Stepping up to the challenge
Last Friday was a moderate effort at Jacob’s ladder in preparation for Sunday’s Central Park Tower climb. I saw Isaac there putting in a moderate training effort (has to be a first for him. He’s an amazing stairclimber).
Saturday’s cycle with Bikeforce Southern River was solid with a good sprint along Riverside drive and some good digs to finish me off.
Sunday was to be a big day. I dropped Dee off to Jacob’s ladder and then walked up to Central Park Tower for my 9.27am start (one of the last away). The stairwell was only about a metre wide and I managed to run up the first 10 floors and then settled into some quick walking for the remaining 42 floors. My aim was to finish in 10mins and I managed (by my watch) a 9min30s finish. Now last year that would have placed me in my 43+ age group but there were a lot more people doing it this year. It was funny though. As with the Freeway Bike Hike, you always feel like you could have drawn on more reserves toward the end if only you knew when the end was. I lost sight of the floor markers and I must say everyone kept left. I didn’t even admire the views from the top - I was just so glad to finish. Isaac managed to get under 9mins I think but the quickest ones manage around 7mins which is pretty awesome. Still, I struck a blow for the old fat guys. Anyway, I walked back to Jacob’s ladder brimming with news of my effort only to have Dee tell me she had just knocked off 35 ascents of JL in 2hrs 50mins. Now, some of you will know the effort needed to get up JL once, let alone have the mental and physical resolve to get up 35 times. Its vertical equivalent is around 1600m. She’s a tough cookie and I must admit my stairclimbing effort paled a lot compared to this.
I will do a bit of mid range running this week (15 to 20kms) to prepare for the Perth Half Marathon on Sunday.
Big thanks to my workmates for chipping in $160 of donations for MS as part of my stairclimb. Dee is slowly getting kitted out for Kilimanjaro. There’s a few naked merino’s trotting around thanks to her recent acquisitions of thermal gear.
To top off our weekend we sat down to watch Port Adelaide capitulate to a Carlton last quarter onslaught to win in a famous old dark navy blue effort. The sort of efforts Carlton are deservedly famous for.
Reservoir
CHRISTO