Hustle Up the Hancock 2012

"Top Finishers - Full Climb Elite: Congratulations to Justin Stewart of Springfield, IL, winner of the Elite Division with a blazing fast speed of 9 minutes and 44 seconds. The fastest woman climber was Kristin Frey of Schaumburg, IL.

She conquered the climb in just 10 minutes and 56 seconds."

~taken from "Hustle Up the Hancock" official results notification email

(I would like to credit the photographers, but their names weren't listed.)

I'm very excited for Justin and Kristin's great success yesterday.  They are soaring through these races, improving their times with each one.

Also happy for a friend in her early twenties who prepared and participated in the race yesterday -- her first official stair climbing experience. She came in with a 22 minute and 29 seconds finish. Way to go Yvette!

I'm exchanging emails today with another friend, a retired English teacher, who recently recovered from knee replacement surgery, and now wants to move into stairclimbing.  He's figuring out how best to train, with a goal of competing in next year's "Hustle Up the Hancock."  Alright Rich!

Giving huge credit where credit is due, I also congratulate the number one woman in my age group, 65 yr. old Nesa Anderson, who finished in 17 minutes and 54 seconds.  Definitely impressive.

While I currently remain in the bottom half of the women in my age category, I am still pleased with my time yesterday as I was able to shave four minutes and twenty-two seconds off my time from the Aon building climb on January 29th. 

My goal going forward is to improve in each climb. 

A few details about yesterday:

     --  A beautiful sunny day on Michigan Avenue!
     --  An exciting start, knowing my family was there to support me, and
          chatting in line with fellow climbers.
     --  By floor seven I felt weak already, even though I started with so much
          energy. Only 87 more floors to go!  I checked my pace, proceeding
          on through, taking the briefest rests every eight or ten floors.
     --  Around floor 80 I was fading, when "I Get High With A Little Help From My
          Friends" came on my I-Pod. I started saying, "I can do this. Peggy said I
          can. Kathy said I can. Jackie said I can!"  A few floors later I said,
          "Ok, I CAN!"      
     --  My plan was to run up the last several floors, but didn't find the push
          inside myself to do it. Each floor closer to the 94th, I kept postponing the
          run.  I walked out of the stairwell at the end.
     --  First highlight?  Finishing drenched in sweat from the effort, but literally
          on top of the world!
     --  Second highlight?  Later in the afternoon, calling out to Harold in the next
          room when I saw my time posted, "I beat my time from the 80-floor Aon
          building climb by 4 minutes and 22 seconds!"
     --  Furthermore, out of 28 women in my category, only one other woman and
          I climbed both the Aon and the Hancock, less than a month apart!


Post Script from today's training session:
Jesse explained that the weakness I spoke of feeling between floors seven and ten will always be there, no matter how fit I become--it will simply start at a higher floor.  He said stairclimbing does it to everyone!

I'm working on a video to post in the future...

In the meantime, a couple light-hearted photos:

Washing a few windows for the Hancock building after my race!

Harold said he was being silly showing off his "Team Cheryl" t-shirt from last year,
while waiting in the Observatory as I climbed.

Family

 Looking up where we'd just been!