Trek the Tower

Betty and El Guapo ham it up before the 2010 Trek the Tower. All smiles here, but that soon changes to the Death Mask!





Are you ready to take on the Tower? 40 floors, 870 steps, and 633 feet into the sky, First National Tower is the tallest building between Chicago and Denver. Get your feet ready and your heart pumping to Trek up the Tower.







Velocistas,


While you were all tucked in and sleeping away Saturday morning, Veloers Betty "Crash" Cook and El Guapo were out cross-training by doing the annual Trek The Tower.

You know, sprinting up 40 stories to the top of the First National Building? Oh, behave!

Ok, maybe not sprinting. Maybe not even going fast, but we did it nonetheless.

And good results! Betty smokes it for a 10 min, 41 second outburst. The worst (or best) part was she wasn't even breathing heavy at the end. I guess its all the xc skiing she's been doing lately, eh?


El Guapo decides to try it for the 1st time too after Betty throws down the fitness gauntlet. Plus, it's another thing they can read over my cold, shriveled corpse at my eulogy. Yeah, something like Simone saying "My dad was a fitness fool. I remember one year when he decides it would be fun to hike up 40 stories of stairs. Rest in peace, you foolish old man, it's no wonder your heart exploded during this latest escapade." (whatever it is that finally does me in).


Hey, who's complaining? Just stuff my cremated remains into the downtube of my De Rosa and put it on your mantle piece (if permissible), or the attic and hand it down thru the generations.

Anyway, back to the Trek the Tower. Pardon my ramblings, it goes with the age.

But, speaking of age, El Guapo churns his way to 1st place in the 50-59 age group, out of 69 total old farts. And dines on quite a few young whippersnappers too, by finishing 9th overall out of 1100+ racers in a time of 5 min, 32 seconds.

Oh but for a few seconds more, could have moved up to 6th overall. Guess I should have picked up the pace the last few flights. Frankly, I don't know if that was possible. Sounds good now, a day after the brutality is over.


Recap:


Betty and I arrive early after meeting at Panera's at 615. Downed a little Dark Roast jet fuel. We sign in early, get our numbers, take some photos. Do some stretching and then get in the "elite" line, as Betty has scorched these stairs before and I qualified for "elite" status due to running a 10K in under 50 minutes (40 min/Corp Cup).


We yak it up with some folks in line. Met Sarah "Smiles" B, who turns out to be an ex- Cat 1 bike racer for Penn State, and her dad Andrew, from Alva, OK. Andy gives me some great tips about how to attack the stairs. Sarah and I exchange emails and she may join us for some racing. Hot damn!


We stretch in line, right behind some Rocky Balboa look alike, jogging in place, all dressed in black. I'm super giddy, thanks to glomming the cups of caffiene. Finally, we work our way up to the starting scanner. Betty blasts first, then they launch me 7 seconds later.


I start motoring up the steps, 2 at a time. Catch Betty, who gives me a rebel yell and an adrenaline rush. I decide to keep my head down and not look at floor signs. Use the railings for some additional pull and start passing some folks. The stairs are surprisingly narrow, with just enuf room to pass shoulder to shoulder, but people are pretty courteous about letting faster folks by. I really only had one Clyesdale slow me down.


Finally lift my head up and catch a glimpse of a "27th floor" sign. Still got some juice in the tank and know I can make it now. By 35th floor starting to slow down a wee bit, and by 37 my legs feel like they are cast in cement. I get to 38th and I feel like a Chernobyl reactor about to melt down. I then spaz my way up to 40 and to the finishing scanner. Bring out your dead, bring out your dead!


No idea of my time, but felt like I did pretty good. I knew from a little research that the previous year's 50-59 winner Bob (who finishes 2nd behind me this year), crushed it in 5.50 or something. I had set some pre-race goals of sub-9 minutes, but then had to reevaluate after seeing the winning times from previous race.


