Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today was the first practice session at the Wells Fargo building. 1,125 steps to go from the lobby to the 55th floor. It averages 21 tall steps per floor, and that’s the equivalent of climbing 53 1/2 floors in that building. My best time ever on that staircase was 8:49. I didn’t think I could even come close to that today, but I was hoping to maybe get around 10, or perhaps a bit under.

I aimed for a pace of 5 1/2 floors per minute. The main staircase flights are 10/11, so I worked out a stepping pattern to efficiently make the turns without wasting steps, and to balance the load on each leg. My gloves were washed and sticky for gripping the railing. It was about as good as it was going to get.

I managed to stay on pace for about the first 30 floors. Then I started falling behind. Not by a lot, but some. And when I got to the 55th floor, my watch said 10:13. I took the requisite ‘sweaty arm with stopwatch’ picture to record it, and then I went back down. I went up two more times, but they were a lot slower.

When I went home, I got cleaned up and started my laundry. And after a few minutes of not being able to find my phone, I realized it was still in my pants pocket. In the washer. So the sweaty arm photo is lost to the ages, and I had to simulate it here. But such is my dedication to my craft…