Over the next two weeks I will be running two separate races of varied lengths.

On September 27, I will be running the Tunnel2Towers 5k in New York City.  This event is run in honor of Stephen Siller, a New York City Firefighter, who died on September 11, 2001 after responding to the World Trade Center.  The race begins on the Brooklyn side of the Battery Tunnel and concludes in lower Manhattan.  This will be my third year running this race and it is a remarkable experience to run through the Battery Tunnel with thousands of other runners and emerge on the Manhattan side to streets lined with active-duty New York City Firefighters donning banners each with the face and name of a firefighter who perished on September 11, 2001.  Upon conclusion of the race, these firefighters march in during the post-race festivities (see video below).  The Tunnel2Towers race series is now run in a number of American cities and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to challenge themselves while honoring Stephen Siller and all first responders.

One week later, on October 4, I will toe the line in the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This will be my second full marathon and I am feeling good as race day rapidly approaches.  My training season has gone well even though I took two weeks off in July to travel to South America.  I ran my first marathon, the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, last May and finished 10 minutes slower than my goal time.  Hopefully I can build upon what I learned from that race and apply it to the Twin Cities Marathon.  Wish me luck as I lace ’em up yet again.