NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

After a 31 day journey, the Tour Of Duty team arrives in New York, New York! It is so hard for me to express how I feel about making this once in a life time journey - but I'll do my best. There were so many unbelievable memories along the way which thankfully Pat documented on this Blog so I wont repeat them in this entry, but they are memories I'll have for the rest of my life and will share with my grandkids (when they come along).

Many times during this journey, especially early on, time seemed to creep along so slowly I would wonder if I'd ever make it to New York. I would get through the tough days of running in a couple ways - by concentrating on the reason I signed up for this run - which was to raise money and support the family's of the victims of 9-11 and to honor those, civilian and first responders, who lost their lives that day, and I also got through the tough days by thinking of my family and friends who have supported me in this adventure.

As I passed through the half way point of New Orleans, and made it up north for the long haul to Chicago, time started speeding up, and before I knew it, New York was coming up rapidly and on the horizon. Part of me wanted time to slow down again but the other part of me wanted to reach my goal of New York to take a much needed break.

There was a little hiccup at the end of the run in New York. My white team finished running our shift at around midnight on 9-10-10. We drove to New Jersey and planned on getting a couple hours sleep before getting up to meet up with the red group who were running down Manhattan towards the end of the run, on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge. We woke up with what we thought was plenty of time (2:30am) and headed towards Columbus Circle to run the final 6 miles with the red team. Everything was fine, until we were turned around at the Lincoln Tunnel due to the RV having propane which wasn't allowed in the tunnel! Needless to say, we weren't able to meet up with the team at Columbus Circle, but most of the team was able to run in (at least for a short while) to the Brooklyn Marriott, the end of the actual running. Once we regrouped in front of the Marriott, the entire team, and many family members and New York supporters, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise in mass (there must have been about 2000 people) and on to Battery Park for a final ceremony - the view from the Brooklyn Bridge was unbelievable.

While in New York, we were treated to many events, including:

The World Trade Center remembrance were FDNY bag pipes played a tribute to the Tour Of Duty runners; Entry into the WTC site where team members paid our respects;
Barbeque at a fire station in Brooklyn;
A private tour of the shorelines of New York on the worlds largest fire boat. This boat "343" is only a few days old and the hull was manufactured from steel/iron from the World Trade Center columns!
A emotional tour of the World Trade Center Tribute Center by the founder, a father of a fire fighter who lost his life on 9-11.
We were also invited to the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. We had lunch in the "Board Room" and we were allowed on to the NYSE floor for a private tour (I wish I knew what they were up to but very confusing to me!).
We were invited to a New York Mets Game where they beat the Pirates 9-1. I went to the game only to scout the Mets for the Dodgers!

All the above events in New York were exceptional, but the function I enjoyed the most while in New York (and the reason I initially committed to participating in this run) was a presentation at the New York Australian Consulate's Office. It wasn't the accolades given to the runners by the different dignitaries, but it was one of the guest speakers who reminded us all of our mission during the last 31 days. I listened as the guest speaker, Linda M. Giammona, and her father, spoke about how much she and the rest of her group followed our run intensely, and how she was overwhelmed by what we accomplished. She articulated her appreciation and admiration so well that most in the room had tears in their eyes. Linda's brother, a fire fighter, died in the World Trade Center during the attacks of 9-11-01. She called each of the runners up, one at a time, to thank us and to give each a memorial wrist band with her brothers information on it, along with the inscription "All Gave Some, Some Gave All". That presentation erased any of the "bumps" we may have encountered along the way and reconfirmed to me that what we, as a team, accomplished was well worth our individual sacrifices, and made a big difference to the family's of the victims of 9-11.