Running the steps a way to tune into your inner Rocky

What screams "Philadelphia" more than the Liberty Bell? It's the Rocky Steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which were famously traversed by Sylvester Stallone in the 1976 film, "Rocky."

I was in Philadelphia recently for the Midwinter meeting of the American Library Association. Like other librarians, I love to hear authors talk about their work. I jumped at the opportunity to hear Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish, creators of "Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope and Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps," although they were speaking at 8 a.m. on a Saturday.

Both men work for The Philadelphia Inquirer, are Pulitzer Prize winners, and have great respect for each other's work. Vitez is a staff writer and Gralish is a photographer, but they describe themselves as storytellers. They were looking for a project for collaboration when they noticed the Rocky Steps, which are a half-mile from their offices.

"We often passed by and would see people running up the steps. We wondered what their stories were," said Vitez. They spent a year interviewing and photographing people who ran the steps. "We didn't want to interfere with their Rocky experience. We just wanted their stories," Vitez said.

The resulting 130-page picture book is as inspiring as the Rocky story itself. It's divided into four quadrants: winter, spring, summer and fall. The stories are from people all over the world, male and female, and all races and ethnicities. If you haven't seen the movie, you might wonder why they run.

"Rocky" is the story of a 30-ish, down-on-his-luck boxer who gets a chance to fight the heavyweight champion of the world. Rocky runs the streets of Philadelphia as part of his training regimen. Early on, he can't even jog up the steps. Gradually, as his strength increases, he makes the triumphant run in celebration of reclaiming his self respect and his place in the world.

Why do people run the steps? Sylvester Stallone said, "Because we are underdogs. And there's very few things, iconic situations, that are accessible. You know you can't borrow Superman's cape. You can't use the Jedi laser sword. But the steps are there. The steps are accessible. And standing up there, you kind of have a piece of the 'Rocky' pie."

Vitez says, "Many people don't know why they run; they just do it." And later, "It's not Rocky Balboa's life that runners are celebrating, but their own. They are all at various stages of their own journeys, many still at the bottom, just beginning the climb. Others have already overcome amazing things: drug addiction, cancer, a heart transplant."

Over the year Vitez and Gralish encountered more than 1,000 people. The book contains 52 stories and about 65 pictures. In the book's acknowledgments, Gralish notes "... the unabashed openness of every one of the hundreds of Rocky runners we observed, talked to and photographed. It says a lot in these times that not a single soul was suspicious of our motives." You can purchase their book at www.rockystories.com.

Vitez says the 72 steps are easy to run, each having only a 5-inch rise. If you decide to run the steps, do it big. Run all the way to the top, do the Rocky dance, throw up your arms and give the Rocky yell. Take a couple of friends to heighten the experience -- to take pictures of you and perhaps to carry a boom box playing "Gonna Fly Now."

I didn't run the steps while in Philly. Rather I spent my time in library meetings. I think I missed something joyful. I just might have to go back.