Flight Club Seattle

OK, I’m having a little fun with this one. I’m going to predict the top ten times and places for the upcoming stair race this Sunday, 10/23/11.

Why is this so fun for me? Because it’s a new building that none of us have done yet, so we have no baseline times. New stairwells can be very unpredictable and 51 stories in one building can be up to couple minutes different than 51 stories in another building, so I’m going out on a limb predicting placings and times here before the race.

This climb is 51 stories and the floors are pretty standard. It’s 1010 steps, so I think I can estimate pretty close with my world-ranked step brothers and step sisters because I know how fast they are in other climbs.

This is a relatively short climb too, so certain sprint-climbers like myself, Kourtney and Kacie have an advantage for sure. There are lots of awesome climbers coming out for this one though, so it will be super competitive. Here are my predicted placings and times for the top 10 on our team. These will also be our approximate start order:

1st place: Kevin Crossman 5:30
2nd: Brian Crossman 5:35
3rd: John Osborn 5:45
4th: Brady Renshaw 5:54
5th: P J Glassey 5:55
6th: Mike Walter 5:56
7th: Mark Trahanovsky 5:58
8th: Kourtney Dexter 6:20
9th: Kacie Fischer 6:22
10th: Kristen Frey 6:25

I’m not too sure about the rest, because I haven’t climbed with them enough lately, but here is my suggested start order after Kristen to minimize passing and congestion:

Patrick Roby
Karen Geninatti
Sheila Klein
Ann Stover
Rich Camacho
Jennifer Tenczar
George Burnham
Spencer Colby
Ken Yu
Ken Colling
Patricia Scott
Hilary Kenops
Anne Jensen
Nelson Quong
Lesley Jacobs
Nicholas Blenkush

The following will be starting later in the day, to allow for some of us to come back down and climb back up with them:

Adam Walter 8:50 (Mike’s 9 year old son – so he will go back up with him)
Calvin Hancock 6:55 (PJ’s 13 year old nephew – so he will go back up with him)
Beverly Grant 8:45 (PJ’s girlfriend – looks like a 3rd trip up for PJ – yeah buddy!)

A newcomer to stair climbing smoked us all at this climb, so hats off to 23 year old Justin Stewart, a local track star from Springfield, who sprinted up the 30 floor Hilton in 2 minutes and 21 seconds!

Terry Purcell, the legend, who has won more stair races than any other racer in the world, came in 2nd with a time of 2:30. He didn’t stop there however. He kept climbing the building for the next hour, to take part in the the “ultimate climb” event and ended up winning that with 12 climbs total!

John Ozborn, still a rookie, but skyrocketing faster than any other stair racer I have heard of, came in 3rd with a time of 2:34. He also went on to climb for an hour, completing the course 11 times. Counting the climb he did with his 8 year old son moments later, he also ascended the Hilton 12 times for the day.

I, (PJ Glassey) did my best and ran a time of 2:39 to take 4th place overall. Since I’m shooting all my races this year with a headcam in order to build a library of stairwells for other racers to reference, the vid of my climb can be seen below.

My other stepbrother, Brady Renshaw, took 6th overall with a time of 2:50 and also kept climbing for an hour to take 2nd overall in the ultimate climb.

My stepsister Kristin Frey was the standout star of the day by winning the overall fastest time for women (3:20), which placed 15th overall by the way, among the 400+ racers that turned out for this event, INCLUDING all the DUDES ! She went on to win the ultimate climb for women as well, proving her place of 3rd in the world last year was no fluke!

To see it all for yourself, Check out the vid below:

First of all, props to Team Lucy, led by Joe Gray, the US mountain running champion and his friends for beating us! The X Gym  team had a nice winning streak (13 in a row to be exact) until Joe’s mountain running legs showed up with his ninja team mates. Nice work Team Lucy!

God still smiled big on the X Gym however, and blessed us with runners who took 6 of the top ten overall fastest times for men and 5 of the top ten for women. Jamelah also won overall for women, and our own Kevin Crossman took 2nd and 4th for men, because he is insane and felt the need to race it twice.

