Stair Climbing Mix and Attitude

Do not underestimate the power of a good music mix to get your legs moving! I am music-free outdoors, but use an ipod on the treadmill. Therefore when I started training for the stair climb, I did it sans music. I thought it might be important to listen for people trying to pass me! Then I thought I might just try and climb at least once with music, and that certainly seems to get my flailing legs moving again. Here then is my list of 'must have' songs which I will take with me on 7th Feb.

- Take on Me - (my absolute fave of all time)
- MortalKombat (criminal not to include)
- Rocky (to finish in glory no?)
- Patt (simple lyrics, great beat)
- Bed of Nails (nothing like a bit of Alice Cooper)
- Lust for Life (brilliant, my theme for this year)
- Mission Impossible (nuff said)
- Club Foot (my 'go to' song)

Last year's race results show that the overall winner ran up 82 flights over 41 floors for a total of 750 stairs in 4:23. The winner of my age division did it in 6:04. Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is some record to beat. I don't usually like setting 'hard' goals - I mean I set them in my mind, but I usually tell everyone that my goal is just to finish. Well, there is an interesting article by Tom Derderian titled 'Glorious Losers' in the Jan/Feb issue of New England Runner. It's a fantastic article about having the courage to go for it - win or lose. I guess this struck me so much because one of my fears is that I actually run slowly. I don't like telling people what time I think I'll finish in and then be devastated when it's really awful. I don't like not being able to fulfill my prophecy. I prefer playing it safe, saying I shall finish and then run like a March hare when the gun goes off. At the end, I am pleasantly surprised (so far) and all is well. But Derderian's article talks about entering into a contract when you decide to race: to run as fast as you can, and to place as high as you can. I think I realised that although subconsiously I may have already decided to do this, I never consciously make this decision - because like everyone, I don't like losing. And I especially don't like losing a bet with myself.
But Derderian has made me think otherwise, so I shall nail my colours to the mast: on 7th Feb, my goal is to finish the stair climb in not more than 15 minutes. Some very wise and useful words conclude the article:

"So run for the glory, not the winning, boldly train to go where you have never gone before, set goals that you may or may not achieve. Fulfill the contract. Touch the madness. Blaze out. There is not glory in playing it safe, and maybe this day or another the spark will flare".