And I'm back.

Nothing could have fully prepared me for this race but the few sessions in Liberty Hall did help.  The race was divided into 3 heats with the women going first followed by the first men's heat and then mine.  My race number 241 meant I was seeded towards the back but as we made our way to the Foyer of the building I inched my way as close to the front as possible to have some advantage entering the stairway.   The start was quite aggressive and after the initial sprint to the doorway I was pushed to the side and had to fight my way through.  My legs were shaking, throat was dry and heart pounding before I'd climbed a step.  After the first 10 floors I had my rhythm and was running 2 steps at a time and alternating between pulling myself up with the handrails and on longer flights pushing my hands down onto my quads.  It wasn't long before I caught up with the back markers from the first men's heat and although this helped to keep me going I still wanted it to end.  The climbing was ok but going from the top of one flight to the next included some flat running and sometimes it meant running to the opposite side of the building and this is when I felt it as my legs were wobbling with the lactic acid.  I was pacing myself well but not concentrating on the floor numbers and before I knew it I was almost at the top and kicked too late to finish as I would have liked to.  Reaching floor 86 we finished with a sprint around the observation deck in the snow and then it was all over.  Queued for the lift back down to floor 61 to meet with my family and following the refreshments and awards ceremony we made our way back down to 5th avenue via 2 lifts, waiting for the lift was very annoying.