The Firefighter Stephen Siller - Tunnel to Towers 5k Run/Walk

Today the Memorial Mile T-Shirt made a proud appearance at the Firefighter Stephen Siller - Tunnels to Towers 5K Run/Walk. This is an event to remember and retrace the steps the Firefighter Stephen Siller took on September 11, 2001, when he raced from the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to Lower Manhattan to the Twin Towers. This is truly a New York experience, there were over Ten Thousand runners, with firefighters from all over the region, country and world participating, as well as service men and women from the Army, Air Force. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

Day 10 - ORC Bull Run

Today the Memorial Mile shirt made an appearance at the Orange Runner's Club Bull Run 5k at the Thomas Bull Memorial Park in Hamptonburgh, Orange County, NY.

Paul Pietropaolo running for his 10th consecutive day ran the 3.1 mile course in 26 minutes and 25 seconds, bringing his 10 day total miles run to 29.7miles. There were about 150 runners and Paul finished 50th. The course was flat and the weather was perfect, about 65 degrees, it was a good day for a run!

In the Press: PA NEWS

Memorial Miles was just featured in the Port Authority of NY & NJ's 'PA NEWS.'
Click on the Link below to see the article. Here are two pictures of our group posed in the Wintergarden during the Inaugural Walk.




Here is the article in the PA News (PA NEWS)
Don't forget to go to Memorial Miles to do your part to support our cause!

UPDATE!: Click on the pictures to see the full size images. Enjoy!

$2500 Milestone!!

We've reached another milestone in our fundraising!

Keep up the good work everyone!! And don't forget to tell your friends, families, neighbors and everyone to donate at MEMORIAL MILES DONATION PAGE.

Day 4 - York Lake, NY

I spent day 3 and 4 in upstate Sullivan County, NY, at my family's home near York Lake. It was a work week-end with my Dad, my brother Bob and nephew Nicolas. In between work on the house, I managed to get in 2.9 miles on Saturday (Sept. 13) and 3.3 miles on Sunday (Sept. 14) bringing my total miles run to 12.2. Let me tell you those hills upstate will kill you! Feeling great can't wait for tomorrow to run again!

Dumont Day 5K

So, the Memorial Miles T-shirt made an appearance today at a 5K race in Dumont, NJ. I had an all- time personal best time of 26:03! I'm not saying that the shirt brought me inspiration or luck or anything, but hey.........you never know.......Today was three straight days of Memorial Mile running for me, ten miles.

After the run, I posed with my future daughter-in-law's brother, and my running buddy, Kevin Corizzi, runner par excellence. He finished second overall (I didn't)l!!!

...and extra special thanks to my wonderful wife, Lisa, for getting up early on a Saturday morning, just to take pics of me running. "...but honey, it's for the BLOG!!!"

Tom

Group Walk Invitation

Good afternoon everyone'

As others have posted, I believe our first group walk was a major success! In the walk itself, but also reuniting me with a number of people that I haven't seen since 2001 (Joan did you ever get your degree?)

I wanted to thank Clarelle, Paul & Tom for their hard work and dedication in getting this activity together and thank all participants for taking part. I'm sure as the year(s) go by we will grow in number and in friendships.

I also wanted to invite all walkers to join me in a monthly 'group' walk in Jersey. I live close to Brookdale Park, and surrounding area, in Bloomfield and Branchbrook Park in Newark and both are great for walks. If anyone is interested please let me know. You can email me at sfurg05311129@gmail.com or call me on my cell at (973) 600-3445. All are welcome and so are the spouses, kids and pets!!

Have a great weekend.
Sandra

September 11, 2008 short video clip of first walk

1094 miles to go!

Thanks again to Paul, Clarelle and Tom for organizing; it's a lovely gesture and I'm certain the group will hold together for the time it'll take to achieve our objective. It's pretty clear we're going to meet (and maybe surpass!) our financial goal.

Today's kickoff walk was great- nice weather and a lot to see along the way. I'll make a real effort to maintain enthusiasm when the weather turns ugly!
Cheers, V.

Day 1!!!

Well, it was a very successful first day, with our group walk around the World Trade Center site. It was pretty amazing, to see something that was barely an idea a month ago, really happening!!

There were about fifty of us, all working on the rebuilding of the site (project managers, architects, engineers, contractors, security guards, administrators, etc, etc)- many of us 9/11 survivors. It was a great event. We took a quick break in the Winter Garden to pose for a picture.

Good luck to all!!

