Running up 37 flights of stairs can be comparable to cleaning your lungs out with steel wool or setting your thighs on fire.

But when you finish, the feeling is exhilarating.

Just ask anyone who runs the annual Bop to the Top, an 805-step stairclimb at the OneAmerica Tower in Indianapolis that is now in its 25th year.

“A friend told me once that it’s like putting your mouth on the end of an exhaust pipe and sucking it in. That’s how I feel after I run it. Your lungs feel the same either way,” said Brachen McCurdy, who has participated for more than 10 years in the stairclimb.

The race, set for today, draws nearly 1,000 boppers. The course record is 3 minutes, 20 seconds for men and 4:26 for women. Some run in teams; firefighters often run while wearing fire gear.

McCurdy, 46, runs the Bop with his son, Zach, a student at Anderson University. The McCurdy family operates Yule and Killbuck golf courses and the Anderson Sports Center.

Even with sports facilities at hand, McCurdy doesn’t practice for the lung-sucking 7 minutes that it takes for him to reach the top.

“There’s not a lot of training your can do for it,” he said.

Runners start off individually, sent from the first floor in 20-second intervals. Times are collected at the top floor and then compared to determine winners.

First-timers are easy to spot. They’re the ones coughing for an hour following the race. The air gets drier in the higher stories.

“The coughing. That’s what bothered my daughter the most,” said Debbie Woschitz, 42, of Anderson, who has run with her daughter, Marissa. “It seems like there’s something in your throat that doesn’t go away.”

She trains by running stairs in buildings and by running on a treadmill with an incline.

Maciej Kaszynski, 32 of Pendleton, is a firefighter with the Indianapolis Fire Department.

“When I finished last year, I said, ‘Never again.’ Here I am a year later, running again for one reason or another. The air is terrible and it affects

your lungs for two days.”

He added, “But I really like running the stairs.”

He was a rookie bopper in 2007 yet finished 16th overall with 4 minutes, 41 seconds.

“There’s a fine line between what gives out first, whether it’s the lungs and heart versus the quads and legs,” said race organizer Don Carr of Tuxedo Brothers. “To me, I get halfway up and one starts screaming at you to slow down; it’s either the cardio saying to slow down or the quads saying to slow down.”

The idea for a bop grew as Carr watched the AUL Building (now OneAmerica) being built in the 1980s. Working nearby in the state office building, Carr and a fellow employee wondered whether they could have a race to the top.

At first, AUL said no.

“They envisioned a crazy mass start where 100 people would be bumping into each other,” recalled Carr.

Carr assured them that runners would start individually. AUL suggested that the funds go to a charity. Now, boppers are encouraged to collect pledges for Riley Hospital for Children. In 24 years, the Bop has raised $700,000 for Riley.

As if to make the race even harder on the lungs, some firefighting teams wear their gear weighing nearly 70 pounds. When wearing a breathing apparatus, firefighters learn to use their muscles to draw in air.

“It draws on your lungs something fierce. The burning sensation is like no race I’ve ever been in. You feel it in your hips and gluts,” said Blake Allen, 37, of Anderson.

He’s run as a firefighter and emergency medical technician with a team from the Noblesville Fire Department.

A few years ago, Allen gave up the gear so that he could run with his daughter, Alexis. But then, younger son, Dawson, wanted to go with them.

Last year, Allen carried Dawson on his back in a carrier. Alexis walked alongside them.

“That was the most rewarding one I’ve done so far. Seeing her finish in 13 or 14 minutes, I was very proud of her. She didn’t stop once. We pulled over to the side to let a few people through but she was singing and chanting all the way up.”

This year, Allen plans the same arrangement with 40-pound Dawson in the backpack. Alexis, 11, will be beside them.

“My daughter has coerced a lot of firemen’s kids to run. So we’re going to have eight of the firemen’s kids going up with her,” said Allen.

He hopes his son will eventually run with them.

He said, “This gets them started with doing something athletic. It builds their confidence. It’s a heck of a race. When they get to the top, they know they can accomplish anything.”

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Did you know?

Taking the stairs is an excellent way to prevent the health problems that come with inactivity including obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Athletes have been running up and down stadium steps as part of training for years. Taking the stairs is a great way to get in shape, improve cardiovascular function and strengthen and tone the legs muscles.

Stair climbing is also a great way to fight the weight gain that often comes with the holiday season and winter months. Taking the stairs burns more calories per minute than most other forms of physical activity. The average man will use about 150 calories in 10 minutes of stair climbing or about the amount used in a 20-minute brisk walk. Women will use slightly fewer calories.

Stair climbing is quite strenuous. When you start taking the stairs begin slowly and take one flight at a time. Gradually increase the number of stairs you do.

The more you go up and down the stairs, the stronger you’ll become and the easier it will be. Be aware that you may not want to take the stairs if you have knee problems, arthritis or a heart or lung condition.

-- Source: National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.