Good Sports
by Budd Glassberg
Reprinted
with permission from the Zionsville
“Man, unlike any
other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up
the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.” – John
Steinbeck
One mile. Four laps around the track at breakneck
speed. I can remember precisely the burn during the last lap in my lungs and
leg muscles. I used to think that was the
most excruciating five minutes of exertion possible. Then in 1985, I was introduced to an event
that, in terms of exertion, dwarfed running a hard mile. What’s more, this event was much shorter than
the mile. The Bop to the Top is
now in its 22nd year. It is a
race up the
In 1985, I trained for the event by
running up and down the steps of the then named
“Careful not to go out too quickly,” I said, “It is best to take two steps at a time. Pull yourself up with both handrails, and don’t run the steps. Walking will tire you out plenty by the halfway point.”
The guy behind me was in his early twenties and looked to be in top shape. He replied, “I run marathons. This should be a piece of cake.”
As my turn approached, I began to get a little nervous. I really wanted a good time, but worried about my stamina. The starter counted down from five and then sent me off. The first seven or eight floors went pretty quickly and I was encouraged that my breathing was not yet labored. By the tenth floor, the runner who started behind me had passed me. He was running and very quickly went by me. I saw him again on floor fourteen. He was sitting on a landing and sucking wind.
I was now feeling the cumulative effects of my attempt at foiling gravity. As I passed floor eighteen my throat was getting very dry from the stairwell and I knew that I was only a little more than halfway up the thirty-seven stories. There is a rhythm to stair climbing taking two stairs at a time and hitting the landing in step before turning and taking the next landing the same way. As the floors pile up, the legs get heavy and the pace slows down.
I passed the woman who started thirty seconds ahead of me by the time I reached the twenty-fourth floor. Thirteen floors to the finish and my lungs were burning. It was getting difficult to lift my legs, but onward and upward was the only option. As I reached the thirtieth floor my general weariness rolled over into a countdown to the top. Seven floor to go. Six, five, four and the death march began to fade and a second wind appeared. I was racing now and wishing to finish strong by actually running up the final two floors. At the top, volunteers were there to greet me and give me water, Gatorade and a long sleeve tee shirt. Looking at my watch, the entire event went by in five minutes thirty-one seconds, by far the longest five and a half minutes of my life. Dry throat, burning quad muscles, unimagined exhaustion and an elevator ride to floor one and my first Bop to the Top had ended. Looking back on it, it was exhilarating. As I left downtown, I took one more look at the tower I had just climbed and had this wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
Other events and life’s chores kept
me away from this challenging event until January of 2003 when I gave it
another try. The eighteen years between
“Bops” cost me an additional twenty-eight seconds but I did get just under six
minutes. Last year I ran it also in
5:59. I intend to make another go at it
at the end of this January. For any
brave souls among my readers who would like to join me and try this ultimate
challenge, you can enter the race by going to www.tuxbro.com
and follow the links on the calendar at that website. Those who wish to get donations for
Budd Glassberg is a resident of Zionsville who is active in the local running community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.