I can see I dont have too many followers. Hopefully more of you will join in.
I ran in a 5K race last sunday.
I want to share one of the greatest runs I have ever taken with you.
What: Tunnel to Towers 5K
When: Sun Sept 26th
Where: Red Hook area Brooklyn NY to Ground Zero New York, NY
Who: Me, My best friend amy, her dad Barry who is a local city fireman, and another fireman friend of his who also brought his wife and 10 year old son.
Why: The race supports the Stephen Siller Foundation. Stephen was a NY FireFighter who was off duty on 9/11. When he heard an aircraft flew into the towers he dropped what he was doing and immediately went to help his crew. He got stopped right outside the battery park tunnel. He got out of his truck put on all 75lbs of his gear and ran to the site of the towers. He was last seen approaching the towers. He lost his life that day trying to help others. This race traced his steps he took on that day.
Here is my story:
We left Barry's home at 4:45am. I had to wake up at 3:45am to get there on time.
I didnt sleep well the night before. I was afraid I wouldnt here my alarm clock.
We arrived in NYC around 6:45am. We had a bit of trouble finding the area but once amy's dad got over his stubborness he agreed to let amy use her Iphone to GPS where we needed to go. That got us there with no problems.
We parked a few blocks away from the finish line. Getting there early had its perk, we got a spot on the street and didnt have to pay 25$ to park.
We met up with the other family in our group and walked over to the port-a-potty area. After we finished our business we headed to the area where the shuttle was taking runners to the start. We got in line and shortly the bus came. They had every thing so well organized.
We got to Coffey Park in brooklyn. Registration was easy. We pretty much just hung around talking and taking in the excitement. There were so many men and women running in their fire gear. It was amazing and very inspirational to see. After numerous trips to the port-a-potty and checking in our sweatshirts with UPS we made our way to the start area.
Amy and I waiting for the race to start. I am the one with brown hair....oh well I guess you know that since I have posted other pics.
We were towards the front of the pack but still were 3 blocks away from the actual start line. There were over 15,000 people there. They had big screens set up sporadically so you could see and hear what was happening at the start line.
While we waited we saw a very "old" man approx 80 in his fireman suspender pants and boots, a tshirt and his firemans hat. The site of him doing this brought me to tears. We also saw a few groups of fireman from other countries. England,Spain, and Ireland. Here is a pic of a man from england. I took this not just because he was from england but he was a nice site to look at while I was waiting....you get the idea right.
They had "warrior" soldiers injured in the war that started the race along with the marine corp cadets. After a young girl sang the most wonderful rendition of america the beautiful they let them start their race. Once gentleman that they were honoring was a sargeant in the army who lost both of his legs just 6 months ago in aphganistan.
They gave him the fire engine red wheel chair bike. I was almost sobbing at this point.
Shortly after they started. They had a gentleman sing the star spangled banner. Then they rang the liberty bell in remembrance.They would announce what the ring was for, then they would ring the bell once, followed by a moment of silence. They rang for the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11, then for the # of first responders who lost thier life (I cant remember the exact # is was close to 100, then for the people on the aircraft that crashed in Pa, then for those who lost thier life at the pentagon, for those who lost thier life fighting the war-I cant remember the exact # but it was close to 4000
, and the last bell was for stephen siller.
Once we got past this emotional moment. They counted down and Rudy Guilianni gave the go. Everyone was cheering and clapping. It was amazing.
Shortly after the start you made a turn and headed down the hill and into the tunnel.
It was hard to run at a good pace and I just came to the aggreement that I am not running it for a PR I am running for the experience so I didnt worry much about the speed. As we got into the tunnel the chants of USA...USA...began. Wow I cant even put the feelings I had into words. I felt like the 1 1/2 miles I ran through the tunnel gave me a whole new inspiration in life. Here are some things I saw in the tunnel.
Sorry for the blur I was running.
I wanted to give you the idea of how packed we were. Ahead you can see a guy running with a flag wrapped around him.
Next is one of the best pictures I could have taken. A firefighter running/walking in full gear..including the Oxygen tank carrying an american flag. I took the picture right as one of the guys from england came over and hugged him and walked along with him for awhile. Totally amazing.....
