so I selected Darius' Penthouse to complete the run and after pressing A, my character thought there was someone on the stairs and cancelled going twice, so my question is; does the first selection of the penthouse count or does the one that finally goes to the cutscene count?

this is what I am referring to

Hey xNose, Sorry for the slow reply. Never expected someone to run this game. XD

The timer stops when the cutscene triggers (where you sim walks down the stairs). I'll retime the ending of the run for you. Congrats on WR dude. :)

No worries man, busy people lead busy lives :D