize money come from? I auctioned off 'Cookies of the Month for a Year' and '5 Dozen Holiday Cookies' on the RTC website last December. I got $220 for cookies of the month from one person and matched it from another group (don't know the exact total but roughly the same amount) and $85 for the holiday cookies for a total of about $525. $500 is the equalizer prize and I bought a $25 Running Room gift card as a door prize.

2) How did you arrive at the 12 minute starting time differential? I took the winning time differences for men and women for which I have records and averaged them. I got 12:04. Then I threw out the high and low differences and got 12:00. So the women will start 12 minutes before the men and will run for the lives, right ladies??

Overheard: Running the Human Race 8K tomorrow...Tom Woo and Mike Schmitt. I'm sure there are others as well. Good luck to you all. I believe the weather report is favorable.

Let's meet new RTC member Pete Schommer, left in the photo below with Tom Woo:
Family?I've a wife of 21 years, Marti, and 5 children. The oldest is a sophmore in college, while the youngest is 3 years old. All are lots of fun

Hobbies?Home construction/reconstruction/repair.

Languages you speak?English, and techno-talk

How did you get started in running?I actually started running cross country in high school to get in shape for wrestling, which was my main sport at the time. My wisdom, however, forces me to admit that running is easier on the body.

Miles per week on average?Lately it's been around 35.

Your defacto, comfortable as a broken-in shoe training route?An out and back from IBM on the Douglas trail (snow conditions permitting)

How often do you run it?At least 3 times a week.

Favorite carbo loading food?Uncle Ben's converted white rice. It has a low glycemic index.

Favorite indulgence food?Rum

Next race?Fetzer 20k.

Running goals?Keep my colesterol reasonable without drugs.

Running dream?To never get out of shape after a marathon :-)

I'll soon be running out of Q & A's from A thru S in the alphabet and will be moving on to the end of the alphabet. If you get a email, please consider responding! I only use RTC member emails but if you read and want to submit your own answers and a photo, please do!

Thought for the day: "Fall seven times, stand up eight." --Japanese proverb

(6 Fetzer race entries just arrived in the mail! Whoo hoo!! Thank you.)