When Ben Oliner '03, a former co-captain of the men's squash team, heard about the Empire State Building Run Up from his coach, he decided to enter the race because he thought it would be good training for squash.
Yesterday at 10:30 a.m., Oliner, the No. 7 ranked squash player in the country, competed with runners from all over the world to race up 86 floors from the lobby of the Empire State Building all the way to the observatory. Oliner finished 52nd out of the 215 finishers. Although this was the first race of its kind he has competed in, he enjoyed it so much that he said he would definitely go back next year.
The Empire State Building Run Up is organized by the New York Road Runners organization. After applying to participate, Oliner said he was "impressed to get into the race." He believed his squash credentials gave him an edge.
Oliner had been training since mid-January. He practiced running up a 35-story building and running on machines, but since it was his first time running the race, he said that he didn't know how he would do.
"During the race, I paced myself. I started a bit slow and accelerated in the end," Oliner said.
Despite thinking he could have done better, he now knows how to prepare for this race in the future.
"There are two ways to do well. One is run fast on the stairs. The other is to run to the front line in the beginning of the race. Because the stairs are very narrow, it was hard to get past people and people were pushing. Next year, I will make sure I get to the front of the line early."
Oliner said he utterly enjoyed the race because it was a "great atmosphere" and "so fun."
"It's such an unusual race. The race is in the building I knew all my life. I was running head to head with a 30 year-old fireman. The people and the organizers did a good job making it exciting. It's quite emotional to get to the top of the building."
Now that the race is over, Oliner will jump right back into squash. He has been competing in tournaments and will head to the Windy City Open in Chicago on Feburary 29th. He is currently planning on attending graduate school next fall where he wants to study sports business.
