Staring down stairs

Courtesy of Mark Remy at Runner's World's RW Daily blog comes this beauty.

The original post is available here.

Confession: I've never run stairs to work out (only in order to hurry somewhere). A former co-worker told me that he used to run flights of stairs back when he was playing soccer; we shared a grimace at the thought of that.

But I still empathize with this poster ... I just have to break it apart into "running" and "stairs."

I've blogged before and surely will blog again – another day – about how I don't always like running, so today I'll just focus on the second part: stairs.

They shouldn't faze someone who runs and bikes, or so other people will observe when I complain about being short of breath and slightly sweaty at the top of long flights of stairs. (Thanks, guys. Appreciate the support.)

I always cite the collegiate swimmer who told me, when I was that jerk who passively mocked athletes who hated stairs, that one must train for them to get better. It's not just a matter of being in general cardiovascular shape.

If this is true, then I should be a stair master (ha!) before the year's out. My new office is on the fourth floor — the heavily air-conditioned fourth floor, which will quickly bring a warm, exerted body back to arctic temperatures. Plus, I don't have a free parking space, so I have to head outside midshift to take care of my meter.

Two sets of three flights of stairs, five times a week. If this pays off, maybe — just maybe, and only as long as I'm fully insured — I'll try being the man in this picture. Thanks a lot, Mark Remy.