pickupthepacepaul

Time for a little something different. After a busy year of running I dont have anything else planned for the rest of 2018. I was asked if I wanted to take part in the Broadgate Tower Run Up 2018, and was keen to take on the new challenge.

For anyone who knows me, they will know I’m not quick going up, and stairs are the worst for me. Dont get me wrong, I will always choose the stairs, I’m just not particularly quick. But as always, when I was told about the Tower Motion Tower Run, I was immediately up for the challenge.

Knowing nothing about these events, I had originally agreed to do the vertical mile, my logic was the long event would be climbing to the top, why would anyone not do the whole thing I thought. I then looked into it and realised that the vertical mile was 12 times up the Broadgate Tower. I thought that sounded a bit boring, and not for me, so I decided to do the single climb.

35 flights of stairs, 877 steps. At the time this meant absolutely nothing to me. I thought I would just run up it, how hard could it be? I had been concerned about congestion and stair etiquette. We were sent off in 15 second waves and pretty quickly I realised I had nothing to worry about. I charged up the first 5 flights of stairs, and overtook about 10 people on the way, with no worries over taking. I soon realised that I had gone off too quick, and I had underestimated how hard it would be.

I spent the last 20 flights of stairs walking. I still went up relatively quickly, finishing in 6:40 but I will approach this more reserved next time, as I think I could take a minute to 90 seconds off my time.

It was a lovely little event, and it was great seeing so many doing 3 or even 12 laps. There were lots of the running community there and it’s always nice to see friendly faces. I had thought it would have been boring doing the 12 laps, and I had wondered how it would work getting back down. Each lap gets measured by chip timing, so once you get to the top it doesnt matter how long of a gap you have in between. So you can have refreshments and take your time getting the lift down before going again, and only the inclines are timed.

After seeing the set up I’m keen to take on the challenge of the vertical mile, and no longer put off by the unknown. It was an enjoyable event, with a friendly vibe. Good for a personal challenge, and clearly there is an elite circuit who take this really seriously. I will be back, and think it would be a great event to go as a group to take on the challenge together.