On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, I was driving up the New Jersey Garden State Parkway. I saw smoke coming from one of the World Trade Center towers and I watched smoke billow out as the second plane hit. Both towers collapsed as I drove home to my daughters. For weeks, smoke streamed down the coast from New York City. So many memorials and heartbreaking stories about people just going to work, on the planes, the lost firefighters and first responders. Life changed in an instant.
By 2006, my daughters and I had moved to San Diego. My girls told me there was no mention or moment of silence for 9/11 at their new schools, so we set out to find local events to ensure we never forgot.
Five years later, in 2011, we ran our first Travis Manion Foundation 9/11 Heroes 5K in Monterey Bay, near my daughter’s college. I still vividly remember running behind a firefighter with “343” tattooed on his calf.
Since 2012, I’ve participated in all of the 9/11 Heroes Runs in San Diego. At every race, the memorial signs remind us of the young lives lost. My heart is always with my cousin Lisa as I run in memory of her son, Marine Jeromy D. West, killed in action in 2006 during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Thank you to the Travis Manion Foundation for holding these events year after year. This year, I’ll be running virtually in Kinsale, Ireland, near the Ringfinnan Garden of Remembrance, a sacred site honoring Father Mychal Judge and the 343 firefighters lost on 9/11.
Remembering those we lost on 9/11 and the heroes who stepped up afterward is so important. I’ll see you next year! God bless us all.
— Mary Ann Downing Fey, San Diego
with 15 Travis Manion 9/11 Heroes 5K Run T shirts