I didn't attempt Tunnel to Towers Run until the 13th time on Sunday, September 28, 2014. I didn't doubt myself physically but emotionally. I have run much longer and physically harder runs from -34.6 Fahrenheit (-37 Celsius) at the 2009 North Pole Marathon to +92 Fahrenheit at the 2004 Boston Marathon. The Tunnel to Towers Run was named after firefighter Stephen Siller who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to save as many people as he could in the World Trade Center. The Run took me on a journey through the best and worst times of my life. I'll tell the story in chronological order with some flashbacks.
Shortly after moving from DC to NYC on March 31, 1996, I went to the World Trade Center to buy a PagerNet two way pager which was cutting edge at the time. I worked as a paralegal in the Bankers Trust Building at 130 Liberty Street right across from the World Trade Center. I then opened a bank account at Citibank. I grabbed a bite to eat at Sbarro's and checked out the Warner Brothers Studio Store. I then went to Sam Goody to buy some CDs and remember seeing a poster of the Notorious B.I.G. and Junior Mafia.
I soon moved to Ridgewood, Queens, and was a roommate of Milorad Ubiparip. My commute took me through B.I.G.'s Bed-Stuy neighborhood on the train on a daily basis. This was prior to its recent gentrification so it was much closer to the reality of his songs. I returned to the Banker's Trust Building after I got another temp assignment as coordinator of the Global Financial Management Training Program at Banker's Trust. I caught up with Sean Moronski after work at Tall Ships in late 1996.
After work one night, I went to a job fair and was offered a job with Olde Discount Stock Brokers. Olde was in 7 World Trade Center. The offer was mostly commission and the base salary wasn't much to live on. I also started to see the beginning of online trading and felt stockbrokers days were numbered. When I declined the offer, my career and life changed in that moment as I started to gravitate more toward IT. Soon thereafter, I worked on a intranet/Internet Quality Assurance for applications to be rolled out to external clients and internal Merrill Lynch users in the North Tower of the World Financial Center in the summer of 1997.
In late 1997, I was setup on a blind date by a "friend" who shall remain unnamed. But, the coffee shop in the World Trade Center had good hot chocolate, bagels, and cookies so I went back for lunch at other times.
After temping at an insurance company a couple of blocks north of the WTC, I eventually got a full time job at a Wall Street law firm, Fried Frank (FF), on March 23, 1998. My manager Angela named Gilbert Luciano and myself as the "Twins" as we started on the same day. Fried Frank was about 9 blocks south of the World Trade Center.
Another opportunity to work in the World Trade Center came in August 1999. I interviewed with Baseline Finanical Services at 61 Broadway as they were packing to move to the World Trade Center. My prospective boss, Jonathan, had moving boxes in his office. Jonathan and the rest of the company moved to the 77th and 78th floors of the South Tower of the World Trade Center soon thereafter. Though I felt I had a good interview and my best friend from college Bob Farrell vouched for me, I didn't get the job. I was really upset that I didn't get the job; I found out two years later that it was the best thing that ever happened to me. The second plane had hit right very close to Baseline's offices in the South Tower. Jonathan escaped with jet fuel on his shirt but four people in Baseline didn't make it. Bob was thankfully safe as he was late to work after he voted before going to work on primary day.
I left the FF Help Desk on November 8, 1999, and was succeeded by Carolyn Foster. I joined the FF IT Ops Team and settled in before the December 1999 Holidays Party at Windows on the World. The December 1999 and 2000 Holidays Parties at Windows on the World were epic. Since we had to cover 24/7, I always got to the party about 2 hours late. The parties were in full gear by the time I arrived. Chris would dance with all the women there including the lady who became managing partner a short time later. How did he do it? My manager, John, offered Pete his Amex card to go out afterwards. Forget partying, what about paying for the Microsoft Windows 2000 class I wanted to take?
In the Spring of 2001, I paid for the Microsoft Windows 2000 course on my own. I took it after work and sat next to Chapelle R. Sarker. Chapelle worked for Marsh McLennan in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. After working all day, she would elbow me in the ribs or shoulder to keep me awake especially while I was working on a public folder email restore on a multi billion dollar deal for our biggest client.
As spring became summer, we started the Exchange (email) part of the course that Chapelle said she would start back in September 2001. I never saw her again.
I did more email and document restores during my time at FF. The most rewarding was one on a FDNY firefighter that one of the FF attorneys was doing pro bono work on. I needed to restore a previous version of a document. I found it and will never forget seeing the faces of the FDNY firefighter and his family. I was proud to play a small part in helping this family through that traumatic time.
When I went to pickup my Tunnel to Towers packet on Friday, September 26, 2014, I saw the re-building of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 130 Liberty Street where I used to work at Bankers Trust. St. Nicholas was in the parking lot next door but was destroyed by the falling South Tower on September 11. I attended the special memorial service inside of Ground Zero in December 2010, the Rally to Cut the Red Tape to rebuild St. Nicholas at Ground Zero in June 2011, and the special Ground Blessing Ceremony on Saturday, October 18, 2014.
St. Nicholas Ground Zero ceremony in December 2010.
Rally to Cut the Red Tape to rebuild St. Nicholas at Ground Zero in June 2011.
After years of red tape and broken promises, there was a special Ground Blessing Ceremony on Saturday, October 18, 2014. I believe in God but not the Port Authority. When I can light a candle for Chapelle, Stephen and others who died on September 11 in the "new" St. Nicholas, I may get some closure to the part of me that died on September 11 as the World Trade Center was a place where I shopped, prayed, partied, dated, banked, ate, and nearly worked in.
After I finished running through the Tunnel, I immediately saw a banner of Stephen Siller on the right side.
There were a total of 343 banners held by active duty and retired firemen honoring their fallen brothers. This is my photo album from the 2014 Tunnel To Towers Run.
I currently work a few blocks east of the World Trade Center. I took a break at work about 4 am on Friday, September 11, 2015, to tape this remembrance video from the roof of the building I work in.
Condolences to the families of Stephen Siller, Chapelle R. Sarker, and all those who lost their lives on September 11 as well as in Benghazi in 2012 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There have also been dozens of people who have died from illnesses related to the cleanup at Ground Zero. May their memories be eternal.
The Christmas Tree at the FDNY Ten House right across from the World Trade Center doesn't have ornaments like a regular Christmas Tree. It has cards and photos of the fallen on September 11th.
It is often said that time heals all wounds. I don't know if that is true in this case. I wish Chapelle was still here to elbow me in the ribs to wake me up from this nightmare.
