2010 here we come! Written on February 18, 2010, by annaf.
After 2 months in the Himalayas with just two snowfalls above 5000m we were treated to a wintry UK on our return. Snowman making in London at 3am was of course the normal thing to do and arriving back in Wrexham we went in search of our van which was buried under snow. A quick unpack and repack and we were happily moved into our little cottage near Llanberis with fantastic views of Mt Snowdon and Elidir Fawr out our window.
With some treatment from Dr Andy and slow moving rehab I was looking for something fun to get me going up again! So what did we come up with?…Stair running!
First up in the World Vertical Series (www.verticalrunning.org) was the Milan Vertical Sprint Regione Lombardia. Fellow team mate Natalie (who has already done a blog with all the details) and I were so excited to be racing our first stair race; I had major butterflies and couldn’t stop giggling at the Italian organized chaos at the start. We had to finish top 10 in the heat (in the old building) to qualify for the finals (in the new building). After some hustle and bustle with the 30 other girls we managed to push and shove our way to 2nd and 3rd. Next up – with jelly legs and burning throats – was the final which was a time trial format set off at 30-second intervals. Again I chased the Italian stair racer – Vassalli to settle for 2nd and Natalie finished 3rd ahead of the Spanish stair racer – Gomez. Ricky finished a respectable 5th. 
Next up and with a little bit more knowledge about how to race on stairs was the London NSPCC Step Change in the Gherkin Building with 1037 steps. I started with Vassalli and tried through my anaerobic burn to hold onto her but her powerful legs and strong lungs got me by 6-seconds. It was amazing views across London from the top of the building and looked out directly at the Tower 42 building – next weeks challenge!
Frosty….
