Tunnel to Towers Run

This morning I was in a 5k, in a downpour no less. I will now give you all a moment to regain your seats, as presumably you fell off of them in astonishment.

As anyone who knows me well knows, I do not voluntarily run--ever. But this was for a good cause. The Tunnel to Towers Run is a memorial to Stephen Siller, a firefighter from Brooklyn who was trying to get to Manhattan on September 11, 2001. The traffic in the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (which connects the two boroughs) had gridlocked, so he put his car in park and sprinted through the tunnel, carrying all his gear. Every year since then there has been a run in his honor, with all the funds raised going to pediatric hospitals (he left behind 5 children) and other charities throughout the city. Over 20,000 people participate (for more on the run, see here.)

We actually walked most of it, as the roads were slippery and we are both on the injured list (Melis--torn ligaments in the ankle, me--3 year-old torn ACL, ironically injured while I was running in the rain). Still, we ended up being almost in the middle of the pack, mixed in with some of the runners and mostly with the faster walkers. The run started in Coffey Park, Red Hook, Brooklyn, which is the entrance to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, where one lane was closed to traffic. It went through the tunnel and out into Manhattan, where we went along Battery Park and ended very close to where the World Trade Center was. Here are some views entering the tunnel and then inside it:

Being in the tunnel was eerie, because there were no cars, and I kept thinking about how we were underneath the East River, and that was freaking me out. But it was certainly something to see all the different people who had come for the run, especially the fire companies from London, Dublin, Toronto, DC, Wooster, Rochester, Syracuse, Jersey City, Miami, Garden City, Palm Beach County, and Boston, not to mention all the NYC suburbs (Yonkers, Rockaway, Syosset, and probably lots more.) Many of these Firefighters were running in full gear, which is just crazy. And there were older people, younger people, parents with kids, people with matching shirts, 700 West Point students, and Chuck Schumer, who was standing in the middle of the crowd. Once we left the tunnel (and I was really glad when we did), we were greeted by NYC fire companies in dress uniform, some sporting banners of their friends and colleagues who were killed. They were cheering on the runners and giving high-fives, all while the rain poured down.

On Friday, the truck carrying the t-shirts for the run caught on fire. We went and got FDNY shirts from a street vendor so we would have something to wear, but they did have t-shirts at the end of the race, too. A hotel in Staten Island volunteered to wash and iron 14,000 shirts that they were able to salvage, so they wouldn't have to spend money to get more shirts.

I was sitting in my 9th grade geometry class when I heard about the September 11th attacks, and at the time I didn't know what the World Trade Center was, exactly. I was--obviously--sad, but I didn't know anyone who died, and it seemed to exist almost abstractly for me. It was therefore odd being here on the anniversary, even though I wasn't in Manhattan. I forget how close I really am to that site, and how affected everyone here was. I forget that a lot of the buildings are still being fixed. I forget that you could see smoke from my apartment. If you're like me, running through a tunnel makes you think about the impermanence of life and the senselessness of violence, not to mention those people who are willing to run into burning buildings to save others. But if you're like me, you will also remember those hotel workers in Staten Island, cleaning 14,000 shirts for free, and like me, you too will be reminded of the resiliency and kindness of people.

P.S. All photos taken by my cousin Melis!