Here’s one way to avoid running in Beijing’s famously smoggy air: Run inside, and not on a treadmill, but up 2,041 steps to the top of the China World Trade Center Tower 3, which is the second-tallest building in China’s capital city. As the Wall Street Journal reports, elite skyscraper runners from 10 countries have been invited to the August 3 race, the first in the country conducted under the auspices of the International Skyrunning Federation. The Beijing race will start in the tower’s lobby and finish, 82 stories later, on the roof. Whether finishers will be treated with a panoramic view of Beijing or an impenetrable haze, like the one that blanketed the city in January, will depend in part on wind patterns soon before the race. “I wish for the sky to be clear on race day, so when the runners reach the top they are not disappointed,” said race director David Shin. The most famous skyscraper race is the February run up the 86 floors of New York City’s Empire State Building. Below is a runner’s-eye view of that event, as experienced by Runner’s World gear editor Jeff Dengate at last year’s race
