Hey Team,

I always thought “Super Tuesday” was a stupid title. But after a few experiences in the last 24 hours I can guarantee that today is, indeed, super. Last week I was at wits end for how I was going to get to walk to the top of the Empire State Building and in fact, for months, I’ve been hailing number 6 as the toughest thing on the list to make happen. (Now I have to pick a new “toughest”)

The stairwells of the Empire State Building are mandated closed by the New York Fire Marshal 364 days a year (365 on leap years) so to walk to the top I was either going to have to enter the annual race to the top or cheat. (Not a fan of cheating.) Turned out entering the race wasn’t an option either. A week ago I emailed Sara Hunninghake and Steve Boland and asked them if I’d be able to volunteer on race day in the hopes that could be translated into me getting to walk to the top.

I think my exact words were something like, “I was wondering if there was anyway I could get involved with the race the NYRR [New York Road Runners] are putting on next week. I would be absolutely willing to do WHATEVER is necessary to make this happen. Whether it be losing miserably in a race, helping with organizational duties on race day or mopping up post race runner vomit.”

In the end (and by end I mean middle) I got to show up at the Empire State Building yesterday morning at 7am to help out.

However, two hours later I had been shut down several times on the walk-to-the-top front. People kept saying, “No.” And for some reason I think they thought I would accept that as an answer.

Finally Shawn Mason came to my rescue. He said that they usually have someone walk the course from the top down after the race to make sure no one is left in the stairwell but if I REALLY wanted to I could volunteer to check the course from the bottom up. I’ll give you one guess how I answered. Here’s a hint: It started with a Ka and ended with a KOW!

About five minutes after the last race I started to walk up the stairs, occasionally mounting my gorilla pod on the banister so I could get a shot of me walking up the stairs (exhausting…that didn’t last past the 30th floor). Eventually I caught up to the guy in last place and felt bad on account of I didn’t want him to feel pressured to keep moving if he needed rest.

BUT, because I was so close to the guy in last AND because all the NYRR folks had heard my story by this time I had a wall of people cheering for me as I reached the observation deck at the Empire State Building. Also, this seemed to confuse the photographer for the New York Times and she started madly snapping pictures assuming I was the last man to finish the race. (In jeans and a t-shirt while holding a jacket and a camcorder no less. Everyone else was in unitards and running shoes.)

Oh, AND I met someone that works for the Colbert Report!

Good day.

I’m done.

Brett.
Feel free to help me cross ANOTHER one off the list!

Don’t let me stop you.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 12:26 am.