Hustle Up The Hancock

The only thing better than taking an elevator is taking the stairs.  Butterflies and monkey’s with red butts aside, I am proud to inform you that I have successfully climbed the Hancock tower (93 flights of stairs) in 17:28 and placed 40th in my category.

I’ve never done a stair climb before.  There is one famous stair climb in Israel at the Azrieli Towers but I could never understand why one would pay to climb stairs.  I would much rather do something out in nature than climb up a cramped stairwell with a ton of other sweaty people.  There are several very simple reasons why I climbed the Hancock tower despite my preconceived notions about this type of race.

1. Common… It’s THE Hancock tower!
2. What better way to say goodbye to Chicago than from the (tippy) top of the city.
3. I get to say that I did something for a cause (Respiratory Health Association).  I usually just do things for a reason so having a cause is the best reason I can think of.

After an exciting night of pub crawling (see image above), I took the train back into the city.  My climb was at 2PM which gave me plenty of time to have a competition breakfast* and head off to the Hancock.  After arriving, I stood in line and waited patiently for the beginning of the stairwell.  I couldn’t help but think what would happen if there was a fire? Would everybody turn around and run down? It’s a good thing that there was no visible fire alarm because I was dying to find out.
Finally, I arrived at the bottom of the stairwell where a guy said “3,2,1 GO”.  I went.

I didn’t touch the rail the whole way up.  I simply used my arms as much as possible to propel myself and put less strain on my legs. After 17 minutes and 28 seconds I had reached the (tippy) top – Average heart rate was 186 so it wasn’t a piece of cake at all.  The nice part was standing in the open area of the Hancock observatory and cooling down after the effort. What a view…. Goodbye Chicago.  I almost turned my back to the city to throw a coin (like at the Trevy Fountain) but my limited knowledge of physics prevented me.  I know I’ll be back, no need to throw a coin.

• US competition breakfast – Two whole grain Eggo waffles with sugar free syrup and 371 blueberrries (a lot of blueberries).
• Israel competition breakfast – A white bread roll or two pieces of white bread toast with honey.

Just to be brief, this is what happened after that: I finished working in Chicago, said goodbye to my friends, packed my bike, packed my bags, flew to Maryland.  Now I’m in Maryland just training and studying for my GMAT exam until the middle of May.  On the 17th of May… (drumroll).. I will participate… (another drumroll) … in the Ford 70.3 Florida Ironman! Don’t forget to check out my intensifying training log right here.
http://www.workoutlog.com/log/public/anatkramer/log.cfm

Breakfast with Sam Zell

On a breakfast note, I had one with Sam Zell and my friend Tal.  Sam Zell is the one who is responsible for the IDC Zell Entrepreneurship program.  To sum up our internships, we had the opportunity to have breakfast with Sam.  We discussed the financial situation for the most part but we had the opportunity to thank him and hopefully, others will follow in our footsteps in the years to come. Thanks Sam! (Pssst, I’m a little bit taller than you)

Next on the agenda – The Suntrust National Marathon (21st March)

Random Photos

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In Chicago, the city doesn’t stop but there’s no reason to do anything differently.  I grabbed my bike and I set off on the path by the lake.  I rode all the way up north as much as I could.  Then, I turned around and rode back.  On the way back someone asked me about my water bottle and it turned out to be Sharone, the Israeli triathlon instructor who lives in Chicago.  The two hours which I had planned, quickly turned into three and I learned about the secret bike paths in Chicago.

So how do you ‘gear up for Yom Kippur’? This was Sharone’s status on facebook so I’m guessing it means to add up to 120psi, fill your bottle with Gatorade and have a pasta dinner.  For everyone else it just means to have a pasta dinner, sleep, sleep and sleep.

Culture:
I went to another opera called ‘The Pearl Fisherman’.  Your waiting for the cliff notes I bet: Two friends promise not to let a girl get between them, after years they reunite, woman comes to village to pray for fisherman, if she falls in love she will be killed, she falls in love, they get caught, village wants to kill them, other guy lights village on fire, the couple escapes, other guy is killed by villagers.  The end.

Food:

I found a great recipe.  Most recipes on the back of food products are underestimated so I thought I’d take a chance (take a chance take a chance…).  Last time I made chicken, it didn’t come out as chewable as I had hoped but this recipe made the chicken good and juicy.  It was on the back of an Athenos package of feta cheese.(See : Easy Feta Chicken Bake)

On a hard assets note, I went all the way to Kellogg for a lecture about managing risk by Sam Zell.  No matter how far away I get, University is always important to me and any chance to sit in on something interesting is an opportunity I’ll take.  Sam can’t deliver a lecture without saying the word f**k which makes it a treat to hear him speak.  Only a man in his position can afford to blurt that kind of language whenever he chooses.

Now a story for children –

Bottom line – I’m a spinning instructor! Hopefully, they will let me work at the gym in my apartment building.  That would be mighty convenient.

Coming up…

Country music festival

Chicago Marathon