Race Report: The Stephen Siller Foundation Tunnel to Towers 5k

As far as races go, this is probably one of the biggest 5ks around. I can't think of another 5k that would attract upwards of 30,000 people of all shapes, sizes and abilities. I also can't think of another 5k that means so much to so many people.

Background Info
 
For those of you who don't know anything about Tunnel to Towers, have you been living under a rock for the past 12 years?, it was started as a tribute to Stephen Siller, a New York City firefighter who ran through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in full turn-out gear in order to reach the towers and to hopefully meet up with others from his firehouse, Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He never made it back through to the other side of the tunnel and each year, in his honor, thousands make the same trek through the tunnel and up to Tower 1.

Pre-Race

We were up and at 'em early to meet up with the others from Manor who were headed in for the run. Upon piling into the van, we made a beeline for Manhattan and arrived in record time. It's amazing how close the city seems when you leave at 5:45 in the morning. We parked down in lower Manhattan to take the ferry back over to Brooklyn and the start of the race. It's easier to park in the city and take the ferry in the morning, rather than after the race when thousands of other people are trying to do the exact same thing. Since we had so much time to kill and I was supposed to be doing 15 miles, I left the others at the ferry and ran my way over the Manhattan Bridge and up to Prospect Park. I did a quick loop of the park at race pace and then headed over to Red Hook to meet up with SJ and mamadukes before the start of the race.

Because I wasn't actually there for race check-in and all that jazz, I can't really comment first hand. My Captain (oh Captain!) had picked up our race numbers prior to that morning, so I was all set to go, but SJ and mamadukes had to get theirs the morning of. According to them, everything went smoothly. They had to check their (giant, clear) bags on the Manhattan side because they wouldn't let any bags on the ferry, but picking up their numbers was a breeze. This could have been because they were there roughly 9 hours prior to the start of the race, or just because it's not the first rodeo for the Stephen Siller Foundation so they pretty have this thing down to a science, but either way, it's always nice when things go smoothly.

I made it to Red Hook around 8:45 and met up with a few of the guys from the department. Mamadukes and SJ had managed to wiggle their way somewhat towards the front of the pack, so I had to figure out the best plan of action to get up to them. I met up with them around 9:00 so we had thirty or so minutes to kill before the race would officially start. In a sea of firefighters and runners, they were able to find this guy:

Greg and his girl, Katie.

Unbeknownst to me (because I wasn't there yet), cadets from West Point had already run through supporting the wounded warriors that were making the trek. Now everyone else was just milling around, waiting for it to start. As far back as you could see behind us, there were just masses of people lining the streets. It's a pretty cool thing to see. I can imagine it's not unlike what the NYC Marathon will be like in November.

The Race

I use the term "race" extremely loosely in this report, because, with 30,000 people lining up in no discernible order, there really was no "racing" going on. There was a chute towards the front where, if you were able to run a sub-6:00 pace, you could line up so that you could race it, but other than that, it was generally a free-for-all. I debated whether or not to weasle my way up to this chute, but having just run 12ish miles, I didn't really feel like trying to bang out another three at a 6:00 pace. Thanks, but no thanks.

When the horn finally sounded, the only reason we knew it had actually started was because we could see everyone on the big screen running towards the tunnel. It took a good two or three minutes before we even started walking towards the start line and when we got there, it was so congested that there really wasn't any other option than a light trot. We bottlenecked at the sharp turn going towards the toll booths (lucky for us they included the toll cost in our registration because I totally forgot my EZ-Pass) and then again once we entered the tunnel, but I figured this would be the case. The tunnel is only two lanes wide, and shoving 30,000 people into it was never gonna be easy.

SJ and I did the best we could, weaving our way through people and trying our best to keep a somewhat steady pace. Every now and then, there would be some space to pick it up, but it was few and far between so we just rolled with it. To add insult to injury (literally for some people), the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel has lane dividers to keep cars from changing lanes, and more than a couple were laid out by them.

Kind of like these, but without the yellow dividers on the bottom.

So not only were you weaving in and out of people, but you also had to be aware of the cones. Excellent!

The tunnel itself is about half the run, so when you exit they weave you around the bottom of Manhattan and then up towards where Tower 1 used to stand, and where the Freedom Tower is now. Right at the exit, there is an honor guard lined up along the side with the names and photos of every firefighter that didn't make it back from the towers that day. Under their name is the department they were out of and the number 343 to represent the 343 firefighters.

Thankfully, we had been relatively close to the front of the crowd of runners, because this is what it would have been like had we been anywhere further behind:

 

SJ and I crossed the finish line in who-knows what time (I didn't bother keeping time) and headed over to grab our stuff and wait for the others. We didn't quite know how far back mamadukes was and had absolutely no clue where any of the guys from my department were, so we just figured if we went to the meeting place and hung out, eventually people would find us.

Post-Race Party

The post-race events were pretty good, but unfortunately there were just way too many people there to actually enjoy anything. Think about a concert where it's a standing-room only venue and everyone is trying to get to the front and that's pretty much what it was like. The streets are pretty narrow down in the financial district, and even though they were blocked off from traffic, there were vendors on either side of the street, which made the street even narrower. And with limited access on either side because of the buildings, everyone seemed to mill around right by the front. Remember, 30,000 people were doing this event and one block in Manhattan isn't exactly that huge of a space,especially when half of it is taken up by tents selling all kinds of things. We ended up meeting up in an alley that was off the side of the main street where the festivities were occurring and just popped in every now and then to grab food or a beer or pick up our t-shirts. 

This was actually somewhat of a bummer because I would have loved to have been able to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere surrounding the event. SJ had done this race before and has always talked about how amazing it was, but even she wasn't really feeling the vibe. Obviously, seeing how many firefighters were running in full turnout gear and the Marines running in fatigues and the cadets in their athletic uniforms was a unique and special experience, but everything else was just sensory overload. Just the sheer amount of people running made it almost impossible to say it was amazing. Overwhelming, yes. Amazing, not really.

Wrap-Up

Because of my connection with the fire department and the story behind the event, T2T is an event that I will probably do every year. However, it won't be because I particularly enjoyed it or because I love it. It's more because I appreciate exactly what Stephen Siller did by donning his gear and running to help. It wasn't because he had to or because he was supposed to - it was because he wanted to. While there are literally thousands of 5ks out there that benefit one charity or another (cancer, heart disease, arthritis!), I don't know that there are many where you can literally retrace the footsteps of a hero - and I will gladly put with 30,000 other people who are willing to do the same.