Here are some more highlights:

• Jordan Sahlberg took 5th overall with a time of 6:24
• I (PJ) took 6th with 6:37
• Mike Walter took 10th with 7:20
• Ann Stover took 4th overall for women with 9:17
• Veronika Tague took 6th with 9:19
• Anne Gerry took 7th with 9:22
• Heidi Bork took 9th with 9:40
• Mike Gavareski led the relay team to victory (once again)
• X Gym won the fastest gym trophy (again – of course)

My personal favorite story is about Lou (72 years young) and Nicole (65 years young), who raced with their grandson Logan (6 years old) and each of them won their age groups!

Here are the full official race results:

http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=17573#racetop

Check it all out with the video below:

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then a video must be worth a bajillion, right? Well I certainly hope so, because I could write a bajillion words about the recent Figueroa at Wilshire race earlier this month in LA and I don’t have the time or the fingers for that many words.

I can say that the picture to the left is worth more than 1000 steps for sure! It was a bugger, and at only 51 floors, it was a longer and higher race than the 56 WaMu race I did two days prior. Each building is unique and there really is no such thing as a “standard” stairwell. I’m still trying to figure out a way to compare races, using vertical feet gained or some other “objective” metric, but there is really no substitute for just doing it.

I will also say that this race was a total blast (except for the actual race part, which is always awful beyond words) and I can’t wait to hook up again with all my stepbrothers and step sisters at the next one!

This vid covers it all:

And this vid shows you what earning 3rd place looks like. FYI – Both vids begin with the same scene, but skip to :45 in this one and you will see the difference:

Well we’ve been racing all year, and now  here are the final world rankings for the year, along with my comments. Bottom line is I’ll just talk about the people I know personally, because I’m proud of them and have formed an unusually strong bond with them as a result of this crazy extreme sport.

I couldn’t write this post without a big shout out to Towerrunning.com for all your hard work in ranking the hundreds of elite climbers from all over the world! You guys are always first to post results too – even before the race websites have them up!  It is an incredibly arduous task – I don’t know how you do it. So thank you Sebastian and Michael for donating all your time and energy simply because you love the sport. You guys really do rock!

My stepsisters first

Sandra Nunez Castillo – 2nd place female in the world! My stepsister from Mexico. What can I say? You are amazing. You and Javier own this sport. It’s been great visiting with you and I look forward to more races with you in 2011.

Kristin Frey – 3rd place. My stepsister from Illinois. Thanks for coming out for the Bellevue climb. That was a blast. I can’t believe how fast you are and how well you did, as a rookie too! You smoked most of the veterans this year. All but two, in fact. You get the most impressive award for sure.

Kacie Fischer – 8th place. My stepsister from California. Wow! You sure have learned a lot since your first climb in the Empire State building haven’t you (LOL)? You are one tough chick sis! You would have ranked even higher if you weren’t such a rebel at the US Bank climb, getting yourself disqualified for doing it twice (mercy). Can’t wait to see you Rollerblade across America to raise money for the special Olympics. You’re quite the over-achiever, but I love it. We all do.

Erika Aklufi – 14th place. My Stepsister from LA. You don’t have to do many races to rank high when you win them all, huh? Dang! I can’t wait to see you win the 2011 Empire State building race. You could easily win first in the world with only 4-5 races if you strategically planned them…

Kourtney Dexter – 16th place. My stepsister and co-worker at the Kirkland X Gym, and another stepsister to win everything she entered. Plus, she set the course records for all our local races as well as the BOA building in San Fransisco. Holy smokin’ it Batman! Thanks for being such a good sport and letting me drag you all over to these crazy races. You make me and the X Gym so proud!

Veronica Stocker – 22nd place. My Stepsister from LA. Quite an impressive standing despite being less than 100% healthy!You are a trooper for sure sis. Glad you’re well now though. It’s been so fun hanging with you and I look forward to 2011 – especially our marathon climb. Speaking of marathons, great job on a world ranking in that sport too!