Day One: Laurie Spencer

Today is the kickoff walk for Memorial Miles. This is a difficult day emotionally each year, as are the weeks preceding the 11th of September. This is the first year that I am back working Downtown, and I am grateful to be here. I believe strongly in the strength that the rebuilding will return to this city. It doesn’t mean that I will ever forget the World Trade Center; on the contrary, I can close my eyes and do a “walk through”, seeing the details of the interior almost as clearly as when it stood. The North Tower was my work home for 19 years. Right now outside my window, the bell is ringing to mark the moment that it fell to the ground. Sometimes it doesn’t feel as if it’s really gone—that the towers and the people we lost simply exist somewhere else now.

My thanks go to Clarelle Charles, Tom Grassi, and Paul Pietropaolo for organizing Memorial Miles. It’s something positive for the survivors of That Day and their friends to do to honor the memory of those taken from us too early and so suddenly. We who are left behind find strength in one another, and I would rather be with other survivors on this day than with anyone else.

I am fortunate to be close friends and continue to work with the person with whom I escaped Tower One, and she is a Memorial Miler, too. Today we’ll walk together instead of running for our lives, and I hope that this small thing we do will bring comfort to others, whether they are known or unknown to us. A place, a structure, can bring forth a sense of connection that goes beyond the steel and concrete and other materials from which it is created. If I can help someone else reach that connection, this walking will be worth every step.


Laurie E. Spencer
September 11, 2008

Tom, a Memorial Miler

Today was a great day. After a very quick burst (about a month) of planning, preparing, meeting, to see an idea really become an 'event' is a great experience. Many of the great people who work here rebuilding the WTC site are really here for 'the cause' and want to do anything and everything they can to rebuild our home, remember our friends, and renew our lives.

I hope more of the 'Milers' will share stories about why they are here, but as for me, I worked in the World Trade Center for about fifteen years when, on 9/11, I was on the 82nd Floor of One WTC as the first plane hit several floors above me. Of course, we all left immediately but I was still inside my building when Tower Two collapsed, that's when things got really crazy. I have been working on the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site since the days immediately after 9/11. It really was an honor to the the Port Authority's Engineering Department Project Manager for the construction of the Temporary PATH Station, which opened on November 23, 2003- before anyone though it could.

The photographs here are from October 12, 2001, my first visit to the site after 9/11-- one of the remnants of Tower One, and one of me near Church Street.

I've been here ever since and I can't think of another project I'd rather be working on or another group of people I'd rather be working with.

First Walk: 1 down, 364 to go

Our first walk is on September 11, 2008 at 1pm. We'll be walking a 1 mile loop around the WTC site. It will be the kick-off of a year-long quest to walk/run a mile a day.

The best news? You can check off a mile and get a jump start on your pledge!
Come and join us.

115 Broadway
Corner of Broadway and Cedar
1pm - Thursday Sept. 11, 2008


Use MapMyRun.com to track your runs. Set up an account and you can use GoogleMaps to track out each one of your runs. More to come on this soon.

To see this particular route, click here. (pic via MapMyRun)

We've Broken $1000

Congratulations to all. We have made the first big step towards raising $30,000!

Our donors and sponsors are answering the call to help and doing so furiously. After only a few days available to donate, we have already broken past the $1000 marker. We are well on our way to accomplishing a great goal!


Please go to Memorial Miles to do your part!

The Eve of Something Great

Tomorrow is the day. We'll lace up the shoes and embark on our noble cause.

Things near Ground Zero seem to be humming and chaotic. September seems to be a month when reverence and rememberence really strikes home hardest in downtown NYC and the WTC is the epicenter. Being so close to the action gives a sense of pride and being able to contribute to such a worthy cause is going to be great!

Let's never forget for who and why we are taking on our cause!

(pic via The Observer)

How to Help

Our goal is to raise $30,000 to support the National 9-11 Memorial & Museum that will be located at the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. We can do it!

Below you'll see a picture of our thermometer. As the donations come in, things will start to 'heat up.'

We are projected to start on 9-11-2008. We haven't even started yet and still have recieved $590 in pledges!

Whether you can donate $1 or $100, please consider helping our cause.

Memorial Miles Donation Page

Our New Logo

Behold our official logo! Designed by Tom Grassi, this will be the trademark of our run to success.

Be on the lookout for t-shirts. Coming soon!

Memorial Miles KickOff!

Welcome to the Memorial Miles blog.

This will be our place on the web to share with everyone our progress, success, determination and struggles as we try to raise awareness and funds for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Welcome. Check back regularly for updates. We will be posting great things soon and often.

www.MemorialMiles.blogspot.com