On Sept. 11, I had the privilege of completing a staircase workout hosted by Bucknell Army ROTC. The workout consisted of snaking up and down each flight of stairs on one side of the stadium seating, then jogging to the other side of the stadium seating and doing the same thing. The workout was to complete four of those laps, totaling 110 staircases climbed.
It was absolutely brutal. After the first lap, I knew I was in for a heck of a workout. I did it with a good friend of mine, and we suffered together, but it was pretty cool to get that done after we were laying on our hands and knees trying to stay conscious once we finished.
For me, it was personal. My uncle, Jimmy Straine, worked in the North Tower and was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Each year, my entire extended family takes the trip to Ground Zero in New York City to honor his name etched within one of the cubes. We have a good day together, round it out with a nice dinner, and it’s a great night. This year felt different, though.
I’d never actually done anything to honor my uncle Jimmy or any of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Obviously, it’s a day that will never be forgotten in my household. But, I never went out of my way to put myself through something super difficult to honor the victims’ names.
It also sometimes seems that 9/11 is somewhat forgotten about. Now, on the 23rd anniversary, most people will put up an Instagram story about the attacks, but it seems very few outside of victims’ families treat this day any differently. But that’s what made this workout really cool for me. Not only did I get to do it, wearing purple and gold to honor my uncle Jimmy’s alma mater, East Carolina, but there were so many people there, including friends of mine who have no affiliation with any 9/11 victims.
I hadn’t realized it, but it had been a really long time since I’d seen anyone really put in an effort to acknowledge Sept. 11 by anyone outside my family. Getting to do something like that with friends of mine was a really awesome experience and opportunity. In addition, it put these attacks in a different perspective for me. As I’ve gotten older, I realized how rare it was to actually have a direct family member killed in the attacks. When I was a kid, I just knew Uncle Jimmy died in 9/11, but it took me until much later to fully understand what that meant. Realizing that made this workout so much more rewarding because it was so miserable in the moment. Growing up, I just knew we went to New York City on 9/11, but never really understood the magnitude of the situation. It’s like a kid going downstairs to see his presents on Christmas… you just do it.
These last few years, I’ve been able to come to terms with the fact that my dad’s brother was killed by terrorists. The best part of the day was calling my dad afterwards and sending a picture of me with the rest of my friends after the workout. I definitely will be doing that workout again along with the hundreds of others that did it, too.