Jamela Leddy – 74th place. My Stepsister from Seattle. Wow, you sure made us proud by stepping up and winning the WaMu race when Kourtney called in sick. You are a true champion and now the official one for that tower! It’s been great practicing with you and training with you at the X Gym. I’m looking forward to more workouts and races in 2011!

Veronika Maklakova – 126th place. Another stepsister from Seattle and my newest prodigy. Great job scoring high in your first and only two climbs so far! I look forward to seeing you move up in the ranks next year!

Anne Stover – 151st place. Another stepsister from Seattle and faithful X Gymer. Wow, one climb and you’re on the boards! I sure hope you will do more in 2011. You are a ninja and will do well in this sport with your great attitude and high tolerance for pain.

Heidi Bork – 253rd place. Yet another stepsister from Seattle. It was great working with you and Todd in the stair bootcamps and practice runs! It obviously paid off. I hope to work with you more in 2011 and see you do all 3 of our local races instead of just one!

Then my stepbrothers

Javier Santiago  - 2nd place male in the world! My stepbrother from Mexico. It was such a blast competing with you in about 4 of my races this year (and getting beat by you every time). Can’t wait to see you again soon – hopefully at one of your hometown races…

Jesse Berg – 4th place. My stepbrother from Chicago and brother in Christ. Thanks so much for putting us up at your place and participating in so many of the Seattle Climbs! I am still blown away by the fact that you won both the shortest race in the world (Bennington monument) and the tallest race (Sears tower) this year. That’s not supposed to be possible. Most people are either fast or slow twitch muscle fibers, but it seems you are both. Further proof that you’re an alien…

Tim Van Orden – 7th place. My stepbrother from Vermont. Thanks for hosting us in your home turf and coming to Seattle for our big climb! The seminar we did together was a huge life highlight for me bro. I’ll get you next year at Bennington…

Kevin Crossman – 10th place. My stepbrother from Seattle. It’s been a pleasure training with you here, getting beat by you everywhere and traveling with you too. Don’t forget to tell everyone that I taught you everything you know. You promised – I have it on video (LOL).

John Osborn (“Oz”) – 21st place. My stepbrother from Illinois. Thanks for coming out for the Bellevue climb bro! Can’t wait for the February race on your turf! I’ve thrown down the gaunlet, so it’s ON!

Mark Trahanovski – 22nd place. My stepbrother from California and brother in Christ. Wow, and to earn this kind of a rank in the 50-60 age group! Dude, you’re superman. You are my main rival too, so it was fun getting beat by you as well as beating you this year. I think we are actually even now, so 2011 will have to be a tie-breaker. Thanks for hooking me up with so many great people in this sport. You are the reason I have so many great stepbrothers and stepsisters. You are the glue that holds us all together and we are all so grateful for all that you do for us! Go West Coast Labels!

Braden Renshaw – 25th place. My stepbrother from Illinois. You sure finished the year strong. Thanks for coming to Bellevue bro! Can wait to race with you in February!

Me (PJ) – 31st place. Not bad, considering I came in 92nd last year and the competition has improved A LOT since then! Thank you Lord, for blessing me with such great experiences and close friends. This is the best sport ever!

Terry Purcell – 40th place. My stepbrother from Illinois. I wish you could have raced more this year bro. You would have been top 10 again at least. With your lungs and legs, you could win it all if you wanted to, but I understand how busy you are. Can’t wait to race with you in February!

Brian Crossman – 46th place. My stepbrother from Seattle (and Kevin’s twin). I wish you could have raced more too bro. It was sure fun traveling with you to LA, even though you beat me (quite handily I might add).

Don Crawford – 47th place. My stepbrother from Florida and brother in Christ. Unbelievable rookie year! It was great working with you over email bro. If you had kept racing through the whole year, you would have beat me in the rankings too.

Jonny (Rocket) Garcia – 52nd place. My stepbrother from LA and another amazing rookie! Great job bro. I still can’t believe how much you schooled me at the US Bank climb, especially because that was your first race ever! Thanks for coming out to my stomping grounds (twice) and for being Javier’s translator.