I immediately plop down on a chair, and watch some firemen revive some dude that totally collapses in a sprawled heap on the floor. Definitely deep in the red zone for that gladiator. Been there, done that...can you say criterium around the Flatiron a couple of years ago?


Betty and I circle the 40th floor and let the screaming heart rates come down. Everyone up there is hacking up lung oysters due to something; the effort, the altitude change, the dust in the stairwell, whatever.


We finally board the elevator for the ride down to 1. Gather up some loot, cool shirt, free Whole Foods drinks and parfaits, then plop our sorry buns down at a table and try to equilibreate.
See some old buds from the Y, Vince, Dan, Ellie, Sarah our new bike bud, etc.


The results get posted. We wait in line and approach the results. Totally shocked and awed by my 9th place result. Oh, baby, I think what I'm supposed to say is "Good night now" or "unbeevable". (for you Romey fans). I had told some close friends that I planned on winning my age group, but that was bull talk from a one-eyed fatman. (Fill your hand, Ned! I aim to kill you right here and now or take you into to hang at Judge Parker's convenience. What'll it be?")


BC and I vacate the premises @ 930ish for the return trip to Panera's and some web surfing and Java. Never occurred to me there would be the award ceremony at 11 to stick around for. My YMCA spinning buddy Howie Halperin organizes the Trek the Tower event, so he'll surprise me on Monday night with my "award."


Afterthought: ugly, gasping raw throat choking, but no sore legs today. Good event for bikers to demonstrate their superiority to all those other sports disciplines like running, etc. Might do it again next year, but maybe I won't.


Here are the official results from the Trek the Tower website:

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/event/view_event.php?event_id=4570


Trek up the Tower
February 20, 2010 - Omaha, Nebraska

Overall Individual Results

Place Name City Age Sex Div/Tot Finish
===== ===================== ================= === === ======== =======
1 IVAN MARSH ASHLAND NE 35 M 1/157 4:31
2 RYAN WOLF OMAHA NE 27 M 1/156 4:58
3 GERALD KUBIAK OMAHA NE 35 M 2/157 5:08
4 JEFF MARSHALL OMAHA NE 48 M 1/124 5:15
5 BRIAN WANDZILAK LINCOLN NE 29 M 2/156 5:16
6 LEE MARTIN OMAHA NE 26 M 3/156 5:28
7 BRYAN WITT OMAHA NE 24 M 4/156 5:30
8 KELLY HALVERSON OMAHA NE 29 M 5/156 5:31
9 PETER DURYEA OMAHA NE 52 M 1/69 5:32
10 BENJAMIN GERBER OMAHA NE 24 M 6/156 5:32

MALE AWARDS


********** OVERALL RESULTS FOR MALE RACE ***********
1 IVAN MARSH 35 ASHLAND NE 4:31
2 RYAN WOLF 27 OMAHA NE 4:58
3 GERALD KUBIAK 35 OMAHA NE 5:08

********** TOP MASTER FOR MALE RACE ***********
1 JEFF MARSHALL 48 OMAHA NE 5:15

AGE 18 - 29
1 BRIAN WANDZILAK 29 LINCOLN NE 5:16
2 LEE MARTIN 26 OMAHA NE 5:28
3 BRYAN WITT 24 OMAHA NE 5:30

AGE 30 - 39
1 HENRY KINGHAM 38 OMAHA NE 5:33
2 CHARLES SMITH 35 OMAHA NE 5:43
3 BRIAN RONK 36 COUNCIL BLUFFS IA 5:45

AGE 40 - 49
1 JEFF MADDOX 41 NEBRASKA CITY NE 5:43
2 DAVID SEEVERS 42 GRETNA NE 6:02
3 DAVID FITCH 41 COUNCIL BLUFFS IA 6:03

AGE 50 - 59
1 PETER DURYEA 52 OMAHA NE 5:32
2 BOB HENCHAL JR 56 OMAHA NE 5:56
3 KEITH DOWELL 55 LAWRENCE KS 6:14