Remembering September 11th...In A Different Way

Marc and I decided to participate in this year's Tunnel to Towers 2008 5k run - a tribute to all the fallen firemen who paid the ultimate sacrifice on 9/11. This is a family-started race that originated to honor Fireman Stephen Siller. A short version of his heroic story...

Stephen Siller, beloved husband and father of five, was a firefighter from Squad 1, Park Slope Brooklyn. On 9/11, he was off-duty, and on his way to golf with his 3 older brothers. When Stephen heard on his scanner that the World Trade Center had been hit, he turned his vehicle around and headed towards the site. When his truck was prohibited from entering the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, he raced on foot towards the site with his gear strapped to his back. He was last seen alive on West and Liberty Streets where he went looking for his Squad, all of whom perished. The Tunnel to Towers Run retraces Stephen's footsteps on that fateful day. In running along his path, we honor the memory of all the Firefighters, Police, and EMS workers who performed their duty that day. In running this race, we are reclaiming still another part of the city for all our heroes and for all of those who died on 9/11.

This was, by far, one of the most memorable experiences I've had since moving to NYC close to a year ago... There were over 20,000 people who came out to show their love and support, relive their memories, work through the continued healing process of remembering that day in sadness and celebrating the lives of the fallen heroes and all the good of the American people that came from this tragedy. Firemen from all over the world participated in this race...it was truly amazing, a living memorial and tribute... As cheesy as it may sound, it was an emotional day for me and it made me proud to be an American.

On a lighter note, Marc and I both finished the race - our FIRST 5k together....it was pretty cool! The course went through the Battery Tunnel, starting in Brooklyn and into Manhattan, past Ground Zero and through Battery Park... The amount of supporters out there was awesome - and the most stunning moment of the entire event is running out of the Battery Tunnel to 343 firefighters wearing photos of the firefighters who lost their lives, standing beside 343 firefighters holding American flags...a flag for each firefighter who fell.

It was an amazing experience - there are no words to describe the feelings... I took as many photos as possible to try and remember the experience. Hope you enjoy them.

Entrance to Battery Tunnel

Three tires...can you believe it?

Making it into Manhattan

London Firefighters

NYC Fire Department

We made it to the finish and I DID beat Marc...by one second! Please disregard my 'wet rat' look - it was pouring down rain most of the run and afterwards.

Rudy Giuliani

Marc's new water holder...

Michele, Edna and Jenn - Active Crew

To all the heroes and victims....you will never be forgotten.

Weekend Review

Marc and I had a busy weekend - stayed pretty busy the majority of the time. Friday we went to Hill Country for some Texas-style barbque and it was yummy! I also treated myself to some Blue Bell Ice Cream for dessert...can't get that anywhere else up north but at this restaurant. For anyone who's ever been to Rudy's, it's a 'nicer' version of the same style of cookin' and atmosphere. I was waited on by a freakin' Texas Longhorn though - in full Longhorn gear and all... Whatever. She was nice so I didn't let it spoil my dinner.

After dinner Marc hung at home with the pups and I went and met my friend Edna out to celebrate her cousins birthday. I was in a cab before she let me know that it was 'Latin Friday' night - lol. We had fun though, even if I couldn't understand a word of the music!

Saturday Marc and I headed out to Brooklyn Heights to check out the area, do a little sight-seeing and also see if it might be an area worth us moving to in order to gain a little more space and pay a little less rent. we had a good time, minus the yucky weather. Brunch and a walk on the 'Promenade' facing Manhattan and then back over to NYC through Wall Street area. Marc joked about me taking pictures 'before it crashed' - don't worry, I told him it wasn't funny.

Saturday night Ed came over to hang out and watch the Georgia/Alabama showdown....and all I have to say is wow - after watching that butt-beating I can believe that Alabama may be on their way this year. In Aggie news, we DID beat Army although there were some questionable moments when we definitely wondered if we were going to lose the game... Rough year for us Ags and the next few weeks are going to be another fresh taste of reality - they gotta get it together.

Sunday a.m. Marc and I got up and ran a 5k (which I'll blog about later) and then absolutely crashed... We were exhausted, to say the least and I think we took a 4 hour long nap, long enough for me to miss half of the Cowboys game. I can't believe they lost but better to lose now than later when it might matter more, I guess...

That's my weekend report - more to come later on our big 5k race Sunday a.m.!

Weekend Report

We had another great, fun-filled weekend here in town. Jay McPhillips and his friend Kate came up for the weekend to visit - we haven't seen Jay in almost two years as he's an old friend from my days at Auburn and now resides in Tuscaloosa with the Crimson Tide Alabama crew. The San Genarro Festival was this weekend in Little Italy so we headed over to Focalore's for dinner on Friday night. Highlights from the festival include trying fried Oreo's for the first time (surprisingly really good), stuffing ourselves with Italian cookies and watching Marc house an Italian sausage and peppers sandwich after dinner, making himself sick...or at least, very uncomfortable...lol.

Saturday we headed over to Yankee Stadium for the game before the last game in 'The House That Ruth Built'. It was a great game, won in the bottom of the 9th....so much passion and so many memories. I've only been going to Yankees games for about 6 months and I'm even sad to see the stadium go - I can't imagine how the long time Yankees fans must feel about this moment. It's definitely the end of an era and I hate to see it end. The new stadium will be cool but not sure it can ever match the feelings a person has when they walk into 'the original' Yankee Stadium for the first time...

By the way, I was seriously pumped up about the Aggie vs. Miami game on Saturday (ugh - can anyone say de ja vue?) so I was happy to wear my Aggie Football shirt. I got several reactions, including 'What's an Aggie?' but my favorite comment of the day was a loud GIG 'EM from the stands as I was walking out of Yankee Stadium from a fellow Aggie - felt like home for a split second and I had a giant smile on my face heading to watch 'the big game'. Never found a place (in all of Manhattan) carrying my game but the score updates on my blackberry were enough to let me know that I wasn't missing anything worth watching... Ugh.

Sunday we went to our first Giants game against Cincinnati and it was a great game too. Man I miss going and watching live football games SO MUCH - it was nice to be 'part of the action' again for a little while, even if I wasn't watching one of my beloved teams (How 'bout them Cowboys?).

Thanks to Kate and Jay for all the hook-ups around town...it was a fun weekend - thanks for hangin'!