Shaun Stephens-Whale – 111th place. My stepbrother from Canada. Nice job on your one race bro! You won it all and it got you on the boards. I hope to see you back this year at the Big Climb!

Ryan Short – 237th place. My (blood) nephew from LA. Nice rookie year! Too bad you had to miss the US Bank race or you would have ranked even higher. Thanks for letting Kourtney, the Crossman twins, Roby and me stay with you and your mom for our LA races and for being our personal chef and chauffeur!

Michael Cartmell  - 338th place. My stepbrother from San Fransisco. Thanks for putting me up at your place for the BOA race and letting us use your hotel room at so many races for our staging area. It was also a blast seeing you get so much faster, stronger and leaner. You will dominate the 60-70 age group again next year for sure.

Jeff Dinkin – 537th place. My stepbrother from California. Even in spite of your injury, you still got on the boards! You will heal fast and be back to it (trash talk and all) in no time. Thanks for hanging with us at the LA races even though you couldn’t participate. I wish you could have run them all with us, but it was great to have you there anyway.

Wow, 2010 was an amazing and fun year with all of you! Thanks also to all my other stepbrothers and stepsisters in the flight club who didn’t race enough to get on the boards, but are every bit as fun as those listed here. I cherish our common and very strong bond through this crazy sport. You are all so fun to “get high” with! It is addicting isn’t it?

First of all, the race went well for the most part. I was in better shape than last year, so despite all the complications, I was only 15 seconds slower, got 6th place overall, and won my division – so there’s not a lot to complain about. But I did learn some good lessons that I want to pass along.  Here’s the tall and the short of it: what I learned, and how I will do better next time.

1. Don’t be afraid to pass aggressively when necessary. Stair climbing sometimes needs to be a contact sport. This year, I started with the rest of the climbers in my age division  instead of the elite category. This put me in the middle of the crowd instead of at the front of the race with no one to pass. I got stuck behind some stubborn folks this time and that slowed me down. After the race I was told by some more experienced climbers that after two requests to pass with no cooperation, I just need to get physical and barge my way through.
2. Be sure to have at least 10 minutes to prepare at the starting line. I had every intention to mentally prepare, tie my shoes tighter, put on my head cam, gloves, set my pacing timer and drink some water – but because I was goofing off with friends instead, I had to jump into the line a the last minute and only got about half that stuff done right. The officials told me that I had to take off my head cam and that threw me off a couple steps, which I could have dealt with had I left enough time to prepare for the start.
3. Write down your race day routine and nutrition, slow down, leave plenty of time and follow the plan. I had it all planned out, but left the house in a hurry and forgot all my special race-day food. BIG mistake! It’s true – haste makes waste!
4. Try only one new thing each race. I tried a few new experiments this time, so I couldn’t tell which one helped or hindered my results. It’s always tempting to throw in a bunch of things that you think will help, but it’s not scientific and you’ll never be able to refine your routine and plan for next time.
5. Keep your bag with you at all times. I put my bag down to receive my medal, and then got distracted with my buddies winning their medals and lost track of my bag full of stuff, which included a friend’s camera and another friend’s phone. I ended up getting the bag back later, but for a few hours it was a horrible feeling thinking I’d lost them.
6. Take pictures with your own camera. I was hoping to get copies of pics from other people I knew who took pictures, but that takes too long.  This time when I got back home I had the opportunity to provide pictures to local newspapers, but I couldn’t gather them together in time.
7. Pray. I saved the best lesson for last. I am  Christian, so that gives me access to the best power source in the universe. God also wants me to succeed, but He likes me to ask. When I forget, like I did here, He pretty much lets me do it my own, and that never turns out as well.

For official results click here:

To see the video and results of this climb, check it out below.

I’ve been getting high quite a bit lately, as well as pressuring many of my friends to get high with me. I get high every Tuesday and Friday mornings, and usually every Saturday, but last week I got really high on Friday afternoon with my new ‘step’ brother, Jubal Flagg.

