Impending escalator measurement

Words:  420

            I’m doing the full 16 flights of stairs in my building nearly every run now.  Last year, I thought of the 16 flights as punishment for NOT running the mid-run sprint in under 1:01.  Now, I feel it is simply part of the regime. Another part is the escalator steps.  At the top, I am totally out of breath…I am heaving.  The amount of air in and out of my lungs feels like enough to put out a blow torch. 
When I finish running up 150 steps, there usually aren’t any people around me.  I have run past all the ones that were on the train with me, and at that time of night, there aren’t a lot of people in the station. 

            There are a few, though.  I get home at nearly that same time every night, so there might be some of the same people.  I haven’t noticed.  So why would they notice me?  Well, a dude with a big bag ‘running’ up the escalator at 10:00 at night may be memorable.  The escalator ‘guards, watchpersons’ are the ones I think that might really remember.  So far, I haven’t heard or asked anything of their opinions.  Maybe I am of no interest. 

            I know that it takes 2 minutes and 16 seconds to go from bottom to top standing on one step.  My record running up is 53.98.  The height of a step is about the distance from my finger tip to my wrist.  One of my students has desk that has a centimeter strip along the edge so I will figure out how far I climbed in that 53 seconds.  Then I will find out the height of a typical storey in an apartment to find out how many flights of stairs I run up.  I’d also like to figure out how tall the escalator itself is.  I will have to have an accomplice help me.  I will STAND on a step while the other person stands at the bottom.  That person will note what number of step I am on.  We will be talking on the phone and as soon as I – WAIT!  Since I KNOW the time it takes for one step to go from the bottom to the top, I can stand at the bottom, note a number of the step, and after 2:16 goes by, note the step at that point, and I have the number of steps.  Oooo-Rah!  The great thing is that every on every escalator, the steps are clearly numbered.