Okay, so the cartoon is a little graphic, but imagine how charged up the bull would be once the match is applied to the sensitive part..
Thats how I charged out of the blocks to begin the Tackle the Tower on Saturday Am. Let me set this up quickly. 37 floors. The Galleria downtown Cleveland. More than 700 people were entered. Every ten seconds another racer would go off. The Bull just has to go crazy for 10-20 seconds. He throws off a cowboy, gets chased by clowns. Stair-climbers have to sustain in a theatre of anerobic agony.I took off and flew up the first 4-5 floors. Then the lungs started screaming. My insides were calling out insults every few seconds. The legs were fine. I used the handrails to help propel me upward. It was kinda tight in there and I would pass someone, every 30 or 40 seconds. I only looked at the stairs in front of me. Never looked up. Never looked down. Wanted to get out of my mind, that I was in this claustrophobic arena. That claustrophobia started when I flew with the Blue Angels 3 years ago. It picked up even more when I was strapped into a Indy 2-seater race car with Sebastian Bourdais 2 years ago. Those are posts for some other day..
I had no idea what floor I was on. I tried to block all that out. Just go hard and die trying. I heard sounds bouncing off the concrete walls. It was disorienting.
Soon I heard cheering and figured I was close. Next thing you know. 7 minutes, 11 seconds, I was done... I could feel the blood coming up my throat. The searing pain of the lungs on fire. Ended up coughing the rest of the day. Hard. Sunday my ribs hurt from all the coughing.
Hermes had the results posted pretty quickly on Saturday night. Check em out I wore bib #583. 50-54 Men. 255th out of 711 racers. My hero is Paul Tepley. He's a firefighter.
He beat me by 11 seconds........wearing 70 pounds of firefighter gear. WOW. Mentor, Hudson, Willoughby, and several other communities had their finest racing. Props to the firefighters.
He beat me by 11 seconds........wearing 70 pounds of firefighter gear. WOW. Mentor, Hudson, Willoughby, and several other communities had their finest racing. Props to the firefighters.Clue to those thinking of racing next year. Sign up early. I had to wait almost 2 hours because I signed up the last week. My son Pat ran over from his apartment, and we hung out in the Galleria...ran about 30-minutes to keep loose and pass the time. He couldn't afford to wait more than 2 hours to race, so he decided not to sign up. I believe the winning time was about 5 minutes. Amazing.
5 Degrees of Seperation
Monday morning. 5 degrees outside. Windchill put it way below zero. How cold??? See the picture of the slushy at the local gas station. Thats windshield wiper fluid. Frozen Tundra weather. So naturally, I went out for a 40 minute run. Wouldn't you??? Of course. Perfect way to begin the week. I was bundled up just fine. Had extra protection for the "boys" . Thats no small concern. Just ask Speedo Steve. This was one of the funniest posts I have read in awhile. Sorry that Steve had to pay the price for my amusement.
I have figured out how to celebrate my 55th birthday. I will fill you in later... Adios
20 comments:
Loving that first cartoon. Really funny after going to our first rodeo this past weekend.
It was interesting to see the ways they agitate the horses and bulls to get them riled up while they're in the chute.
Nice job. You kicked some butt.
Maybe the blog on keeping the boys warm would be good. I need some pointers. the pair of under armour just isn't enough on some days.
just an all american wash cloth over the "boys" but inside the "under armours" lake a tarp covering the ball diamond at the jake...i mean progressive field
that should say "like a tarp", not lake a tarp
thanks
Holy cow ... what a crazy race. What a crazy cartoon. Nice job, dude.
Graphic of bull with balls being lit + "Thats how I charged out"
So you lit your balls on fire to get to the top of a building? Hmm...seems rather uncomfortable if ya ask me. That's what they make them there el-e-va-tors for. ;)
Congrats though on rockin it!
great job on those stairs!!!
SWEEETTTTT Job!!
And OMG you're insane for going out in that weather LOL
Great job on the tower! I considered doing it, but I'm glad I didn't come down to wait for 2 hours. Good to know.
Great cartoon..
Great job on those stairs.. We have one that goes up 95 floors and sells out in minutes.
You went out running at 5 degree, weather, just prtect the boys, freezer burn does sting down there.
That race sounds awesome! Being from Clevleand I know exactly what you are talking about. Great Job!
good job! THat race is tough!
7 minutes of agony! You are a better (read crazier) man than I :-) Ya know, I like running the cold, although burning lungs don't like the cold, especially when its below 10 degrees :-)
Way to tough it out on those stairs!! That sounds like pure agony, but probably makes you feel pretty proud when you're done!
Congrats on the stair-run! And I'm sorry to hear you had to wait so long. I'll keep early sign-up in mind for next year... when I won't wimp out with a tweaky calf the week before.
But I have to ask: you went outside to run on Monday? I am now questioning your sanity, sir. Just walking from my parking garage to work, I lost feeling in my gloved fingers. And it took FOUR hours for them to get their feeling back!
I'm glad you made it back without losing... anything.
Good job on "Tackle the Tower"! I've heard about those races and have always wanted to do one. Very cool!
to iron2015..
you are right to question my sanity but i never had much to begin with....
and by the way i survived the run without losing anything
hope you tweaked calf mends
Nice job on the stairs. I TOTALLY understand that coughing/blood thing at the top.
And way to handle the boys. Make me proud.
I did one of those once, only it was just 23 floors. You're not kidding about the burning, dry lungs!
Five degrees, brrrrrrr! I don't even walk out to the car in that weather!
I did the Tackle the Tower as well because I happened to be in town for the weekend (normally I live in Michigan). I'm intrigued by the remark you made about the very end of the race about how you could feel the blood coming up your throat and then all the coughing afterwards. The same thing happened to me; I felt like I had a glob of something in my throat I just couldn't get rid of, a funny metallic taste in my mouth, and incessant coughing. I just thought it was because I had dried out my throat from breathing all that dry, dusty air. Are you serious about that being actual blood? If so, that's wild! I guess I had no idea such a thing was possible. What's up with that from a physiological standpoint?
Also, according to the official event results, the winning time for the men's division was 3:24. My time was 7:21 and I thought I was going to pass out. Just thinking about doing the stairclimb in 3:24 makes my head hurt!
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