Jubal and I got high in Bellevue last Friday – twice  in less than half an hour -  with only a small amount of time between highs. Jubal is a local celebrity and part of the morning show crew on Kiss 106.1 FM, Seattle’s top radio station. Will this put his job at stake? He’s not worried about it.

I’m not worried about getting high so often either. I’m actually quite proud of my addiction, and want to drag as many people into it as possible. Check out what I mean here:

Do you want to get high with us too? We would love you to join us. You can register here. If you want to learn how to get high as fast as possible, check out this page. Just be warned though. It’s addicting!

-PJ Glassey

Wow! What a blast! This was my most fun climb yet – not just because it was the shortest and least painful, but mainly due to the fact that it was with my   stepbrothers, Mark Trahanovsky, Tim Van Orden, Jesse Berg, and Kevin Crossman. I also got to meet David Tromp, another super nice guy, and now another stepbrother I have the honor of knowing a little better. These chaps are all mega-stair climbing stars, ranking in the top 20 on the planet, but they still let me into their inner circle.

And the winner is…

These guys all smoke me by pretty hefty margins in most other climbs, but since God has blessed me with power and speed as my strong suit, and this was a short sprint race, I did especially well on this climb.

Everyone gets two runs up this 438 stair race, and it’s an all-out sprint right from the bottom. My first run came in at 1 minute and 23 seconds, earning me 3rd place behind Jesse’s 1:17 and Tim’s 1:21. My second run was a little faster at 1:21, but so was Tim’s at 1:20, and Jesse ran the same 1:17 that he did on his first attempt, so I stayed in 3rd. Keven also smoked it at blazing 1:23, so he secured 4th overall, and Mark won his age group with a 1:39. David Tromp rounded out the top 10 racers with a 1:29, so the X Gym/West coast Labels/RunningRaw.com team dominated yet another stair race in a big way!

Check out the main scores here. Note that both runs are listed, but the fastest run is the one that really counts.

Our team won by such a margin, it will never be broken (unless we do it of course). Check out the team scores here, and notice the gap between 1st and 2nd place to see what I mean.

Who wins what and why

Most climbers are good at either short sprint climbs or long climbs, but not both types. This is due to genetic predisposition of either fast twitch or slow twitch muscle fibers. Climbers who are great at long climbs are born with a majority of slow twitch fibers, and the climbers who are better at short climbs (like me) are born with mostly fast twitch fibers. You can train fibers to become more one type or the other, but to get to world class levels, your genetics will determine what style of climb suits you best, since they aren’t all completely convertible.

Then there is however, the occasional genetic freak like Jesse Berg, who blows everyone away in both kinds of climbs. I actually think he is an alien. At least that theory makes me feel better about myself since he always beats me by so much, no matter what the race length. If he was human, I’d have to admit I’m vastly inferior, so the alien story works best for my ego. Tim Van Orden is another freak, because he is fast in both types of climbs as well, but Jesse (usually) beats him too, so I see Tim as the fastest earthling for both kinds of climbs. Besides, Tim is a raw vegan, and no alien would be able to survive on that type of diet (just kidding Tim – I had to get another jab in on that subject, because you don’t have the password to this blog).

The climb

This stair race is inside an old revolutionary war monument, built 1887 to commemorate the battle where General John Stark defeated two detachments of the invading British army in 1777. The stairs are normally closed to the public, but for this race, benefiting the American Lung Association, they open them up for the day.

The staircase is suspended, hanging from the inside of the wall all the way to the top, so it’s square in shape, with 90 degree turns instead of the usual 180 degree switch-backs found in typical stairwells. The stairways are long, especially at the bottom where the base is the widest, so you build up a ton of speed by the time you get to each turn, making it hard to pivot that 90 degree bend without losing too much momentum (or crashing into the wall like I did a couple times).

