Gates, 25, of Boulder recently finished as the top American in the 30th annual Empire State Building Run-Up. It took him 11 minutes, 2 seconds to fly up the building’s 1,576 steps. Although the sprint up was grueling, he found himself conjuring up untrained pugilism skills.
Did a fellow racer really hit you?
The start of the race will remain solid in my memory. I was amidst 100 other men on the starting line in the lobby of the Empire State Building. When the gun went off, this already tight crowd sprinted madly toward the stairwell only 70 feet away. Like trying to fit a hot dog through a straw, the pack came to a mangled standstill for a split second while runners were getting pushed in the general direction of the stairwell. Twenty flights into the race I was still trying to regain ground that I’d lost dearly in the traffic jam into the stairwell. As I attempted to pass another runner, I got cut off. I tried to pass him again, and again he cut me off. As I tried to push past him on the inside, he pushed me back, then slapped me in the face. At first I was mad about getting slapped but quickly realized the humor in it. How seriously one must take this sport to go to the extent of slapping. I found it hilarious, and had to stop thinking about it lest I lose breath on actual laughing. I did eventually pass the slapping man.
You’re a trail runner. What led you to race up a building?
I broke the ascent record of a hiking trail in Boulder this past year by somebody who won the Empire State Building Run-Up in the early ’90s – the same year he set the hiking trail record. I was prompted to enter … because I knew that I could potentially do very well.
How did you train for the race?
I’ve spent the better part of the past few months simply concentrating on attaining a solid base, which is to say, long, hard miles. The kind of miles that won’t necessarily turn you into an Olympian, but look into the history of every one of them and you will find the same oppressive trail of boring miles. Cold and lonely miles. These have been my miles of late, and they served me as well in the stairwell of the Empire State Building as they would in a marathon, or even in my daily life, if I may be permitted to make such a metaphysical connection. Oh, and there was one workout that I did that could only have helped me. I convinced the security of the Register Building to let me do some laps in the stairwell. Three laps of 51 flights. For seven days, my calves carried the same sensation as a severe bruising.
What music revs you up for a big contest?
I most often find myself humming Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” before big races.
Best advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t sweat the petty things, just pet the sweaty things.
What do you know now that you didn’t know then?
There are 1,576 stairs in between the lobby and the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