By this point you can see I was on the walking/slow running side of the tunnel. I hung with the faster runners until about 3/4 of the way through. It was so hot in there. I could only imagine how those firefighters were feeling.
Next I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Doing this run and feeling the heat/crowd gave a new meaning to this phrase.
Here is my view as I excited the tunnel. Completely breath taking is how I would describe my feelings.
I could hear the cheers and people going crazy. i though I was close to the finish. Nope as I ran just a bit up the hill I saw this on the right side of the road
and this to the left
On the right were the FDNY in thier formal attire. Each had a flag hung over them with pictures and names of the firefighters who died on 9/11. There were 343 firefighters that lined the street. It went for blocks long. They all were clapping/cheering/encouraging, and giving us high fives. I dont know what other word to say but AMAZING.
On the left were the US coast gaurd in their formal attire. Each holding an american flag.
We ran through the city. There were a bunch of bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, spectators cheering us on. There were people even cheering out of thier apt windows 30 stories up in the air. again....amazing
We ran through the empanade which is like a nice area around ground zero. It is along the hudson. I wish I got a better picture of this view. It was the NY cityline with the hudson in front of it. It was a breath taking view. I was so happy to be running there. It was awesome. In the water they had the NYFD fire boat....it was blowing its horn and siren with Firefighters on it cheering us on with megaphones.
Shortly after this part we were back into city streets. I ran up along the coast gaurd and the army running in their packs. They were doing there sound off. "I dont know what you been told" repeat. I hope you get what I am saying. Im sure there is a name for this.
I want to say for the record. I passed them.
At this point in the race it got a little hairy. There were some curbs and bumps that they had volunters standing by so no one would fall but people still tripped anyway. I felt like I was going through an obstacle course.
We were just a few blocks away from the finish.....their was a band playing on the corner with a female singer. They were singing this really slow song. I made a joke to a girl running next to me. I said wow they should be playing proud to be an american or we will rock you....not this slow stuff. She looked at me like I was nutz and just smile...so I ran ahead.
I was running next to 2 fireman in their gear and I know they were really feeling fatigued. They were cheering each other on and saying things that once again brought tears to my eyes. The one said "we can do this...I love you brother"
As I swallowed hard to hold in my tears I turned the corner-where there was a kids soccer game going on.....I love this about the city...you never know what you will see between the buildings. We had only 1/2 block to the finish line.
this pic was taken later so thats why no one was running ahead of me.
I sprinted along with others to the finish. Finishing time 39:11. About 2-3 min short of my current 5K times but like I said this wasnt a race for me.
There were people still lined up for a few blocks cheering us on. I made my way through and found amy and her dad. They had tents set up all along the streets like a festival. They had so much food to offer (free) Hamburgers, Hotdogs, Roasted chicken, hot wings, shepards pie, pasta, salads, water. It was wonderful. We got our free shirts and ate some food. Here is a sand castle that was made:
They had a parade of the FDNY that were standing earlier along the race along with the coast gaurd and the NYPD. They were led by the FDNY bag pipe band. They also gave out scholarships from the foundation. One was to a girl that started college this year. Her father was killed in Iraq in 2003. She was crying on stage and it broke my heart into a million pieces.
We grabbed our jackets at the UPS pick up area. Headed back to the car and drove home. We didnt stay for it but Montgomery Gentry was putting a concert on after a few local bands played. Dennis Miller the comedian was also there too.
It was just such a great experience I am still having a hard time putting it all into the right words. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my experience sorry the pics were so many different sizes. Thats what happens when I use my camera phone.
to a PTR I never thought I would be writing.
Vacationed with my parents, aunt and cousins when I was 18yr and stayed at ASsports, Honeymooned at AKL, and the last trip was my favorite...our first family trip with the boys at ASsports. I became seriously addicted to these boards during that trip and I havent stopped dissing since.
She will be my #1 cheerleader
why not try the disney endurance racing number. I know they were offering discounted rates but I thought it was the same as what AAA offers. WRONG!!!!
Hi Lindsay! Just popping in to subscribe to your PTR. It will be so fun to see one of my 