Foot speed is much faster than normal stair races, so agility seems to be a huge factor as well. I tripped a couple times by missing steps, because I found myself doing 3-4 steps at a time due to the higher velocity, instead of the normal 2 step, slower, regulated speed of other climbs. This made it more interesting though, because your brain has to stay engaged the whole time instead of zoning out like usual.

Because of the short length, the pain doesn’t register nearly as high as the longer climbs. It still hurts like a bugger, but not until after the race is over, so it doesn’t affect the race itself. Fatigue isn’t really an issue either, so velocity doesn’t change a whole lot at any point. The biggest challenge comes at the end, where the finish line is preceded by a tight, 20 foot spiral staircase about as wide as a standard commercial doorway, which makes switching gears from long, high velocity flights to this slow, tight spiral a super weird and new experience.

The after party

After the climb, Kevin and I hung out with Tim, Jesse, his lovely wife Shannon, and their new baby Indigo. Since this is Tim’s home town, he was a great tour guide and showed us all the best stuff. We all hung out more on Sunday, and then on Monday, Kevin and I hopped back in our rental car to drive back to New York. We drove through Massachusetts and Connecticut along the way and soaked in all the beautiful countryside scenery. Once in New York, we drove around the city to take a gander at the Big Apple and some of the skyscrapers we plan on running up.

All in all, this was the most enjoyable climb I have done so far, as well as a great mini-vacation with lots of history lessons and amazing scenery to enjoy. Thanks guys, and especially Tim, for hosting your stepbrothers in your great hometown!

The X Gym formed a four person hit squad for the climb up the tallest building in San Francisco last Saturday (3/27/2010), and ended up knocking off the competition once again! For results, click here. As you will see, the X Gym is the only team on the page with more than one class winner. In fact, the X Gym team had three class winners and two new course records!

Here are our winners:

• Kourtney Dexter was the star again as she won overall for women, and broke the course record for this 35 year old stair race (the 4th time hosted by the Lung Association). She also placed 11th overall – including dudes – out of almost 1,000 men and women! This was her first out-of-state race and it continues her perfect win streak of 6 for 6 races. She also now holds the course records for all three buildings she has competed in. This win moved her up to 21st place in the world rank too. She is still relatively new to this sport, so she is continuing to get even faster every race. Can you tell we are proud?

• Mike Cartmell won the 60-70 age group and reset the overall course record for his category as well.

• Mark Trahanovsky won the 50-60 age group (again).

• I (PJ) won 2nd in the 40-50 age group, behind Mark Dolan, the same overall race winner from last year. I had a similar timing chip mishap that Jesse experienced at the Big Climb (see previous post), except mine was at the finish line instead of the starting line. They did catch it however, and the correction moved me from 8th place to 7th overall. As some of you know, 7 is my favorite number, so I was super stoked! My race goal is always top 10, but I secretly wish for 7th every time.

This race went a little better for me than the Big Climb this year. As you may recall, I bonked at floor 50 of the Big Climb  due to my failed training method experiment this time around (see previous post).  So I planned on using my “crutch technique” in San Francisco to account for the deficit in leg strength, and it worked pretty well.  This BOA climb is listed as 52 floors, but it’s actually more like 56 if you count the un-numbered mezzanine and mechanical floors, and much taller in vertical feet than the 56 floor WAMU building here in Seattle, so it took longer to complete. It wasn’t quite as many vertical feet as the Columbia Tower, but it was close!

We had a great time and got to hang out as a team quite a bit for good quality “step” brother and “step” sister time.

Our next race is on 4/24/10 up the AON building in LA , which is indeed taller than our Columbia Tower, so we’ll see how that goes! Mark, Mike and I will be there for the X Gym, but running under Mark’s company team, “West Coast Labels.” We will be wearing our X Gym patches though, so the X Gym will be well represented! Kourtney is thinking about competing with us in the 75 story US Bank tower race this September, possibly even with her dad!

There is also a rumor circulating about a short Smith Tower race this summer, and I’m even thinking about organizing an outdoor climb this year so stay tuned!

For full overall results, click here. For age category results, click here.